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Earlier this week the Mets placed slugger Yoenis Cespedes on the 15-day DL because his nagging quad injury simply has not been getting better. He's been in and out of the lineup for a few weeks now as the team tried to nurse him back to health.

A few hours before being placed on the DL, former big leaguer Kevin Millar posted a photo with Cespedes after a round of golf earlier in the day. Check it out:

That doesn't look so good. An injured player playing golf? Yikes. Granted, it's a quad injury, but still. That doesn't look good and GM Sandy Alderson said as much Thursday. He called it "bad optics."

As far as I know, teams can't stop players from playing golf any more than your employer could stop you from playing golf. MLB's uniform player contract prohibits players from more dangerous activities like skiing or bungee jumping, but not golf. Tons and tons of players play golf. Even during the season.

Both Alderson and Mets manager Terry Collins acknowledged the afternoon of golf likely did not cause Cespedes to reaggravate his quad injury. Collins was pretty adamant about it Thursday.

Cespedes reaggravated the quad injury Wednesday night, after the golf getaway. It happend when he took an awkward swing and ran hard down to first base on a ground ball.

Given the nature of his injury, Cespedes playing golf earlier this week is not a big deal. Golf is all about core muscles and shoulders. A minor quad injury is not a big deal and the Mets themselves even admitted that.

The issue here, even beyond the "bad optics," is that Cespedes has made himself a very easy target for criticism, and there's not much the ruthless New York media loves more than an easy target. Ask Alex Rodriguez about that.

Cespedes likes attention and there's nothing wrong with that. You may remember that when he first became a free agent after leaving Cuba, Cespedes and his representatives posted a lengthy workout video full of special effects. The video even ends with Cespedes barbecuing a pig:


That was our first exposure to Cespedes. Right way it was clear that okay, this dude likes the spotlight. And he's continued to show that throughout his time in the big leagues. Surely you remember spring training this year, when he drove a different car to work each day. Here's some video:

Cespedes generates a lot of headlines with his play on the field and also with some of the stuff he does off the field, like the cars and the workout video. When you rake like Yoenis did last season and help the team to the World Series, the New York fans fall in love with you. Reggie Jackson loved the spotlight as much as anyone and he backed it up. So did Cespedes.

The flip side is when things go wrong, there's even more scrutiny than usual. That's the nature of the media coverage not just in New York, but in any diehard sports market. Players get built up into heroes and then get torn down even quicker. It's a really vicious cycle I'm not sure anyone particularly enjoys.

Remember, Cespedes dealt with another possible "golfing while injured" situation last postseason, so this is not something new. He's done this sort of thing before, and when it happens the first time, people are more willing to look the other way. Doing it again is just asking for trouble.

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Yoenis Cespedes seems to love attention, which is a double-edged sword. USATSI

Cespedes is a great player having a tremendous season. He got hurt and that stinks. That's baseball. The act of playing golf is not the problem here though. Even the Mets say it didn't contribute to the injury. The problem is being flashy and obvious about it, especially in the wake of last postseason's golf incident.

When you're a high profile player in a big market like Cespedes, the attention never ends. He was made to play in this city. That attention is not always positive though, and limiting the negative is something Cespedes (and the team, for that matter) have to improve going forward.

Cespedes doesn't have to stop playing golf. He just has to be a little smarter about the way he presents himself because it can create distractions like this.