Jose Reyes | New York Mets Fan Blog

In a Slump?

For the first time since early last season, the Mets lineup featured all of their stars. Reyes, Castillo, Beltran were all in the line-up together, ready to lead the Mets to a playoff berth for the first time since 2006. Unfortunately their arrival did nothing for the Mets, who fell to the Diamondbacks 13-2 in one of their worst games of the season.

So what is wrong with this Mets team?

Despite popular belief, not a lot. It is easy to freak-out right now. The bats are cold, K-Rod is anything but lockdown, and Pelfrey has stunk to the tune of a 6+ ERA since his stellar start to the season.

Even with all of these problems, the Mets will be fine. It has been 5 games since the All-Star break. The Mets have lost four of those and haven’t looked good doing it, even struggling to get their one win this road trip. The biggest problem: the bats. But that is something that won’t remain a problem for long. The Mets have too many All-Star players to let this slide continue.

Reyes has finally returned from injury and if all goes well he should add a spark. Beltran is working his way back and when he gets into a groove can carry this team. More importantly, when he proves he can play everyday, Francoeur will finally be shown the bench. I like Francoeur and think he has been a terrific fielder, but when you have an OBP below .300 you are a detriment to your team. Ike Davis looks to be heating up, and Bay has to start hitting eventually. Even through this tumultuous season for Bay, he has gotten on a few hot streaks.

As you can see, even though the bats are struggling this road trip, there is no reason to believe that will continue. They are in transition right now with players returning from injury, and some regulars cooling down. It has been horrible timing, but there are 162 games in a regular season for a reason.

What worries me more is Pelfrey, Takahashi and K-Rod. Pelfrey has gotten worse and worse each outing. It is not that he doesn’t have good stuff, but like last season he has lost confidence. I could easily see this spiraling down in a situation like last season. If Dan Warthen and Jerry Manual want to prove they are good at their jobs they will find a way to fix this. Manuel is awful at managing in-game situations, but his strength is supposed to be motivating his players…well let’s see it.

Takahashi has shown us he cannot handle a starting job. He does not have good enough stuff to make mistakes. He needs to go in the bullpen where he can pitch 1-3 innings. Unfortunately there is no one ready to take his spot outside of a trade, and if all the Mets need is a fifth starter, it is not worth giving up good prospects to get it. I have faith the Mets will find a solution to this problem, I just hope they are smart enough to not give up the farm.

For K-Rod I have no confidence in him and probably never will. Unfortunately he is our best option and while he has blown a league-leading five saves, he gets the job done more times than not. We can win with him, it just won’t be pretty.

by Evan Slavit at the Sports Fan Blog Network

July 20, 2010 Posted by slavite | Bloggers, Carlos Beltran, Evan Slavit, Francisco Rodriguez, Jason Bay, Jeff Francoeur, Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo, MLB, Mike Pelfrey, NY Mets Stuff, New York Mets, Original Content | Carlos Beltran, Ike Davis, Jason Bay, Jeff Francoeur, Jose Reyes, K-Rod, Luis Castillo, Mets, Mike Pelfrey, Takahashi | No Comments Yet

Make a Move

The Mets are in the running for a playoff spot, a situation they have found themselves in the past few seasons around the trade deadline. Unfortunately for the past three seasons the Met have failed to secure a spot down the stretch and have missed the playoffs all three years. A common factor with these teams has been their reluctance to make a big time move at the deadline. A move that could put them over the top, changing them from contenders to leaders. So should the Mets change their tune this season and make a trade before the deadline?

I think it is really tempting to say yes, but I am not sure if its the best move. Once Cliff Lee was traded to the Rangers, the trade market lacked a true ace. Sure adding a Ted Lilly or Brett Myers would allow the Mets to move Takahashi to the bullpen, but those guys are not a big improvement over any of the other Mets starters. Come playoff time, it would be hard to take Niese, Dickey, Pelfrey, or Santana out of the rotation. So does the newly acquired pitcher get the boot into the bullpen?

