Jose Reyes – Page 2 – Optimistic Mets Fan

June 30, 2011

NL MVP vs AL Cy Young, Vote Reyes, DePodesta Recap

Couple of noteworthy things to look at today. The first is the Mets are playing a day game today at 1:05. The potential National League MVP, Jose Reyes, will leadoff the game against the potential American League Cy Young, Justin Verlander. Should be a fun day. The Mets won the first game on a blowout, the second on a slugfest, could the third be a pitcher’s duel? Is Mike Pelfrey up for it?

Secondly today we need to get #votereyes trending on Twitter and also to vote for Reyes as many times as we can. It would be a travesty if Reyes was not the starting shortstop for the National League. While you’re voting, throw in some votes for Carlos Beltran too. On the American League side Asdrubal Cabrera deserves your vote, especially as he’s currently being led by a player having a poor season that’s on the disabled list in Derek Jeter. Mike Francesa thinks the All-Star Game should be Jeter’s personal 3000 hit celebration, which is even more fodder. Also, Alex Avila deserves your vote for AL Catcher.

Thirdly, last night a bunch of bloggers talked with Paul DePodesta and Michael Baron of Metsblog kindly put up a transcript. I’m sure there are couple of other breakdowns out there too.

June 29, 2011

Let’s Keep It Rolling Rolling Rolling..

Well that was fun wasn’t it? After a ridiculous amount of games without a grand slam, the Mets hit two in one trip through the lineup last night. Jose Reyes had ANOTHER 4-hit game, his second in as many days and he’s reached based nine of his last 10 appearances. Bay had one of those grand slams, Dickey gave the team length and the Mets climbed above .500 baseball on the season. They remain five games out of a playoff spot, but there is a lot of baseball yet to be played. Jose Reyes has as many triples as 17 other major league clubs and still hasn’t gone two consecutive games without reaching base.

What’s not to love about this team right now? The Mets schedule is still tough in the immediate future, but they have a chance to put .500 behind them for good. The way they’re playing, I believe they can do that no matter who’s in the other dugout. Being able to add David Wright to this mix is going to be a nice bonus as well.

Whereever this team is going, the ride sure is fun!

June 28, 2011June 27, 2011

Vote Reyes: Meet Reyes, and My Ballot

If you vote for Jose Reyes for the All-Star Game, and select the Mets as one of your favorite teams on the form (Why wouldn’t you?) you’ll be entered in the contest to win two tickets to a future Mets game and the chance to meet the National League leader in Hits, Runs Scored, Triples, and Average, Multi-Hit Games, and the hardest player in the league to strikeout.

You’ve got until Thursday and you can vote up to 25 times per email address so let’s get Jose Reyes that starting spot that he both wants and deserves. While you’re at it, give Carlos Beltran your vote too. For the American League I usually just look at the most recent standings and vote for the player that has the best chance to unseat a Yankee.

If you’re able to get to Citi Field on a weekday, the Mets annual summer blood is Thursday the 7th of July from 10 to 5. Do a good deed AND get Mets tickets for it. As a working resident of New Jersey I won’t be making this one, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t!

So while you’re waiting for the game to start, hop over to Mets.com and #votereyes.

June 28, 2011

Jose Reyes: An Easy Decision

This was originally a comment to a Mets Police post about ripping the Trade Reyes bandaid off, but I decided it deserved a post of it’s own.

It’s really a simple decision. Franchise players like Jose Reyes are very valuable, and it’d be especially silly to let him get away for anything but an absolute steal of a package, and even then I’d be reluctant. This isn’t fantasy baseball; I, and other fans, develop emotional attachment to players and there is value and revenue in that.

Sign Reyes, and you keep a franchise player that the fanbase loves and will define and promote your franchise for, and this isn’t an exaggeration, 60+ years. Keep one of the best players in the game at a premium position of which there is nothing close available on the market or in the minors. Finish the season at or above .500, regardless of if they can make a playoff push or not. Have people believing 2012 will be better, that we’re already into year two of the ‘rebuilding’ process and things are good and people are buying season tickets. The Mets (not the Wilpons) problem is not so much debt is it trying to get the revenue stream back above the level of what a competitive payroll is. To do this they have to keep people interested in the Mets and coming to the park. Who’s more interesting than Jose Reyes right now?

