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Jose Reyes has hit safely in 17 straight 
games, during which he is batting .338 with five home runs, 11 RBI and a .383 OBP in 82 plate appearances while raising his overall average from .258 to .284 on the year.
He is now on pace to finish the season batting roughly .285 with 20 or so home runs, around 80 RBI and 55 stolen bases.
…like the rest of the team, it looks like reyes is relaxed, believing in himself and having fun…
In an article for the New York Post, Mike Vaccaro talks with Willie Randolph about Reyes’s turn around.
I just want to reiterate that last week, Buster Olney agreed with some NL scout’s assessment that Jose Reyes is the 4th best SS in his own division. What a horrific statement.
Yeah.
So Reyes out of the mets and the braves, phillies and marlins, is 4th in AVG, 2nd in Runs, 2nd in 2B, 1st in 3B, 2nd in HR, 1st in RBI, 1st in SB, 3rd in OBP.
Not to mention that Reyes has a better glove and a better arm than all of the above.
As if being compared to Hanley Ramirez, Jimmy Rollins and Yunel Escobar is a bad thing….That’s great company to be a part of no matter how you slice it.
3 of those guys could possibly end up in the hall. The shortstop position is stacked in the Eastern Division. Stacked, I say!
The problem I have with Olney’s sentiment is even suggesting that Yunel Escobar is anywhere close to Reyes, let alone the other two. Rollins is a great player, although he’s only been great for about 2 years, and Hanley is a great hitter, but he is a butcher in the field.
Olney can have Escobar who is as good as he will get, Rollins who is pretty damn good – but peaking, and Ramirez who will be an Outfielder with the next year or two.
It’s amazing how everybody forgets that Reyes is only 25.
Who cares? I believe what he said was “right now” and at that moment Reyes was struggling. The truth is any one of those great NL shortstops could be the best or the worst at any given time. You can do a lot worse than any of them.
I would agree with that assessment from Olney, but add that Reyes is probably the 4th best in the division but also the 4th best in the NL.
Rollins won MVP last year, peaking or not
Hanley we have all seen is a better hitter than Reyes
Escobar is very young and only getting better
So I would put Rollins and Hanley def in front of reyes/escobar
please do some research kandiman, Escobar Born Nov 2, 1982 (25, 26 in November)
Reyes – June 11, 1983 (24 … will be 25 in 9 days)
UGH
point here is you can’t say “very young and only getting better”
In fact, Escobar is the 2nd oldest of the group!!!
In Age its :
Rollins
Escobar
Reyes
Ramirez
well played
Yea I would say they are all very young. I wasn’t saying Escobar is very young compared to Reyes, I was saying he was very young himself. I wouldn’t consider a half year older than Reyes to be old.
I also am not saying hes old, but if Escobar is very young and just getting better, you pretty much could and should say the same about Reyes and Ramirez. Escobar is showing nothing different than Reyes or Ramirez in that….heck , might even be showing LESS!
exactly why i put Rollins and Ramirez in 1st and second and then said reyes/escobar would be 3rd.
Back to more important things (than Buster). I would really like the Mets to look into Carlos Gullien. The Tigers are mentioned to be nearing a turning point of selling off some players, especially in turn for some pitching help.
Gullien is an extra player for them but would be a tremendous pick up for us. A switch hitter who plays 1B, SS, 3B and NOW LF. He hits LH pitching very well and could slot in LF until Alou and then take over 1B if Delgado keeps struggling. If by some reason Delgado atcually starts hitting then Gullien can be used as a guy that can give almost any position player on the team a break. Next year he can take over LF or 1B depending on who else we sign.
I would not think it would cost too much to get him as the Tigers want to shed his contract, 33 million for the next 3 years.
How about Heilman and a AA relief pitcher?
Heilman and Muñiz and a lower A ball prospect for Guillen?
I don’t know if I’d do that if I were the Tigers but who knows?
Tigers are getting back two of their relievers this week.
Good point. Zumaya would pitch the 8th when he gets back.
Actually, the two Tigers relievers (Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya) start their rehab assignments this week and are expected back late this month or early next month.
I still think they will be in the market for other relievers. Also as I said, to dump excess payrole for players cheap and under control.
payrole?
That’s definitely a big contract for a guy that they don’t need that badly. I doubt it would cost us much to get him.
we’ve definitely got to do something to get some production out of left, esp with delgado doing his thing.
