As most of us Mets fans know by now, Jose Reyes is expected to start the season on the disabled list due to an overactive thyroid. He is expected to cease all activities for 2-8 weeks.
Both Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya have said that Reyes will most likely be replaced with 20-year old Ruben Tejada, who played in Double-A last year, this according to the New York Daily News.
Tejada batted .289 last season and hit five homers in 488 at-bats in the minors, and claims he’ll be ready to play in the bigs.
“It’s baseball,” Tejada told the Daily News. “Everywhere I play the game normal. I’m ready for everything.”
The Mets could also use Alex Cora, who was re-signed for $2MM in the offseason, but manager Jerry Manuel seems to prefer Tejada.
To me, Alex Cora seems like the better bet because of his experience and all the hard work he put into last season when Reyes first went down, but Manuel is prepared to bypass the steady Cora for the light hitting untested youngster.
1. Angel Pagan, CF, 2009: .306 AVG., 11 3B, 14 SB
2. Luis Castillo, 2B, 2009: .302 AVG., 77 R, 20 SB
3. David Wright, 3B, 2009: .307 AVG., 10 HR, 72 RBI
4. Jason Bay, LF, 2009: .267 AVG., 36 HR, 119 RBI
5. Daniel Murphy, 1B, 2009: .266 AVG., 12 HR, 63 RBI
6. Jeff Francoeur, RF, 2009: .280 AVG., 15 HR, 76 RBI
7. Rod Barajas, C, 2009: .226 AVG., 19 HR, 71 RBI
9. Ruben Tejada, SS, 2009: .289 AVG., 24 2B, 19 SB
not a good lineup at all whenever Murphy is batting 5th
That is an atrocious lineup. Minaya and Manuel better start packing their bags because that lineup, coupled with a lackluster rotation isn’t winning squat.
I think barring a trade I just don’t see what other choice the Mets have than seeing what Tejada shows them the next 2 weeks. There is no way to replace Reyes bat in that position all you can hope for is someone who can show they can hold their own defensively till Reyes returns. I’m not sure how good or bad Tejada’s glove is but I am looking forward to seeing him show me in the coming weeks.
If he does good I would rather go with him keeping Cora as a backup and a bat off the bench.
Obviously this goes to prove what many of us said in another post yesterday that Alex Cora was a terrible signing. What more proof do you need than his managar who’d rather have an inexperienced C level prospect get the shortstop job over Cora. Even Omar said Tejada has the good chance to be the opening day shortstop. And he’s the idiot that signed Cora to that ridiculously overpaid contract in the first place.
Do you think this would be up for debate if they had signed Adam Kennedy or Felipe Lopez in the first place for half the price of Cora?
Even Cora supporters are smart enough to know the answer to that.
EPIC FAIL!
Cora was signed up early on, so that the team would feel comfortable having
a good back up infielder on the bench.
Tejada, who is a hardly known kid did something good for himself. He batted
good enough to wake some people up that in this emergency situation he may
be a better choice then Cora.
So what Omar did with Cora way back when it did not matter, matters not now.
And Omar did good this winter, so please stop putting him down. And I not a
fan of Omar, for I would love to see BV be the manager.
By the way do you know that your name (K. Maxx) is very close to Karl Marks.
Cora’s a decent bench guy–the definition of back up.
Mets have to start promoting the best of prospects, especially with the bad news on Reyes.
Why would Francoeur bat behind Murphy, unless the thinking is that he bats for a better average, will drive in more of the front four than Frenchie could, and Frenchie is there to power Murphy and other home. Still…
Francoeur is more of a power bat and should hit fifth naturally.
I agree about Francoeur but I think he’s got Murphy ahead of him so that the lineup doesnt have 3 righthanded bats in a row at the heart of the batting order.
To early to tell when some players (Murp/Franc) will bat. Lets see what they will do this season before making that decision.
Both of them has batted good, and not so good. So lets see what’s up in 2010.
Terrible choice by Jerry as normal. You can’t start the season with a AA ss. Tejada’s fielding is the pits and his bat will not be anywhere close to replacing Reyes’. For all his deficiencies, the Mets are paying Cora to be the backup, so use him as such. You paid him $2M to backup Reyes, so follow through and put him on the field. Does Omar feel any embarrasment over this? Does ownership have a clue and ask “what are these guys, who I put in charge, doing?” Tejada will only stink up the house when he should be honing his skills in the minors. Instead, the experience will most likely ruin his career for good. This is another boondoggle in the making. Jerry is an idiot with no decision making skills and Omar is now exposed for his lousy contracts. Why didn’t we sign Adam Kennedy. If we had, we could ride this through with respect. Now we are positioned to be fools once again, starting the season off in April with a September callup as our starting ss .
I understand your sentiment but trying to look at the situation objectively is it possible we are being too critical? Let me explain.
Cora was signed as a backup infielder/pinch hitter off the bench type of guy but even if Cora is the starter on Opening Day the Mets will still need another infielder to replace Reyes void.
