ATLANTA — Manager Jerry Manuel figures to get an earful from his bosses — if he hasn’t already — after an ill-advised joke last night following the Mets’ 11-0 loss to the Braves.
Manuel poked fun at the team’s beleaguered medical staff when asked about Gary Sheffield’s status after Sheffield left the game in the fifth inning with a cramp in his right hamstring.
“They’re calling it cramps . . . surgery on Thursday,” Manuel said before erupting in laughter.
Realizing that team-owned SNY was filming the remark, Manuel quickly added: “I couldn’t resist. Sorry, doctors.”
Manuel then pleaded twice — apparently without success — with the network’s in-house reporter, Kevin Burkhardt, not to run the footage.
Manuel was making light of the Mets’ habit, particularly this season, of minimizing injuries that turn out to be much more serious. It is an especially touchy subject with team management, so Manuel is sure to hear about it.
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Mets owner Fred Wilpon continues to feel the effects of losing a reported $700 million in the Bernie Madoff scheme as Major League Soccer announced that Wilpon has halted negotiations to bring a second MLS team to the New York area.
“We took a step back, [and] we’re no longer in frank discussions with the Wilpon family,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said. “But I believe we’ll get back on track at some other time. It’s just not something that’s happening at this time.”
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The Mets got a sliver of positive injury news when reliever J.J. Putz threw for the first time since his elbow surgery almost six weeks ago.
Putz played catch in Port St. Lucie, and plans to throw there again today. He is set to throw all but two days next week, then return to New York at the end of the month to continue his rehab.
“It felt great,” Putz told Treasure Coast Newspapers. “The first couple throws were a little awkward, but I kind of expected that. Once we kind of got into it, about 10 throws into it, I really started feeling good.”
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The Mets inquired this week about veteran shortstop Julio Lugo, who was designated for assignment by the Red Sox yesterday.
If Lugo clears waivers and isn’t traded or released by Boston in the next 10 days, he can decline the minor league assignment and become a free agent.
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Jose Reyes reportedly pointed to his ailing right hamstring in Port St. Lucie as a reason for declining to run for Mets rehab officials, but the team went to great pains to say it wasn’t a setback.
A Mets spokesman claimed Reyes had an intensive workout Thursday, so the plan all along was to give him a much lighter load yesterday.
— Additional reporting by Brian Lewis