Im still miffed by the fact that Ramirez is considered a shortstop…the guy is an absolute butcher with the glove. As for Escobar, lets let the guy play a full season. Shane Spencer looked like Babe Ruth his first half year
He’ll be in the OF within the next 2-3 years.
In Hanley’s defense, he has gotten better with his fielding, though still nowhere near reyes
And yes, Escobar hasn’t done jack squat yet
And Rollins has had about 1.5 really great years thus far, not much more than Reyes
i miss the shane spencer/karim garcia platoon.
They were a great tandem…especially when it came to public urination, and assaulting pizza delivery boys.
and fighting with guys in the other team’s bullpen
Those were the days… :-)
Me too. Mostly to hear the Schmooze refer to him as Karim “of the crop” Garcia.
(In Pedro Voice) – Who is Karim Garcia? Who is he?
Just another reason to love pedro..
What did you try to hit them with?
but “who is Karim Garcia”?
Damn…sorry Woz…you are faster submitter than I
Ramirez isn’t a terrible shortstop. He has athleticism and makes some plenty of good plays. It seems to be mental mistakes that hurt his defense more than anything. Though I think he’s too tall to play SS. Maybe he’d do a decent job at CF with enough reps.
For now, I’d leave him there, just because there are relatively few SS that can hit, and he at least impersonates a SS.
Then again, I’m only basing my opinion based on Mets-Marlins games, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
He’d probably be a better third baseman, or first basemen (but I think you don’t get to use his athleticism as much). I think it’s just a matter of time until they move him.
Remember Keith reads this blog and I don’t think he’d appreciate your jab at 1B not using their athleticism
My understanding is that the Fish eventually plan to move him into the OF, preferably CF.
WIth the acquisition of Cameron Maybin, I dont see Hanley moving to center field. Hanley has looked alot better in the field this year, in fact he has fewer errors than Reyes so far.
I was laughing when not only the media but radio stations were claiming that Reyes wasn’t even close to the other SSs in the NL East. I know he had a poor end to the season in 2007 but we were only a month or so into this season and everyone was saying Reyes was overrated and was past his peak. You should know that the baseball season is too long to jump to conlcusions. I think Reyes will be fine and he should have a very good season.
I especially love the people who were saying we should have put Reyes in the Santana trade because he was ashed up and /or overrated and just an average shortstop.
In fact, I think M&MD called him “just another shortstop” last week. F***ing shocker.
They said he was playing like just another shortstop, despite his immense talent. And until he got hot, that wasn’t a terrible assesment. .260/.330/.400 with a bunch of errors and baserunning mistakes.
Yeah, his defense has been “off” too.
He got hot over a month ago. What I don’t understand it’s taken so long for people to notice.
it was because of how cold he had been from September thru the beginning of his hot streak
I love the people who were saying less than 2 weeks ago that we should trade him because he was overrated.
who was saying that? I don’t remember any comments like that.
a couple of fans in here. I think it was during the rockies series when we had lost 4 or 5 in a row and people were discussing who on the team could possibly be used as trade bait at the deadline if we were still way out it it.
kandiman, are you being sarcastic?
matt, we really do need a sarcasm font around here.
at this point you could make the argument that reyes has been the BEST SS in the NL east so far, even with his atrocious start.
not sure if the formatting will hold up, but here’s the comparison:
R | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | K | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS
REYES:
36 | 13 | 5 | 7 | 25 | 23 | 34 | 18 | .284 | .347 | .480 | .827
RAMIREZ:
44 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 23 | 27 | 54 | 13 | .299 | .385 | .483 | .869
ESCOBAR:
31 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 22 | 23 | 30 | 2 | .294 | .362 | .389 | .750
ROLLINS:
22 | 14 | 0 | 3 | 18 | 9 | 11 | 8 | .292 | .340 | .460 | .800
You could also make the argument that he’s been third best. There’s no clear cut best right now – they’re all very talented and very good players. None of them are great yet. I think they probably all will be great when their careers are over and we reflect back.
Any one of them can play for my team.
To me Reyes is better defensively than all of them. Rollins is on his level defensively but Reyes’ struggles are just an abberation. If you can, exclude Escobar, compare their first 3 seasons.
True – none of them has a cannon like Reyes does.
strictly talent wise, the case can be made that Reyes is number 1 (or 2 next to Hanley, whose hitting is just that good)
The problem with Jose is when he suffers the mental lapses on the bases and in the field. Plus, when the kid slumps, he looks terrible.
