Among Mets manager Terry Collins‘ more interesting decisions this season will be where he’ll play Jose Reyes. Shortstop? Third base? Second base? The outfield?
It has been a long time since Reyes played second – remember the Kaz Matsui fiasco? – and the outfield would be forcing the issue considering the Mets have a glut of outfielders already.
Satisfied with Asdrubal Cabrera at shortstop, the Mets brought back Reyes to play third when David Wright injured his back, and truth be told, despite some public relations heat the move paid off for the team. Well, Wright is healthy now – knock on wood and fingers crossed – so where does that leave Reyes?
Because the Mets don’t have a bonafide leadoff hitter outside of Reyes, it’s important Collins devises a rotation with his infielders to keep him fresh and sharp at the plate. But, how many games is enough?
We can assume Collins will rest Wright at least twice a week, and if he subs him for Neil Walker and Cabrera at least once, that’s four games, which should be enough. However, that’s not written in stone and leads to the question of much time will Wilmer Flores get.
It won’t be easy for Collins, but a rotation has to be made to juggle the priorities of giving Wright, Walker and Cabrera regular rest and keep Reyes sharp at the top of the order.
Because the Mets have older and fragile players in their infield – of which Reyes is one – Collins should have enough opportunities to juggle this properly.
Thoughts from Joe D.
Not so fast John. First of all, I do love the energy and the skill set Jose Reyes brings to the team even though it’s no longer what it used to be. He still has the speed and ability to wreak havoc on the basepaths, however let’s not kid ourselves, his days as a productive everyday player are unmistakably at an end.
To be honest, Reyes has no business batting against right-handed pitching anymore at this stage of his career. Last season, he hit just .239/.293/.372 in 205 at-bats with 42 strikeouts.
However, much like Wilmer Flores, the switch-hitting Reyes did most of his damage against southpaws last season, touting a .380/.456/.780 batting line albeit in just 57 plate appearances.
Unlike you John, I’m really intrigued by all this talk about Reyes getting some reps in the outfield this spring because I think it could really pay some nice dividends for the Mets if it works out.
With the well documented futility of Curtis Granderson versus left-handed pitching, pairing him in a platoon with Jose Reyes would give the Mets a potent combination at the top of the order if each player were to produce at their current career trends.
With Granderson’s .847 OPS vs RHP and Reyes’ 1.196 OPS vs LHP I can’t imagine that there would be more than 4-5 more productive tandems in the game. So yes, by all means, full speed ahead with this outfield experiment and let’s see if we can make this work.
