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