Minaya has done a good job holding onto his prospects the last couple of years. It is finally starting to pay off with some nice depth and big league help, but it still isn’t deep enough to give top prospects away. If they can get one of these guys for scraps, perfect they should make the move. But if the cost is Jenry Mejia, or Fernando Martinez, or even Josh Thole I am not sure it is worth it.

Standing pat, I am not sure the Mets make the playoffs. Perhaps with Beltran and Reyes healthy the Mets offense goes on a tear, but with only four spots in the playoffs and a lot of contending teams, nothing is a lock. It is tempting to make a trade to put the Mets over the top, but not at the cost of tops prospects.

by Evan Slavit at the Sports Fan Blog Network

July 19, 2010 Posted by slavite | Carlos Beltran, Evan Slavit, Johan Santana, Jon Niese, Jose Reyes, MLB, Mike Pelfrey, NY Mets Stuff, New York Mets, Original Content | Brett Myers, Carlos Beltran, Cliff Lee, Fernando Martinez, Jenry Mejia, Johan Santana, Jon Niese, Jose Reyes, josh thole, Mets, Mike Pelfrey, Omar Minaya, RA Dickey, Takahashi, Ted Lilly | No Comments Yet

He’s Back!

I did not realize how excited I was to have Carlos Beltran healthy and back with the big-league club till i saw him at bat the other day. Though he only had one hit, and was then promptly caught stealing, his presence alone was a big uplift.

While the Mets are still on the market for a starting pitcher to add to their rotation, Beltran is a big addition to their line-up. When healthy and going right, Beltran is the kind of offensive presence that can carry a team. Even when Reyes went down last season, the Mets didn’t buckle until Beltran joined him.

Beltran can hit, hit for power, steal, field, and throw making him that rare five-tool player in baseball.

The Mets offense has been slumping and Beltran’s return should act as a shot in the arm.

The unfortunate part to his return is it happened to coincide with Reyes’s injury problem. It will be nice for Reyes to get back and allow this line-up to what it was supposed to resemble on opening-day. With the line-up set the Mets offense should return to one of the best in baseball.

The Mets need to step up their play if they are going to make the playoffs. Beltran seems to be the player that can give them that spark and get the offense untracked.

by Evan Slavit at the Sports Fan Blog Network

July 16, 2010 Posted by slavite | Bloggers, Carlos Beltran, Evan Slavit, Jose Reyes, MLB, NY Mets Stuff, New York Mets, Original Content | Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes | No Comments Yet

Young Guns

For all the heat Omar Minaya got over the off-season, it is about time we give him some credit. While it was definitely warranted to question him in the past, Minaya has looked over a farm system that has provided some quality players for the big league team this season. I am talking about first baseman Ike Davis, and starting pitchers Mike Pelfrey and Jonathon Niese.

Ike Davis has solidified first base for the Mets, a position that has not seen a full season of production since 2006. Carlos Delgado never picked up his play in 2007 and while he went on a tear the latter half of 2008, his bat was pretty much non-existent the first half of the season. With the injury to Daniel Murphy the 2010 season was looking like much of the same with journeymen Mike Jacobs and Fernando Tatis splitting time at the position. Luckily for the Mets Davis had hit well enough in Spring Training and the start of the season for the AAA Buffalo Bisons that there was little resistance to calling him up. While he is barely hitting .260 on the year, he has still provided power with 7 home-runs, great defense, and more importantly…hope for the future.

Pelfrey has flat out dominated from the start of the season. I do not think it is a stretch to say that I feel more confident when he takes the mound than when Johan Santana does. All Pelfrey has done is go 9-1 on the season with a 2.39 ERA. He has given the team the 1-2 punch they have needed, and gives the team loads of confidence every time he takes the mound.

