The Minister Of Defense, Ruben Tejada

Mark Simon who does an amazing job at ESPN New York, sent me an email this morning about his latest post entitled, “A Shout-out to Shutouts“.

It’s a great fact-filled piece on the Mets 17 shutouts this season that I encourage all of you to read.

One interesting piece of information he throws in at the end of his article is this,

Lastly, Ruben Tejada, whose play we wrote about earlier this week, must think that shutouts are a way of life. He’s started in nine of the Mets shutouts this season.

In fact, in Tejada’s 24 starts at second base, the Mets have recorded eight shutouts. In Tejada’s last nine games starting at that position, the Mets have five wins — all shutouts.

Wow!

Sure there are plenty of us who recognize the fact that offensively, the 20-year old Tejada is far from Major League ready, but given how spectacular he has performed defensively, does that really matter at this point?

It may take a couple of seasons, but eventually Ruben Tejada could elevate his offensive game to that of a .280 hitter with a bunch of runs scored. And, with some more patience he could even bring his OBP into the .360 range which would be fantastic production given his defensive impact. 

One stumbling block though, may be the looming arrival of Mets second baseman of the future Reese Havens. But so far Havens is suffering from the same malady as F-Mart as far as staying healthy for a prolonged period of time.

As for as the here and now is concerned, the choice is abundantly clear. Luis Castillo out, Ruben Tejada in, case closed.