Now you can’t replace Reyes bat at SS it’s just not reasonable to expect such a thing but you can try and at least replace his glove.
Toby Hyde’s blog describes Tejada as a player who “can pick it”.
metsminorleagueblog.com/2009/01/29/19-ss-ruben-tejada/
213milesfromshea said Tejada “was named the Mets best defensive infielder by Baseball America (12/19/2008)”
213milesfromshea.metsblog.com/blog/_archives/2009/7/7/4247630.html
Apparently not having seen him myself he may have some ability with the glove. Could it be the Mets would like to add him because of what they see so far but if they add him do not want him riding the bench but rather playing every day to continue his development?
The irony of this is that Omar took his slow, sweet time during the offseason to fill every need (and plenty of needs remain unfilled), except for one signing and that was Cora’s. He couldn’t wait to sign Cora to a lucrative contract from the get-go. Meanwhile there were better players available at lower prices right down to the wire at the end of the offseason. Adam Kennedy or even Felip Lopez would have been better signings. With Adam Kennedy, we wouldn’t be digging down to a mid-level minors prospect to start the season. Yes, I’m ticked that the season has to start off this way when better alternatives were readily available.
Again your assuming Tejada will be the SS and that he will be worse than a 34 year old Kennedy would have.
Right now we really have to wait a week or two in my opinion. The Mets have enough players in camp that it is realistic to think they may just end up bringing in a utility infielder.
I’m not assuming anything. The tenor of the article is that Jerry Manuel is simply handing the position over to an unproven youngster before anything is even demonstrated. At least play out ST before selecting the interim guy. Any decision now is ridiculous. If they pick up a utility player with some sort of credentials fine; go for it. But when Cora was signed that option was tossed overboard on this new frugal Mets franchise. So given Cora is the backup (that’s how Minaya set the roster), then play him and let the kid mature in the Minors. It’s really simple. You paid a guy $2M, stand up to that and use him when the emergency arises (which it has now). To introduce Tejada as the starting ss is a travesty. He is at best a September callup. The Mets are headed to emabarrass themselves because Jerry doesn’t have his head on straight.
You keep missing the biggest point in all of this.
That maybe the Mets simply feel Tejada is better than Cora.
But ST has hardly started and how can that be concluded so quickly? And if that is the case, why was Omar so quick to sign Cora? There must have been some urgency! If this kid is so great, they could have waited until now to figue out what to do about signing someone for backup. Better guys were available, but Cora was signed immediately in the post-season. It must have been urgent enough not to consider this kid. What has happened now to change that? Oh yeah, Reyes is going to be out. So suddenly Cora, who is good enough to get paid $2M, is not good enough to actually play. Ridiculous!
LOL, ok let me try and come at you this way.
1. The Mets have yet to make any decision so nothing has been concluded.
2. The Mets simply are saying based on what they have seen so far from Tejada they think he may be able to handle it.
3. Had Tejada not impressed the Mets so far in camp he probably would of never been given a 2nd thought.
4. The Mets have not announced that Cora will not be the Opening Day SS.
OK, I agree with what you say this time. It is still ealy in spring training and nothing has actually been decided. If Tejada outperforms, he deserves a look (although what I have seen so far doesn’t show me anything like that). Cora could very well start the season. My comments were addressing Jerry Manuel’s current assessment as to his current thinking and inclination. Jerry likes to play psychologist and that is what it may be about. His psych head play, however, tends to demoralize players instead of produce positive results. My complaint is aimed at Jerry’s skill or lack thereof as a manager and his flawed decision making and at Omar’s early signing of Cora as well.
Sorry I should of said “The Mets have enough players in camp that it is realistic to think they may just end up bringing in a utility infielder” via a trade.
I know that’s what you meant and that’s how I answered it. If they trade for a better guy, then great. But with the new cheap Mets that’s unlikely because we already put $2M in Cora’s pocket and Fred doesn’t like throwing money in the garbage. If they can trade Cora for somebody better, great again, but who will take him for $2M when better guys were going for half the price. So a trade of Cora means the Mets have to take most of his salary back and, once again, Fred won’t take that lightly. The basic problem is Cora’s contract was too rich and that screwed the Mets. We’re stuck with him and his $2M bill. But sitting him and playing an unproven kid makes a total travesty of it.
I wasn’t referring to trading Cora away necessarily rather if the Mets feel like you suggest Tejada is not ready they can still go out and bring in a more suitable player to fill Reyes void in the meantime.
What you call a travesty is only in your head because you can’t possibly predict what Tejada can do if he is given the starting SS position. You can guess as many do but the fact remains that TODAY no on knows who will be the Opening Day SS.
But thy are not going to keep Cora and get ANOTHER utility infielder. Cora is the backup! Fred will not pay for such a bill. Plus they will not release Cora and pick up someone better. Fred will NOT pay that bill either. So you are in Dreamland about picking up or trading for another ute infielder. We have what we have. It is a travesty to spend $2M on Cora and have him on the bench when he will actually be needed. The whole subject of going with Tejada is preposterous. And do you really think Jerry Manuel actually knows how to evaluate players? That is another whole joke.
