The Mets place Yoenis Cespedes on the DL amid golf controversy

The Mets finally placed slugger Yoenis Cespedes on the disabled list after he further aggravated his right quad strain in Wednesday’s 9-5 loss to the Yankees.

But it’s Mets fans who are aggravated.

In addition to playing through the injury, which he suffered July 8, Cespedes has continued to golf. In fact, he hit the links Wednesday morning with former major leaguer Kevin Millar.

Perhaps the quad injury isn’t a factor when Cespedes golfs, but many frustrated Mets fans would prefer that he spends his mornings and afternoons resting and getting treatment. The team’s website notes that Cespedes has played in only 14 of the Mets’ 21 games since he suffered the injury, and he is hitting .227 with just one homer in that span. Meanwhile, New York is 7-14 in those games and hasn’t won consecutive games since July 6-7.

If Cespedes wouldn’t pull the plug on his golf hobby, should the Mets have done so? That’s a question the New York Post’s Mike Vaccaro asked:

The other question, of course, is why the Mets waited so long to place Cespedes on the DL. Why sit him now after letting him play through the pain for nearly a month?

From the Mets’ website:

It’s easy to second-guess, but the fact is the fading Mets will be without their top slugger -- Cespedes leads the team with 22 homers, 59 RBI and a .916 OPS -- for at least two weeks as they try to remain in the wild-card chase.