Monday, February 8, 2010

The Jose Reyes Question Mark

With all the drama, or lack thereof, this off season Jose Reyes has been pretty much overlooked as far as his progress and effect on this upcoming baseball season.

You can make the argument that Jose Reyes has a greater impact on the success or failure of the Mets over the last four seasons than any other Mets player.As soon as Reyes went down last year so did the Mets. Now the Mets probably would have fallen regardless of Reyes' injury, but his absence all season has set an uncomfortable tone throughout Mets nation that has people wondering what Reyes will be seen in 2010.

Mets fans have been sent back in time to those early Reyes years when he seemed to be a fragile player who was often injured. Are we getting sent back to that Reyes or is this just a freak injury that he has fully recovered from?

Reyes claims he is at 100% but the abomination in the front office has taken the limelight away from Reyes' return. If Reyes truly is healthy and returns to form, the Mets will be able to survive in the NL East or at least be somewhat competitive. However, if Reyes takes a step backward the Mets are in a world of hurt (pardon the pun).

Reyes's game is contingent on his speed. As soon as he loses that, he quickly becomes just an average baseball player at the top of the lineup. Reyes can't fall back on his plate discipline or opposite field power or any other skill set that slower players rely on to succeed. Reyes is all speed and without that his bat isn't much of an asset.

Not like Mets fans needed something else to worry about this early in the year, but Reyes could be the linchpin for the Mets to even be competitive in 2010.

1 comment:

Brad said...

It's time for a shift down in the lineup. He's a 3 hitter now...