About two weeks ago Jose Reyes studied video of his swing, and discovered that he was overstriding. Since then, he’s shortened his stride and hit in 17 straight. If you watch him now, he just picks up his heel and puts it back down – hardly a stride at all.
So, maybe his struggles weren’t due to laziness, his big contract, Ricky Henderson, or Willie Randolph after all, as I and many other thought. Could it be this whole thing was mechanical?
Either way, it sure is nice to see the old Jose Reyes again.
I still want Valentin back.
it would be awesome if it was purely mechanical, especially based on some of the reports after last season concluded.
If his struggles since last year have been purely mechanical, then someone has to get fired for not discovering it sooner. That’s crap.
Considering they still haven’t figured out Pelfrey is tipping his pitches I wouldn’t be shocked.
I thought they had that figured out… How can we know it but the people paid to find these things have their heads in the clouds?
I want a raise.
You’d have thought a hitting coach would have caught it sooner if it were purely mechanical
Agree. As fans, we and the media overanalyze things. Players some time go into slumps. Some slumps last a week, some last a month, some last a half season and some last an entire season and finally, some never end. As a Reyes fan, its frustrating when he goes into a slump but is also very frustrating when people attribute his slumps to “a lack of focus” when they don’t cite such reason for other players when they go into a slump.
Or cocaine.
That was my favorite one.
Well, there is some evidence for him losing focus – he’s been picked off numerous times this year, and his un-Reyes like defense so far can be attributed to lack of focus as well. That is not to say that his slump was entirely due to such a lack, but it at least played apart from time to time.
Or guys slump in baseball and then try too hard and it gets worse.
Yeah, cocaine was definitely the best one.
These things are almost always due to age, injury, or mechanics.
watching last night’s game, I realized that the fans actually continued the canned Jose chant, and it was like finding a $100 bill in your wallet that you’d forgotten about.
Well, the baseball season is long enough to make predictions and statements look foolish. The idea that Reyes would go from potentially being the most talented player in baseball to the 4th best shortstop in the NL East is absurd.
We do not know exactly what effect the collapse has had on this team and Reyes, who took the most heat for it other than Randolph, but last September and into April to mid-may of this year we have seen Reyes struggle.
The idea that his problems would be permanent is not an educated assessment. Since 2004, Reyes has shown the skills that rank him as one of the best players in the entire league. Three months of slumping over two seasons does not remove that ability forever.
I find it interesting that Reyes during his breakout has shown more power in his swing than ever while not over swinging to get that power. Putting him on pace for 20+ homers. Which another ESPN analyst said Reyes wouldn’t develop.
“Putting him on pace for 20+ homers. Which another ESPN analyst said Reyes wouldn’t develop.”
Which is especially hilarious considering he had 19, 2 years ago.
Well let’s take a look at all the brilliant things ESPN analysts have said:
“2005 USC is the greatest college football team ever”……USC doesn’t even win the Nat’l Champ game that year….
“Reggie Bush is going to change the NFL he may be the best player ever”……do i even need to comment?
“The Patriots are the best team of all time”…..they cheated, and then didn’t win the superbowl…..
“Cole Hammels will have a better career than Johan Santana”….just idiotic
“Jimmy Rollins deserved the MVP over Matt Holiday”….nahhhh Holiday had better stats in every category except the “looking like the R&B thong song singer Sisqo”
They say things to get reactions, and b/c they are morons…..
I never heard anyone say Hamels will have a better career than Johan? Which pinhead said that?
My personal all-time favorite was when Randy Johnson was traded to the Yankees, John Kruk said, and I quote, “Randy Johnson is going to win 35 games this year.” I swear to God he said that. It’s as funny now as it was then.
most yankee starters go 35-0 every year. it’s a fact.
Jose is the Best Player on the METS…. 5 Tools…
Jose is amazing. He is hands down the best shortstop the Mets have ever had. He’s a delight to watch, and I’m thrilled that he has remained healthy. May he have a long and productive career with the Mets.
If Jose is hitting like he is now and cause havoc on base, Then he’s a upper tier short stop, If he is fielding well, which he hasn’t lately, then he could be top 2 shortstop
It’s no coincidence that the Mets are winning games now that Jose is playing well again. I thought by now he would be one of the top 4 or 5 players in the league but I doubt I can make a case that he’s the best player at his position in his own division. Reyes is my favorite player on the Mets but sometimes he can be the most disappointing