Reyes Effected By His Contract?

Joel Sherman at the New York Post writes about Jose Reyes and about the off chance that he might think that he under sold himself when he signed his contract in 2006 as to one of the reasons for his performance late last season and early this season:

One theory that has often floated about to explain why Jose Reyes has not been Jose Reyes for a while now is that he is upset at his contract. I never really did buy that theory. He received the deal during the 2006 campaign and played spectacularly to about the midway point of last year. Was it then that it dawned on him that he undersold himself? Also, let’s keep in mind that even if the New York Mets pick up his very affordable option in 2011, he is looking at nearly $30 million between now and then. Not as much as he could have made by a long stretch if he went year to year. But certainly enough to scrimp by on for a while.

That is just ridiculous. I mean if he felt like he got under sold then he shouldn't have signed the contract. Besides that is just stupid to think that that's the reason why he hasn't been his 2006 self. Anyway just thought that readers might like to see what some people are pondering when it come to Reyes.

How Reyes Got His Groove Back

Jim Baumbach at Newsday writes about Jose Reyes going back to his old self:

"I'm going to be the old Jose Reyes," he said after the Mets' 5-2 win over the Nationals last night, won by John Maine, who earned his first win by allowing two runs and five hits in 6 2/3 innings. "I'm going to enjoy my game. I'm going to dance during the game. I'm going to do the handshakes with everybody. I'm going to keep everybody going with smiles in the dugout."

Beltran approached Reyes early Tuesday afternoon and said he pleaded with him to go back to his old self - the enthusiastic, energetic, always happy Jose Reyes.

Well we couldn’t have thought that this serious Reyes would last very long. It’s just not in him. It could just be a coincidence that when he brings back excited Reyes that he starts to tear the cover off the ball again. I guess we will never know.

More Small Ball For Reyes

John Harper at The New York Daily News writes about Jose Reyes and how Willie Randolph wants him to slow down at the plate a little bit:

Such is the dilemma for the Mets this spring: Harnessing Reyes' explosive ability in an attempt to avoid the kind of meltdown that crippled the team last September, is tricky business, indeed.

As hitting coach Howard Johnson put it: "In a perfect world we'd love to have Jose hit ground ball singles every time up, but he can do so much more. So I'm just trying to make sure that he's committed to slowing his approach, that he's not getting too excited and jumping at the ball."

"The urgency to win," is what Randolph called it yesterday. "Jose tried harder, harder, harder - and more was worse for him. But we forget that he's still young, and the reality is that you're going to struggle. People are making adjustments on you, and Jose is such a free swinger that he doesn't make adjustments on the fly.

"We need to slow him down. It's hard because he's in attack mode all the time. Jose's all go-go-go, and you love that, but good pitchers exploit that aggressiveness. ... Jose knows he's a better hitter when he hits the ball down, but when you struggle the way he did last year, you don't think about those things. I think Jose will be fine."

Does He Throw A Slider?

David Lennon at On The Mets Beat writes about Billy Wagner's live batting practice session:

It was no contest. Pitchers are clearly ahead of the hitters at this point and Billy Wagner proved that emphatically this morning. Facing the top four in the lineup, few even bothered to swing, and the hardest hit ball was Jose Reyes' chopper to second base. "That's an out right?" Wagner said smiling.

Even Carlos Beltran left the cage wondering what he was looking at. "Does he throw a slider?" Beltran asked. Pitching coach Rick Peterson assured Beltran that he did.

A More Serious Reyes

At Rotoworld they write about Jose Reyes and how he intends to take this season more seriously:

Jose Reyes said Tuesday that he'll be "taking this year more seriously" by avoiding celebratory handshakes and other on-field antics that could upset opponents.

"I'm going to enjoy the game, but I'm not going to do the handshakes with the guys," Reyes said. "I don't want people to talk about that. I just want to play baseball. I want to take care of business on the field. When people see me in the dugout, and they see me not smiling, they'll be saying, 'What's wrong with Jose?' Nothing. I'm just going to be more serious this year."

Twins Still Asking For Reyes?

Now I know that Mike and the Mad Dog don't really have the greatest opinion of the Mets, even though they are on the Mets radio station, so I won't put too much stock in this comment. At Rotoworld they write about the Twins and them still wanting Jose Reyes in a trade for Johan Santana:

WFAN's Mike Francesca says the Twins are still insisting on Jose Reyes in a Johan Santana deal with the Mets.

The Twins have to know by now that they have no realistic chance of getting Reyes. "I spoke to Omar Minaya yesterday, and one thing you can take to the bank is that when we get to spring training Jose Reyes will be there - anything else you hear is nonsense," Francesca said. "And they have not backed off Reyes, the Twins are still asking for Reyes, they are at a stalemate with the Mets over Reyes."