Or you can trade him or let him walk away, and finish below .500. Show people that this is year one of the demolition process before rebuilding starts. Watch no one pay any attention to the Mets all offseason, and no one buy season tickets, or renew season tickets. 2.5million fans this year becomes 1.5million fans next year, and in 2013, and in 2014.. prices come down because no one’s going, revenue drops as a result, less demand on advertising space drops revenue there as well. SNY becomes the Food Network; sure you’ll flip it on once in a while and see what’s cookin’, but it’s not worth DVRing. In an age when it’s so very very easy to watch any team in the league, and with the Mets unwatchable, many fans start half-following the Giants or wherever Reyes ends up playing. If MLB.TV existed when the Mets traded Seaver, how many Mets fans do you think would’ve purchased it to watch him pitch? In 2013 the Mets sell out the Giants series at Citi with the stands awash of really faded Black Mets 7 shirts. The next series against the Phillies is empty, no one wants to see two bad teams play. Citi Field feels empty without #7.

June 17, 2011June 16, 2011

Move Along, Nothing to See Here

I was going to rant and rave and vent and fume, but it looks like Jason Fry basically covered all the angles over there at Faith and Fear in Flushing so I’ll just throw in a little pointer here to there.

Ugh. After which we never, ever spoke of it again.

So let’s remind these American League teams that are coming to Citi Field why National League baseball is the way to go. Let’s laugh at their pitchers trying to hit, and laugh at the managers that may botch a double-switch. Let’s read all the Moneyball references made while the A’s are in town and watch the Mets play, and win, some baseball games at home. It’s been a long road trip, and a successful one, so let’s go out to the park and watch Jose Reyes be Amazin’.

June 15, 2011June 15, 2011

Optimistic Stuff Going On

It often feels like the mainstream media has a story they want to write, and look for the facts to fit the story rather than watching the game and writing a story that matches the facts. They can get hung up on narratives they like and beat them to death. Part of the reason I named this blog what I did was to counter the idea that the Mets are cursed, never spend, are inept, or Latin-biased, etc etc.

One of the common stories this year was that the Mets are broke and can’t afford Reyes, so they will trade him. They stuck to this; it seemed like every day there was another story about how they’d have to trade him, or who would be a good suitor. As the season went on some of these writers had the occasion to glance down at the field, and happened to notice how unbelievably awesome Jose Reyes is, and how much he is adored by Mets fans. Slowly but surely more articles came out suggesting, as many bloggers have been writing all along, that the Mets should and could keep Reyes. It’s so refreshing to watch a player that’s just that awesome, that leads the league in so many categories, and is having a blast doing it. That his great season has caused writers to use the delete button more than usual is just a bonus.

Speaking of which, here’s a post from Ed Ryan at Mets Fever that wonders if maybe the Mets should be thinking about adding, not subtracting, players at the trading deadline. Personally I think the Mets will add someone. Alderson has been known in the past to like to wheel and deal, and I suspect this year will be no different. He’s claimed to this point to have the financial ability to do so. This doesn’t mean no one will get traded though, it just means it doesn’t have to be a fire sale. Sandy Alderson won’t need to trade major league pieces for guys that may or may not help the team at some future time. He’s got the options of trading major league talent for equal major league talent, maybe shuffling off an extra bat for an extra relief pitcher, or trading prospects for a good player that’s still got a couple of years left on his contract to help the team out both this year and next.

Winning or losing, it’s never too early to start bringing in talented players. Even if you don’t believe the Mets are one or two players away from making the playoffs, if you make them one better right now, that’s less work needed to do in the offseason. I expect a lot of activity in July, and some of it will probably be pretty exciting.

June 13, 2011July 8, 2011

Jose Reyes and the Triple Crown

A player like Jose Reyes will never win a Triple Crown, he’s not a slugger and right now doesn’t bat in a part of the lineup with a lot of RBI opportunities. We count the success of players like Reyes with runs scored and stolen bases over home runs and RBIs.

So how does Jose Reyes stack up in the Leadoff Hitters Triple Crown as of 6:00pm on Sunday when I’m writing this? He leads the National League in average at .346. He’s currently 2nd in runs, one off the lead held by Drew Stubbs and Ryan Braun at 48. He’s second in stolen bases, six behind Michael Bourn of the Astros who has 26.

