Ryan Church Cannot Shake His Concussion, Heads Back to DL

It looks like the Mets are going to need to step up their quest for a corner outfielder. Ryan Church is headed back to the disabled list, according to a report that was just on WFAN Radio in New York, and it probably wouldn't be wise to count on his return at any point in the future.

Church will likely play again this year, mind you, but concussions are nasty, nasty business that have a habit of making a nuisance of themselves. Between that and Moises Alou's complete lack of physical health, then, the Mets can't stand pat and try to make do with Endy Chavez and a collection of second-tier players from the minor leagues. Jason Bay and Matt Holliday are the biggest names on the market but the Mets could probably swing a deal for less if they went after guys like Xavier Nady and Raul Ibanez.

It would be easy to castigate the Mets for the way they've handled Church's injury this season. They certainly should have put him on the shelf right away instead of allowing him to travel with the team and play but at the end of the day this was probably going to be a lingering issue no matter what. It's impossible to know just what Church told the team about his condition, although one can presume he wants to be on the field, and he's been too important to the offense for the team to not want him in the lineup.