Opinion: on Reyes, Batting Third, Francoeur & Criticism
In regards to Jose Reyes hitting third, Jeff Francoeur told the Star-Ledger:
“I don’t want to see that. Not at all. He’s the most dynamic leadoff hitter in the game, and I want to see him there. Who knows what we’ll do? But I’m just saying, he’s never been really a run producer. He’s been more of a guy to score 150 runs… I’m just saying, I think he’s the most dynamic leadoff hitter in the league… Reyes has always hit leadoff to me for a reason. He’s the best. He gets on base, steals, makes things happen.”
…i’m warming up this… i was very much against it at first… but, in hearing jerry talk about how it could extend the lineup, i’m swaying… of course, the Mets scored six runs yesterday with reyes batting leadoff and pagan batting eighth, so, who knows… to me, lineup construction has always been a bit overrated… i am far more concerned with having the best eight guys IN the lineup than i am with where they’re hitting… but, jerry has a point… i just worry for a guy like reyes, who takes such pride in batting first, to move him around now, when he’s trying to get his game in order, would it be foolish… but, time will tell…
Speaking of Reyes batting third, Mike, a reader of MetsBlog, sent me an e-mail saying:
“I have to say after following your blog for a while, you know nothing about baseball. Reyes should bat third, he hits a lot of ball in that gap, which if there were men on base he would be driving them in… You need to learn the game before you should be running a blog.”
…well, first off, thank you for reading the blog, despite my lack of knowledge… second, i created MetsBlog because i am a passionate Mets fan, not because i think i’m smarter than anyone else… because, that’s the thing, there are no requirements for writing a blog… a blog is a way to publish stuff… that’s it… what a person does with it is up to the blogger, and whether people consume that stuff is up to the reader…
…that said, i don’t think its fair to say i know nothing about baseball… i agree, however, that i don’t know everything… not even close… and i like that… i like to ask questions, and i enjoy learning about the game… you make a great point, mike, about jose driving in runs – i hadn’t thought about that, and you gave me something to think about, which i appreciate… i hope you’re right… i hope reyes is the best number three hitter ever… that’d be awesome… of course, it’ll be short-lived, because he’ll probably hop back to hitting leadoff when Carlos Beltran returns – but, in the meantime, whatever helps the team win more games is fine by me…
Speaking of criticizing bloggers, I wrote more about this today on my personal blog, here.
