DL stints hurt some teams more than others

New York is the home center for resiliency.

Though they have been part of the sport-wide plague of losing players to injury, the Mets and Yankees have navigated

around the missing-in-action better than most.

The Mets went into the weekend (pre-Jason Bay’s injury) having needed 13 DL stints this year. Just five teams had more. The Yankees had lost 652 days to the DL. Just two teams had logged more. Yet both New York squads had survived — or better.

In fact, within the bad news, there has been good news for the Mets. Lack of depth has devastated the club in recent years. But in plugging holes, the Mets have received pleasant surprises from players such as Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Omar Quintanilla and Mike Baxter (on the DL himself now). In fact, one issue that has emerged is manager Terry Collins’ need to find playing time for too many viable outfielders. Considering the recent past, it is a problem Collins is overjoyed to have.

Meanwhile, the Yanks have generally done a good job weathering lost time, whether it was Alex Rodriguez missing the first month in 2009 after hip surgery, Andy Pettitte being lost for two months in 2010 with groin/back issues or Derek Jeter being absent for three weeks last year with a calf strain. Heck, the Yankees were 14-4 while Jeter was on the DL last year.

Now, some of this, obviously, is about money. No other team, for example, could lose its historic closer (Mariano Rivera) and his talented heir (David Robertson) and have a guy on a three-year, $37 million deal waiting to fill the gap, as the Yankees have with Rafael Soriano.

But the pro personnel department also has done a much better job of finding useful pieces under the radar. Just in the bullpen alone, over the past two years, the Yankees have unearthed low-cost assets such as Luis Ayala, Cory Wade, Cody Eppley and Clay Rapada.

The Yankees went into the weekend with 11 DL stints in 2012 covering 652 lost days and the Mets 13 covering 385 days. Both are greater than the sport-wide averages of roughly 10 stints per team covering 364 days. There had been 294 DL stints this year covering 10,919 days and, amazingly, none were for Eric Chavez or Nick Johnson.

What is truly amazing is these totals are in line with last year on the same date (311 stints/10,348 days). Much has been written on the need to improve injury prevention in the majors and that the franchises that best innovate will have a huge advantage.

Now lack of injuries does not guarantee success. The Marlins entered the weekend having used the DL an MLB-low three times and Emilio Bonifacio was their best player disabled. Yet they have a worse record than the Mets. Conversely, the White Sox were a surprise first-place team, in part, because they had needed to use the DL just four times for 92 days. The Blue Jays’ chances of being a contender were harmed this week when they were hammered in one area, having to put three starting pitchers on the DL.

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