The season is a little over a third over, so there is still a lot of time left. Still, Reyes certainly looks like a solid candidate for my newly created Leadoff Triple Crown. He’s leading in hitting right now, although Joey Votto is only .007 behind him and having an unbelievable season as well. He’s currently got a .466 OBP. He’s on base more than 9 times out of 20.

Reyes is only one run scored off the lead, which is doubly impressive when you consider Stubbs has Votto behind him driving him in and Braun has Prince Fielder. Reyes has had to deal with injuries to Ike Davis and David Wright, and has often had Jason Bay, who’s not hitting at all, batting cleanup.

Michael Bourn is leading Jose in stolen bases. Bourn has been the leader in each of the last two seasons while Jose was dealing with the injury in 2009 and the lack of a Spring Training in 2010. So far this season he’s playing decently above his career average, and perhaps will tail off in stolen bases opportunities and allow Jose to pass him. Or maybe Jose starts stealing more.

Yes, Jose Reyes is having a monster year. He’s easily one of the most exciting players in baseball and the best shortstop in the league. Ultimately the Mets are going to have to work out an extension with him and resign him, but in the mean time we’re getting to enjoy one of the best seasons we’ve ever seen from a Mets position player. Getting to the tv for first pitch when the Mets are on the road is a necessity, because if you’re late you may miss Reyes doing something amazin’.

The 7 train sometimes makes local stops, but Jose Reyes is always express.

June 8, 2011

Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran: Pretty Amazin’

During the Mets home run drought someone commented to me that comparisons to 1980 don’t bode well. Well here’s a comparison to 1986 that’s exciting to see, via the Wall Street Journal: The Mets have two players (as of Tuesday) in the top 10 in OPS. The last year that happened was 1990, and before that 1986.

This is one of the reasons the Mets are still afloat after losing David Wright and Ike Davis. Still having these great players really helps things, as does having guys pressed into duty like Justin Turner and Ruben Tejada performing well.

Ultimately comparisons to past years don’t mean anything. Every season is full of “This hasn’t happened since” milestones both good and bad, but I wouldn’t count out a team that has two of the games top players and will likely be adding David Wright and Ike Davis at one point in the next month or so.

May 19, 2011

The Mets: Good Lately

The Mets got off to a poor start in 2011: The bullpen looked pretty bad and the starting pitching was struggling. The weather was cold and rainy and they couldn’t buy a clutch hit. Over the last month the Mets have made some roster tweaks and been faced with some injuries, but they’ve also played pretty well.

They are 9-6 in May. They are 16-11 since the seven game losing streak that was over a month ago. If they were to continue at that 16-11 pace they’d actually end up winning 91 games. It’s not a torrid pace in any way, but they win more than they lose. They keep themselves in games, and by extension, in playoff races.

It is probably unrealistic to expect the Mets to continue this pace without David Wright and Ike Davis, but there are a lot of other things not going the Mets way either. Will Jason Bay ever start hitting? Will Justin Turner, Daniel Murphy, or a year older Ruben Tejada provide adequate production for a stretch while the other Mets are on the mend? Will Dickey pitch better, get a better grip on the knuckleball as the weather warms up, and at least keep the Mets in the games? Did Mike Pelfrey get his “one bad month” out of the way in April this year?

There are also many unknowns. I don’t buy into speculation about what the Mets are going to do, rosterwise, with this team. Personally I’d be more shocked of Reyes was traded than if he wasn’t. Alderson has to recognize how good Reyes is, how hard it is to find a good shortstop, and how much the fans love him. Alderson has also claimed that he’ll be able to do what needs to be done around the trading deadline to add players, and the potential for the Mets to get better there exists. Then there is Johan Santana recovering from his capsule tear. It’s unrealistic to rely on him coming back, but that doesn’t mean we can’t hope and wonder. He’s on track for recovery now to return in July or August. Whatever the chances are that he doesn’t experience any setbacks, the possibility that you could add a pitcher of his talent and intelligence to a rotation in September is enough to make me smile.

The Mets look and feel like a team. They’re probably not the best team or most talented team in the league, but lately they’ve been winning games, playing good defense, getting some hits when they need them and capitalizing on mistakes made by the other clubs. No team looks all-powerful in the league and if the Mets can continue playing good baseball, get guys healthy, and make some good roster moves there is no reason why they can’t remain competitive all season.

Maybe they’ll even hit a grand slam.

May 11, 2011