Could The Mets Really Be Thinking This?

At Rotoworld they write about the possibility that the Mets are thinking about trading Jose Reyes:

According to the New York Daily News, there's "speculation in MLB circles" that the Mets are considering parting with Jose Reyes in a potential trade for Johan Santana.

Minnesota traded away its starting shortstop Wednesday, sending Jason Bartlett to Tampa Bay. However, previous reports have suggested that the Mets aren't willing to trade Reyes, David Wright or Carlos Beltran. If a deal for Santana can't be worked out, the newspaper speculates that the Mets will pursue Erik Bedard, Dan Haren or Dontrelle Willis.

Mets Will Not Part With Wright, Reyes Or Beltran For Santana

Mark Hale at The New York Post writes about the Mets and what they won't part with to get Johan Santana:

Santana has one year left on his deal at $13.25 million, so a negotiating window (typically 72 hours) would be needed for the Mets to try to come up with a new pact. If the Mets are to trade for Santana, though, they will not be including any of their three core offensive players in the deal: Jose Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Beltran would all be off limits. Beltran actually has a no-trade clause anyway, as does Santana.

Glavin On Reyes's Slide

Don Burke at The Star Ledger writes about Tom Glavine's thoughts on Jose Reyes's slide in production last season:

"I don't know,'' he said. "All of us who play this game,you go through that. You try to put a finger on what happened. ...All I can tell you is, as teammate, Jose was the same. Came to ballpark ready to play. No difference.

"Sometimes the game of baseball has a way of evening things out, humbling you a little bit. Jose went through that. He has the desire to be great player. He's going to learn and, ultimately, (what he went through) is going to make him a better player.''

Don't Sell Out Jose Reyes Quite Yet

from MetsLifer.com

Man, we're tough in New York. A guy wins a couple World Series, makes the playoffs every year, now he's going to be fired. That's the place we live, and now Mets fans are ready to turn on Jose Reyes.

We've even talked about here in this blog, but we've come to realize the error of our ways and I'm here to tell you that you shouldn't sell out Jose Reyes quite yet.

Let's flashback to April of 2007. Jose Reyes was the talk of baseball. An MVP year was expected. Derek Jeter called him the most exciting player in baseball. Joe Morgan christened him as possibly one of the best players we'll ever see play the game. And you know what? He looked like it the first 3 months of the season.

In May any team in baseball would have given their first-born child to get Jose Reyes. But now Mets fans are looking like they are done with him.

Did Jose Reyes utterly collapse the second half of the season? Yes. Did he look lost at the plate? Absolutely. Did he appear to be complacent at times by not running out ground balls and making some foolish decision in the field? Unquestionably true. Is he 24 years old? Yes, he is.

Reyes is still very much a young kid when it comes to baseball years. Sure he's been playing a few seasons already, but he has not yet matured into the baseball leader I'm confident he will be. He's come so far these past two seasons from that leadoff batter who struck out every other time up and was a sucker for any pitch down and in. He led the majors in stolen bases this year, and that's without getting on base for much of September.

I am confident Reyes will bounce back, but I do think Rickey Henderson needs to go. I don't want him molding Reyes in his image. We need a guy with a good head on his shoulders who can tutor Reyes. I'm sorry Omar, but Henderson is not that guy.

I've heard people talk about trading Reyes for anyone from Johann Santana to A-Rod to Vladimir Guerrero. I'd take Reyes over those guys even though their numbers are superior to Reyes' stats. Why? Because I believe this kid is still the MVP caliber talent that everyone hoped he'd be. We've seen how good this team can be when he is running on all cylinders. When Jose Reyes gets on base, the Mets score runs and win ball games. That's a hard commodity to find and when you do find it, you hold onto it.

Plus he's 24. 24 years old. And we have the potential to have the best shortstop and third baseman in the game for the next 10 years in Reyes and Wright. They're our Bat Man and Robbin' (get it? it's a play on words. Wright is the "bat" man and Reyes is "robbin'" bases! Nevermind.)

So let's all take a breath, my fellow Mets fans, before we sell Reyes down the river for the latest and greatest trade rumor. Jose Reyes will return to form. And that's something we won't want to miss.

The Most hated Team In Baseball?

