Don't Sell Out Jose Reyes Quite Yet

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.