Finally there is Niese. He came up last season and pitched pretty well, but suffered a nasty hamstring injury during his third start since the call-up. The fear was he would not be able to recover enough to warrant a spot in the rotation to start the season. That fear was put aside early as he pitched so effectively during Spring Training that Jerry Manuel put him in the second spot following Santana. During the season Niese has managed to keep the optimism going with a stat-line that reads: 3-2 3.61 ERA 45 K/ 19 BB. To follow that up, Niese had only one blemish in his last start, a double in the third inning. Despite that hit Niese was perfect in a complete game effort where he shut-out the Padres.

Since David Wright and Jose Reyes were called up quite a while ago, the Mets have failed to add impact players to their big league team. This is Pelfrey’s third season, but following last year his career did not look as promising. While it has only been a few months, at this point it looks like Minaya has done a better job with the farm system than anyone has given him credit for. Not to mention the great acquisitions of Angel Pagan, Rod Barajas, Henry Blanco, Hisanori Takahashi, and RA Dickey.

by Evan Slavit at the Sports Fan Blog Network

June 14, 2010 Posted by slavite | Bloggers, Carlos Delgado, David Wright, Evan Slavit, Jon Niese, Jose Reyes, MLB, Mike Pelfrey, NY Mets Stuff, New York Mets, Original Content | Angel Pagan, Carlos Delgado, David Wright, Fernando Tatis, Henry Blanco, Hisanori Takahashi, Ike Davis, Jerry Manuel, Johan Santana, Jonathon Niese, Jose Reyes, Mets, Mike Jacobs, Mike Pelfrey, Omar Minaya, RA Dickey, Rod Barajas | No Comments Yet

My Best All-Time New York Mets By Position

Here are my all-time best New York Mets By Position…

When I picked my team, I only considered their contributions while a member of the Mets. If they played longer for the Mets, I gave them a slight bump in rankings since their impact on the Mets should be greater than someone playing only a couple seasons. As a general note, I started watching the Mets around 1985-86 so my choices will be biased towards Mets who have played in the 80s or later.

My squad contains one player at each position, five starters and a relief pitcher/closer. I listed other people I considered in the running for each position. I also added a link to some of our sports memorabilia by each of my choices..

OK.. Here is my all-time Mets squad.

Catcher – Mike Piazza
Also in the running: Gary Carter, Todd Hundley

1B – Keith Hernandez
Also in the running: Carlos Delgado, John Olerud

2B – Edgardo Alfonso
Also in the running: Jeff Kent, Wally Backman

SS – Jose Reyes (No Mets shortstop was even close)

3B – David Wright (He has only scratched the surface of his potential)
Also in the running: Howard Johnson, Robin Ventura

LF – Kevin McReynolds (This was a tough one.. There was not a clear favorite in my mind)
Also in the running: Cleon Jones, Cliff Floyd

CF – Carlos Beltran
Also in the running: Lenny Dykstra, Tommie Agee, Mookie Wilson, Lee Mazzilli

RF – Darryl Strawberry
Also in the running: Rusty Staub

Starting Pitchers –
1. Tom Seaver (Top 2 were obvious but I am somewhat biased towards players who played after 1986 and probably would have chosen a few older pitchers had I actually seen them pitch a little more)
2. Doc Gooden
3. Johan Santana
4. David Cone
5. Al Leiter
Also in the running: Jerry Koosman, Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine, Jon Matlack

RELIEF PITCHER – John Franco (Captain and long time Met.. got the benefit of the doubt even though I remember a few rough spots for him in his last year or two. The other ones I listed are dominating pitchers but had less actual time with the Mets than John Franco. I like KROD so far, and can see him moving up here if he does well for the Mets for the next couple seasons)
2. Francisco Rodriguez
3. Billy Wagner
Also in the running: Armando Benitez, Jesse Orosco, Roger McDowell, Jeff Reardon, Randy Myers, Tug McGraw

– Now that I went out on a limb.. anyone else want to try..?