Trejada can’t be any worse than Cora. No one is asking tejada to replace anything Reyes does. Just be adequate till Reyes returns in a few weeks. It’s not like it’s a year long thing guys. Stop with all the doom. Seriously with Reyes and beltran back in April everything will be ok. Relax guys, it’s not good for your blood pressure! Let’s all hope tejada surprises us since all it would do is make the farm look better since a C level prospect did decently in the majors. Plus he makes either trade bait or a replacement for castillo if havens and Flores don’t pan out.
Good show Pete, keep your good opinions coming on.
The Mets are going to give Tejada a big opportunity to be in the majors. I have no problem with it.
Pete, Fred, NJ, DC. I agree with you all. Our fellow fans can be a bit prone to freaking out so I’m encouraged by your level heads.
Tejada is winning a competition for the starting spot. Congradulate the kid. This is a dream opportunity for him to impress the rest of baseball. Ideally, he fills in admirably and becomes a real asset. If he fails, well, he can go back to being a minor leaguer. No big deal.
But is tejada’s .289 so bad you had him penciled in after Santana? I know Santana is no shmuck with the bat, but hitting him earlier sounds a lot sillier than batting murph 5th. Murph led the team in homers last year people. That doesn’t say much, but it does say I’m not bothered if he gets to hit ahead of frenchy.
I personally wish Luis could lead off. I’m not a fan of having someone with little extra base pop batting 2nd. Castillo is great at getting on base, not moving runners and driving in people like pagan or Reyes. Castillo is probably more likely to slap into a fielder’s choice and take those guys off the bases than drive them in.
Actually Tejada hasn’t won anything. He is being handed the starting ss job because Reyes won’t be ready and Cora is no great shakes anyway. If that is winning, it’s winning by default. The Mets could have had a real player on the bench ready to step in, but that’s not the case. So we have a boy to do a man’s job. It is my feeling that the season is set to kick off poorly now.
Wow I can only imagine what you would of said back on June 15, 1923 as Gehrig stepped in to replace Wally Pip.
Rough crowd let’s at least see if the kid actually is the starter and what he does with it before we bury him.
The whole boy doing a man’s job line is a bit much also. Last I saw we had a boy come up and take over NY once by the name of Dwight Gooden.
Say what you want, he is an AA player and needs to be in Buffalo this season for his own good. A Wally Pip he is not.
I can’t tell you if he belongs in AA or not. You may be right. I just think it’s something that we will know better in the next 7 to 10 days.
No need to make that determination now. Especially when all your really looking for is a person that can handle SS defensively.
We should have fired both Omar and Manuel as soon as the season came to an end. They are incapable of performing their job adequately. Omar was ranked in the bottom 3 of all GM’s by sports illustrated last week, and if they had to rank Manuel he would fare no better, and niether would our owners. We are screwed all the way around. We are drowning in incompetence.
I agree that I am not happy with Minaya and Manuel for a number of reasons but out of curiosity can you say something that you have seen so far that your are happy about involving the Mets.
theonlymaskman says:
March 13, 2010 at 4:43 pm
But thy are not going to keep Cora and get ANOTHER utility infielder. Cora is the backup! Fred will not pay for such a bill. Plus they will not release Cora and pick up someone better. Fred will NOT pay that bill either. So you are in Dreamland about picking up or trading for another ute infielder. We have what we have. It is a travesty to spend $2M on Cora and have him on the bench when he will actually be needed. The whole subject of going with Tejada is preposterous. And do you really think Jerry Manuel actually knows how to evaluate players? That is another whole joke.
You seem to know a lot of what the Mets will or will not do. I can’t claim to know such things. You may be right I can’t say I merely propose what I said as what seemed like a reasonable scenario.
Maybe your right and the Mets will say Cora has to be the SS. I am ok with that also if there is nothing better available. Like you said that is what he is getting paid for right?
In any case whoever they get will pale to what a Reyes could of done in that position. So I hope be it Cora or Tejada or player x that they do the best they can till Reyes gets back.
I agree with you that the Reyes situation is unfortunate and hope that in some way the Mets can make the best of it by putting someone on the field who can play well and provide at least reasonable performance. The backup will not come close to Jose’ but hopefully will be able to play representative ML baseball until Jose’s, hopefully, speedy return. I guess we can agree on that. LGM!
Nice!!!
[...] Ruben Tejada Reporting For Duty (metsmerizedonline.com) [...]
Look at it this way guys. According to the team reyes’ rest started last week. So last week is 1. This week is 2. Next week is 3. For all we know he might be back by opening day! And all of this is moot. Let’s all be positive and hope tejada and Cora are prepared just in case. And root them on and not boo them. Tejada might just surprise us! LGM!!!!!!!!! Rally time guys!