David Lennon at On The Mets Beat writes about the Met sand how the media is postering them as the most hated team in baseball. This is truly a great read and if you have the time, you should check out the whole post:

Can we stop with saying the Mets are the most hated team in baseball because they like to dance after home runs? It's complete nonsense.I've covered the sport for the past 12 years and I've never seen a team joke, laugh and chit-chat with opposing players more than these Mets. During batting practice, whether it's at Shea or on the road, guys like Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, Moises Alou and Carlos Beltran are always talking with other players -- and many of them are close friends.

If the Mets had won two more games -- that's right, two -- we wouldn't even be having this discussion. Sure the Cardinals mocked the Jose-Jose-Jose chants after they won Game 7 of the NLCS last October. But the Mets don't sing during games. The fans do. Reyes doesn't hold up a cue card with lyrics as he's standing on first base.

Were the Mets hated last year when they won the NL East and came within a base hit of the World Series? No. Were they hated when they led the division by seven games with 17 left? No. But as soon as they miss the playoffs, because of Tom Glavine's worst game in a Mets uniform, Reyes and Milledge are suddenly MLB's version of Terrell Owens and Chad Johnson.

The 1986 Mets were despised because they not only beat teams, they fought most of them, throwing as many punches as pitches. The 2007 Mets ultimately were failures, and nobody hates a loser. What's the point.

My Two Cents On Olney's Plan For The Mets

Recently there have been a lot of rumors regarding the fate of Jose Reyes and Buster Olney at ESPN they say that the Mets should include him in a package deal to obtain Johan Santana from the Twins.

This is an absolute ridiculous notion to even consider thinking about. This is the kind of trade that is a tear down of the core of the Mets future. Only because of his terrible last six weeks of the season is anyone even breathing in the direction of this being a, sort of, good deal to be made.

The Mets would be losing such a commodity that there would be numerous ramifications to be felt for seasons to come. First of all they would lose their lead off hitter and the mets don’t have anyone that could even come close to replacing Reyes. Second of all they would lose that threat on the base paths that has won them numerous games over the course of the season and on top of all that the y would be losing a potential Golden Glove player and two time All-Star in the process.

Now I fully understand that Johan Santana is without a doubt the best lefty in this day in age and is one of the best starters in the game, however that doesn’t mean that the Mets should trade away Carlos Gomez, Mike Pelfrey and Jose Reyes to obtain him for what would seem like only a year if the Mets fail to resign him.

That is a blow to the Mets team and a major blow to their farm system that just isn’t worth the price.

Willie Mays Hayes Syndrome

In the movie Major League, outfielder Willie Mays Hayes always tried to go for the home run instead of putting the ball on the ground and using his speed to get hits. In the movie, the coaches changed Hayes and got him to hit grounders and liners instead of fly balls. He then became the catalyst on the team and helped the Indians make it to the ALCS.

Jose Reyes suffers from Willie Mays Hayes Syndrome. Jose has been hitting the ball in the air almost every at-bat. The Mets suffered and ended up loosing the division in part because of the sloppy play of Reyes. After batting .307 before the all star break with 4 home runs, 9 triples, and 35 rbis. Since the all star break Jose had an average of .251 with 8 home runs, 3 triples, and 22 rbis. In the month of september Reyes was awful batting .205 with 2 home runs, 8 rbis, and had just 5 stolen bases while being thrown out 4 times. Jose needs to learn that in order to be successful he needs to hit line drives and not home runs. He needs to get singles and steal, not hit triples every time. He needs to be the catalyst he was all of last year and that he was in the first half of the season if the Mets want to win and if he wants the boo's to stop.

To see why I think Willie Must go vist Mets Prospects.

Reyes Needs To Wake Up

John Delcos at Lo Hud asks a question of Professor Reyes:

Today’s lesson at the Prof. Reyes School of Spanish: How do you say “wake up?”

Errors. … Swinging at junk, and a lot of times it is the first pitch. … Getting picked off and running at the wrong time. … Not always hustling.

Reyes Needs To Step Up

from Bleed Orange And Blue (network member)
Can you stop popping the ball up already? Seriously, it is ridiculous.

But that is not what I wanted to post about.

Reyes just hasn't been present lately. I just don't see the Jose Reyes I saw in May coming on to the field these days.

He needs to forget about all these mistakes he has made and stop thinking about making the top 10 best plays on sportscenter with a three run home run and try to hit like Luis Castillo. Just knock the ball up the middle. That is the way he should be hitting.

I am convinced that the only reaseon he has been popping up so much is because he was trying to impress everybody with a homerun. Well get over it Jose, you are not a home run hitter.

And Jose, run out the plays and look alive in the field. Please?

Reyes Out Of The Woods?

Steve Popper at North Jersey writes about Jose Reyes and his resurgence:

One bright spot for the Mets on Tuesday was Jose Reyes, who emerged from his second-half slump to belt three doubles – his first three-hit game since Aug. 9.

