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In the latest dose of disaster for the Mets, Ike Davis could be facing season-ending surgery on his left ankle — and to make matters even worse, the team doctors’ decision to have him wear a boot during his rehab could have impaired his healing.
The Mets’ young first baseman has been out since May 10 with a left ankle sprain and bone bruise. An MRI exam and the Hospital for Special Surgery revealed Davis still has the bone bruise and has developed a cartilage problem, which may be due to a lack of circulation in his ankle caused by the protective boot.
A procedure similar to microfracture surgery may be required to correct the cartilage problem, which would end Davis’ season and possibly jeopardize his availability for the start of next season.
Davis will be sidelined for at least three more weeks and will continue rehabbing the ankle, at which point the Mets will see if he is able to run. If he’s not, surgery likely would be the next step.
General manager Sandy Alderson admitted he did not anticipate news this grim.
“Basically over the next three weeks he’ll progress, hopefully to running,” Alderson said. “And if he can’t tolerate the running, then we go to Plan B.”
Davis said yesterday that when he got hurt he believed he only would miss a couple days, but mild pains turning into crippling injuries are nothing new to the Mets. If Davis needs the surgery, he would join a long list of Mets to see their season cut short under the knife — Pedro Martinez in 2006, Billy Wagner in 2008, Johan Santana in 2010, etc.
Alderson admitted the decision to have Davis wear a boot during his rehab could have impaired his healing by limiting his circulation.
“That’s another thing,” Davis said, “is I wore the boot for so long that my joint kind of was compressed the whole time and not a lot of movement in there to help out with inflammation and stuff.”
Davis, who likely will receive a second opinion, sustained the injury May 10 in Colorado when he and David Wright collided while pursuing an infield pop-up.
“It’s about the same, which is not a good sign,” said Davis, who hit .302 with seven homers, 25 RBIs and a .383 on-base percentage in 36 games. “There’s not really any improvement. That’s kind of disheartening.”
Even if Davis is cleared in three weeks to start running and avoids surgery, his return could take significantly longer. He would need to resume baseball activities, get back in proper physical condition and play rehab games. Davis suggested that playing in August and September was reasonable.
If surgery is required, he would head into the 2012 season facing many questions — he would have undergone a major operation and wouldn’t have played almost the final five months of this year. Consider that right now, for reasons involving either their contracts or their health, the Mets have questions regarding the futures of Davis, Santana, Wright, Jose Reyes, and Francisco Rodriguez. They have zero major league players who are all of the following – elite, signed long-term and healthy.
“[It’s] a little bit [shocking],” Davis said of the news. “Because it never really got better the whole time, so I had to know there was something other than just the bruise. But it kind of makes sense that the cartilage would get damaged if the bone was damaged like that, if there’s cartilage in the joint.
“But it’s just three more weeks. Hopefully it starts healing up a little faster. After three weeks, we’ll just have to see what else we have to do to get healthy.”
mark.hale@nypost.com