This afternoon, New York Mets coach Terry Collins spoke to reporters and relayed some very encouraging progress on the injury front -- for all four players on the disabled list.
Collins reported that David Wright ran at almost full speed in Port St. Lucie, Fla. on Saturday and will move onto full running and sliding Monday. The Mets expect Wright to play in his first rehab game Wednesday, and will be activiated after 30-40 at bats.
For All-Star Jose Reyes, Collins expects his return to be on July 22 froma strained left hamstring. And Wright, he said, should return within days from that date. Reyes has already progressed to taking grounders and swinging a bat, which he will do before tonight's showdown with the Giants.
Ike Davis, who hasn't played since May 10 after suffering a broken ankle, had some very positive news. He ran on a treadmill with no issue: "He came out of it great." This is great news for Davis, as after being shutdown for three weeks, if he had not experienced noticeable progress, he would've been ticketed for microfracture surgery. The Mets believe the cartilage damage has healed. Davis is expected to run on the field next week.
"Three more weeks we should be in pretty good shape," Collins said.
If the Mets can stay in contention during this time, the return of these three prominent regulars will be a huge shot in the arm.
And for Johan Santana, if he has no trouble this weekend, the Mets plan to have him begin his "spring training" Monday.
ESPN NY's Mets beat writer Adam Rubin said it best on twitter: "That's a franchise record for positive injury news."