"I haven't been hitting like that," Reyes said. "I've got to come [today] and keep it up."

Award Season Is Coming - Part One - The Gold Glove Award

Yes, award season is almost upon us. No, I’m not talking about the Emmys, or the Grammy’s, or the VMA’s (although Brittney’s agents should be shot after letting her perform in the condition she was in) – as it’s getting close to the time when baseball recognizes its’ top in-season performers with various awards, from fielding to hitting. By now, you’ve read all about everyone’s predictions, and as you know from reading many of our columns, we try to be as objective as possible when stating whom we feel would be the best candidate for each award. However, it’s very hard NOT to be subjective when a Carlos Beltran gets robbed of an MVP award or you watch a Rafael Palmiero win a Gold Glove at first base when he only manned the position that year for 28 games (he DHed the rest of the way) after winning it 3 previous seasons in a row. Therefore, rather than simply stating WHO we pick for each award, we’d like to offer a history of some of these awards (info courtesy of Baseball Almanac), as well as our picks, if any, from our own beloved Mets. Of course, after bragging rights are over, the main purpose for choosing these awards is to put more money in millionaires pockets (although it’s always cool when your team wins an award, especially if it’s the only thing your team won that season). Without further ado, today we’ll discuss the Gold Glove Award…

Gold Glove:
The Mets have had 8 players win a Gold Glove Award (15 awards total):

Tommie Agee (OF-1971),
Buddy Harrelson (SS-1971),
Doug Flynn (2B-1980),
Keith Hernandez (1B – 1983 – 1988),
Ron Darling (P-1989),
Rey Ordonez (SS-1997-1999),
Robin Ventura (3B-1999)
and
Carlos Beltran (OF-2006).

This season, we believe the following Mets should be up for consideration:

SS:Jose Reyes,
3B David Wright
OF Carlos Beltran.

If Endy Chavez had played an entire season, obviously we’d push for him as well, and although Wright has made a number of errors this season, his spectacular plays (made routine) far outweigh these errors. It’s actually amazing that Beltran hasn’t won more than one award for his awe-inspiring fielding, which shows what it means to play in the biggest market in the game. Reyes is an amazing shortstop, and unless you watch him regularly, his hitting and base-stealing prowess overshadow his consistency and brilliance in the field (only 8 errors this season, with many spectacular plays).

We’re Not The Only Ones
On a similar note, in today’s Los Angeles Times, writer Mike DiGiovanna, who covers the Angels, details the plight of the (Los Angeles) Angels (of Anaheim via the 5 Freeway Unless It’s Crowded then You take the 91) shortstop, Orlando Cabrera, and his pursuit of a second gold glove, which should have been awarded to him long ago but hasn’t because he has become lost in his own market, the second largest in the game, as a result of playing in the shadow of the Yankees' Derek Jeter. To read this article, click here. It's nice to know that we're not the only contending team that gets so little respect...

The History
I have always felt that the Gold Glove award is by far the most subjective, and not objective, of all of baseball's awards, as there is still not a good enough barometer in place to determine who is truly the best fielder at their position. If two shortstops are compared to each other, one might have a far superior range than the other one, but may have made many more errors as a result of his trying to utilize that range to make plays the other player would never have had a chance at making. Recently, there have been improvements in helping determine who should win a Gold Glove, via statistics, including zone coverage, instead of just how many or few errors one made and what their accompanying fielding percentage is. However, these measuring sticks still fall far short of being an accurate barometer of defensive prowess. Some people think that Jimmy Rollins is the best defensive shortstop in the NL (9 errors); I personally believe that our own Jose Reyes is the best defensive shortstop in the NL (8 errors); others might still vote for (the now ancient) Omar Vizquel, based solely on his reputation and not on his actual performance, and this has been one ongoing criticism of these awards for as long as they have been around.

It’s easy to determine who the Home Run champion is – the person who has hit the most homers, not the person who hit the most in day games or versus left-handed pitching. This would be considered a very objective award, as no one is going to question how the decision as to who hit the most home runs is derived, whereas who wins a Gold Glove is far more subjective and, if you will, mysterious (for lack of a better term) when all is said and done.

The fabulous Baseball Almanac offers the following, as to the origins of this award– click here -

“The Gold Glove Award was first presented by the St. Louis-based Rawlings Corporation in 1957 to honor the eighteen best fielders at their positions. Rawlings used a combination of defensive statistics along with visual effect to determine the winner and honored the recipient with a large gold glove. Voting is currently done by the managers and coaches from each Major League team who are NOT able to select their own players."