Written by Evan Kanter of the Sports Fan Blog Network

November 3, 2009 Posted by sportsfan1 | Al Leiter, Billy Wagner, Bloggers, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Cleon Jones, Darryl Strawberry, David Cone, David Wright, Edgardo Alfonso, Evan Kanter, Johan Santana, John Franco, Jose Reyes, Keith Hernandez, Kevin McReynolds, MLB, NY Mets History, NY Mets Stuff, New York Mets, Original Content, Tom Seaver | Al Leiter, Carlos Beltran, Darryl Strawberry, David Cone, David Wright, Dwight Gooden, Edgardo Alfonso, Evan Kanter, Johan Santana, John Franco, Jose Reyes, Keith Hernandez, Kevin McReynolds, Mets by position, Mike Piazza, New York Mets, Tom Seaver | 2 Comments

Jose Reyes and Mets Ticket Prices Going Under the Knife

The Mets may finally be getting the hang of this public relations thing. The team announced Thursday that the average season ticket for 2010 would cost 10 percent less than it did this season, with cuts of as much as 20 percent in some locations. According to the team, every season ticket holder will wind up with a lower invoice than they had this year, although per-game ticket prices will remain the same in some instances.

The Mets say that the decision was made in deference to the economy, which is a lot easier than saying that we’re charging you less because of how awful we were this season. The economic realities of 2009 were certainly a consideration, but someone in the Mets realized that they’ve got a pretty ticked off fanbase these days and keeping them in the building was going to take more than the promise that things would better next year when all the players were healthy.

That was true even before the news that Jose Reyes tore his hamstring became public knowledge, but was twice as true when the ticket pricing announcement was actually made. One of the linchpins that the Mets could use as a selling point for a brighter tomorrow is now a gigantic question mark as the offseason gets underway, raising the possibility that the Mets could be looking for help at shortstop in addition to all of the other holes that need filling around the league.

Click here to read the full article – By JOSH ALPER of nbcnewyork.com

New York Mets Sports Memorabilia
and other New York Mets Gifts and Collectibles
Below are links to memorabilia available for Jose Reyes.


Jose Reyes Memorabilia

October 2, 2009 Posted by GameSetMatch | Jose Reyes, MLB, NY Mets Memorabilia, NY Mets News, New York Mets | Baseball, Jose Reyes, Jose Reyes Memorabilia, Mets, Mets Baseball, Mets Memorabilia, mets news, MLB, New York, New York Mets, New York Mets Memorabilia, NY Mets, NY Mets Memorabilia | No Comments Yet

Reyes takes indoor batting practice

Mets shortstop Jose Reyes took indoor batting practice before Monday’s game against Atlanta and still holds out hope for a return to the field before the season ends, according to the New York Daily News.

Reyes, who has not played since May 20 and was diagnosed with a complete tear of his right hamstring last month, told the Daily News that he will continue taking batting practice for the remainder of the week, and will have a key running session on the field Friday. Should the running session go well, Reyes told the paper he will attempt to play in one or the two final games next week

Click here to read the full article – By Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com

New York Mets Sports Memorabilia
and other New York Mets Gifts and Collectibles
Below are links to memorabilia available for Jose Reyes.


Jose Reyes Memorabilia

September 22, 2009 Posted by GameSetMatch | Jose Reyes, NY Mets Memorabilia, NY Mets News, New York Mets | Baseball, Jose Reyes, Jose Reyes Memorabilia, Mets, Mets Baseball, Mets Memorabilia, MLB, New York Mets, New York Mets Memorabilia, NY Mets, NY Mets Memorabilia | No Comments Yet

Reyes returns to NY with leg discomfort

Shortstop Jose Reyes returned to New York on Monday night with continued discomfort in his right leg. Reyes, who has not played a game for the Mets since May 20, was scheduled to be examined by doctors at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York on Tuesday.

Reyes had been making progress in his rehabilitation from a slight tear in his hamstring before last Friday, when he did not run the bases in Port St. Lucie, Fla., as scheduled. Mets manager Jerry Manuel called it a setback at the time.

Click here to read the full article – By Tim Britton of MLB.com

New York Mets Sports Memorabilia
and other New York Mets Gifts and Collectibles
Below are links to memorabilia available for Jose Reyes.