Justin Turner said the right ankle he sprained on Saturday is virtually full healed, but he will not be making the trip to Kissimmee on Wednesday night to face the Houston Astros.
"Full activity -- except for going on the trip," Turner said.
Kirk Nieuwenhuis, who suffered a bone bruise on his left knee sliding into second base on March 10, is due to play in a minor league game today. It will mark Nieuwenhuis' first game action since the injury.
Nieuwenhuis plans to play three innings in the outfield and also take at-bats. He likely would just jog to first base should he make contact, since he has not yet run the bases for trainers.
Nieuwenhuis plans to do that running test postgame.
"It feels pretty good," Nieuwenhuis said. "For sure."
In part because of the injury setback, Nieuwenhuis is likely to open the season at Triple-A Las Vegas.
The availability of David Wright and Daniel Murphy for Opening Day remains murky as both players continue to deal with intercostal muscle strains.
Wright received a cortisone injection on his left side Friday in New York and still aims to be in the lineup on April 1 against the San Diego Padres at Citi Field. But given Murphy suffered an injury to the same muscle a month ago, received a cortisone shot on Feb. 19 and still is not ready, how confident can Wright be?
“I’m a lot tougher than Murph,” Wright deadpanned, “so that doesn’t concern me.”
More seriously, Wright added, he has played at a high level in the World Baseball Classic, while Murphy has yet to see a pitch in a game during spring training. So the time for Wright to prepare for regular-season games should be significantly condensed compared with Murphy once their symptoms go away.
“I’m in a better position than Murphy, obviously, because I’ve been playing in games and taking plenty of swings,” Wright said. “I’m kind of joking around with Murph, but obviously it’s something you want to be cautious with.”
Terry Collins believes Ike Davis is going to get back to his 2010 success. He's off to a good start this spring-- 12-for-33 with a homer and five walks.
“Ike has spread out his stance a little bit,” Collins said. “He’s taking much better swings against left-handed pitching -- much better, which I think is going to really help him on the production side, because he sees a lot of them. One of the things he’s going to see every time there’s a lefty coming in, I’m going to try to make sure he’s in that game to see some of them. I just think he’s made some good adjustments at the plate."
Despite his 32 home runs, Davis hit a meager .227 with a .308 on-base percentage in 2012, largely thanks to a horrendous start.
Davis hit .264 with a .351 on-base percentage as a rookie in 2010, his only other full season. Despite a home run rate that wasn’t as good as 2012's, Davis was more valuable to the Mets offensively that season.