It will be interesting to see who receives these awards this season, as stalwarts such as Greg Maddux have become long-in-the-tooth, and there is definitely an opportunity to “anoint” some new blood this season. I am watching this category closely, and before this season is over, we’ll give you our choices at each position.

Tomorrow: MVP & Cy Young Awards

Mets Atop NL In Power Ranking

Over at MVN they give this week's power ranking of the Majors:

3. The Mets have won three in a row and eight of their last ten. This is particularly impressive because leadoff man Jose Reyes has been very electric of late. Batting .148 and getting on-base at a pitcher-like (sorry Micah Owings) .179 clip, Reyes just ain’t getting it done. If he doesn’t pick things up by October, Willie Randolph’s team might be in a lot of trouble.

Wright Volunteered For Short Stop Yesterday

Steve Popper at North Jersey writes about how David Write wanted to start at Short Stop in Reyes's absence:

Wright told Willie Randolph he'd take the assignment.

"I told him I'd sleep on it," Randolph said. "But I didn't dream about it so it didn't happen. That's the only way it would happen is if I dreamed about it. He was trying to make a case for it [Tuesday] night, but no, no way. He'll stay at third base."

Issues Down The Stretch

Obviously wrapping up and securing the division title and home field through round 1 and 2 are the priorities here. But after that, here are some pending issues.

Jose Reyes NEEDS Rest:
Can we get A Hernandez to play some short? With each new view of a pop up flying off of his bat, it's become over-obvious that he is tired. The 48 hours off ending the Cinci series, followed by the scheduled team day off, will be a nice rest period for Reyes. But a little more may actually be in order.

Keeping Castillo Healthy:
Like Reyes, Castillo needs rest. With Gotay as a solid backup, it should not kill the appearance of the offensive lineup. Defense suffers, but Castillo lightening the workload on his knees and Gotay getting at bats is a good thing; gain a bit of pop and keep the valuable, aging, number two hitter fresher for the postseason. Its a symbiotic relationship that helps the team exponentially because in addition to the rest and health benefits of Castillo, Gotay keeps a nice bat on point.

Pedro:
* Building arm strength.
* Properly evaluating his status for the postseason and how he should be used. Bullpen? Starting? If in the rotation is he your number one, two, three, or four starter?

Sorting Out the Rotation for the Playoffs:
'Nuff said for now. See who has it going down the stretch. Clearly the toughest evaluation the team will need to make heading into round one. And of course this impacts......

The Bullpen:
Which starter or starters will go to the pen? The Mets win games the Duke starts at a high rate. He has big stage moxy. On the flip side however, he may be the most adaptable for the pen, an area where the Mets desperately need improvement. El Duque has pitched out of the pen in the postseason before (2005 WS Champion White Sox).

I've been vocal since last November about the temptation and logic behind Pedro being used in the pen. But its apparent that isn't a popular thought and highly unlikely due to ego. Some say his arm wouldn't be capable of getting loose on short notice. But being used an inning a night might be easier on the arm than the workload of 6 at a time. I'm no doctor though.

If he takes a step back in performance over the next and final 3 starts of the regular season, it would be a major risk to let him start a playoff game. So this final stretch will determine a lot.

The team will also need to decide how many bullpen guys they carry as their bench is extremely strong and one impacts the other. And where is Joe Smith? Is he coming back soon or what? What is his chance of being on the postseason roster?

Can Mota restore our confidence in him? Can Willie resist the temptation to burn out Sosa's arm? So far he has severley overused him and I fear for his effectiveness dropping off.

The Bench:
Conine needs some ABs. In addition to the chance Delgado's hip issue lingers, Conine is one of the few attractive righty bat options off the bench. It is dominated by sweet lefty options. But other than Milledge, who starts 50% of the time anyway, Conine is the main righty pinch-hitter late in a game. He needs to get AB's in September for his timing come October.

In blowout games or games that seem to not matter (should the Mets build a more than comfortable lead in the NL east), Chavez should be in there relieving the old and fragile, but important to the postseason, Mosies Alou. Let him come off the bench late in the games like Willie has been doing, or get him more frequent starts in place of Moises.

Regarding the rest of the bench, roster decisions will have to be made and the pitching roster will determine how many bench players are carried. As always it all begins with the pitching.

Catchers:
Getting Castro healthy is number one priority here. All the Mets can do is sit back and wait, hoping he heals. He's on the postseason roster even if he only heals by Septembet 30 and gets no MLB ABs before the first round. Will the Mets carry 3 catchers or will they prefer to carry an extra arm in the bullpen or give that spot to a non-catching bench player?