DENVER -- New York Mets first baseman Ike Davis landed on the disabled list Thursday with a left ankle sprain and bone bruise, while right-handed pitcher Chris Young has opted for surgery to repair a torn anterior capsule in his right shoulder, assistant general manager John Ricco said.
The loss of Davis is a major blow in the middle of the lineup for the Mets. He was hitting .302 with seven homers and 25 RBIs.
"His production is going to be sorely missed," manager Terry Collins said about Davis, who was injured Tuesday night in a collision with David Wright while pursuing a popup by the mound. "He's leading the club in RBIs by a long way. We're going to miss the power. He's been an outstanding defender."
The Mets promoted one-time top prospect Fernando Martinez to replace Davis on the active roster. Martinez, an outfielder, was selected because Triple-A Buffalo first-base options Lucas Duda (back) and Zach Lutz (finger) are injured and Nick Evans is underperforming.
Collins plans to use Daniel Murphy at first base, with Martinez serving in a backup corner outfield capacity, with only limited starts. Murphy, who has manned second base this season, was poised to be the Opening Day first baseman in 2010, but suffered a right knee injury during the final week of spring training. By the time Murphy was ready to return, the rookie Davis had established himself at first base and Murphy again needed to reinvent himself.
"Had Dan not hurt his knee last year, who knows what would have happened?" Collins said. "Had he played first base all year last year and put up similar numbers to the year before, Ike might still be in Buffalo."
Right-handed hitter Justin Turner, who had been platooning at second base with the left-handed hitting Murphy, will get the bulk of the starts at second base, Collins indicated. Willie Harris may get limited action there as well. He has started 167 career games at second base.
Turner would be the fallback to Murphy at first base.
Murphy said he has continued to work out at first base, despite trying to grow accustomed to second base.
"I played it in the Dominican [last winter]. I played it in spring training," he said. "I played in Buffalo [last year] before I got hurt again. I even took some groundballs in instructional league. I still take groundballs over there. Especially when [Rule 5 pick] Brad [Emaus] was here [and starting at second base], and I was not playing a whole lot of second, I would take ground balls."
Davis flew back to New York Wednesday, had an MRI that evening and was examined by team doctor Struan Coleman.
"He has an ankle sprain and a bone bruise," Ricco said. "The bruise is in the ankle joint. And the bruise was responsible for the pain in his calf. It was radiating up into the calf right after the injury. But the MRI showed that it's a sprain. Right now, it's definitely a DL. Each injury on its own he said wasn't too bad, but the combination of them, it's clearly a DL. So right now it's at least two weeks. We hope it's not too much longer than that. But I think it's a little too early to predict. ... We were hoping it would not be a DL, and would be a few days."
As for Young, team doctor David Altchek is scheduled to perform the surgery to repair the torn anterior capsule on Monday. Johan Santana underwent that surgery Sept. 14, 2010, and only this week stepped on a mound for the first time, with an eye toward returning to the majors in July.
Adam Rubin covers the Mets for ESPNNewYork.com.