One New York Life

2009 Stats: 36 Games, .279/.355/.395, 2 HR.
2010 Projections: .296/.360/.458, 13 HR.
2009 Injury: “Tendinitis” on 5/19/2009. Remained “2 Weeks Away” the entire season.
Contract Status: $9M in 2010, Team Option for $11M in 2011
Position: Starting SS

On Offense: The rumor surfaced a few days ago that Jerry Manuel was going to try batting Jose Reyes out of the 3-hole until Carlos Beltran returns sometime in… well… sometime. This would seem to indicate that his plan is to start the season with Angel Pagan, Luis Castillo, Reyes, and David Wright as his top four. I can’t even put in to words how much I hate this. Firstly, Angel Pagan should never be in any situation where his baserunning (as Keith Hernandez calls it “lack of baseball smarts”) blunders can screw the team. Reyes, when healthy, is one of the top-three lead-off hitters in the league. What’s the point of batting him at 3? So he can start trying to hit for power and have 150 balls die on the warning track? Then when (if) Beltran returns he can swing for the fences in lead-off spot? That’ll be just fantastic. Reyes’s first hit in Spring Training last week was a triple. The report is that he ran well. At 26, let’s all just assume he’s going to be OK.

On Defense: Reyes’s shortstop defense has always been pretty top notch. He had some rage issues a few years ago that involved throwing his glove to the ground when other people committed errors. Let’s also assume that a year off has seasoned him.

On 2010: Reyes gave a frank and honest interview on the Mike Francesa show back in December. It was a revealing look in to the guy for the first time in his Met career. Highlights included the fact that he’s not a guy who’s ever going to be a locker room leader because he knows his limits and he’s just not good at it. He’s a guy who just wants to go out, play, and maybe answer a few questions. Reyes is a young guy and it’s perfectly reasonable to expect that he bounces back from injury. I’ve seen him listed as one of the Mets’ “unanswered questions”. I disagree. I expect Reyes to bounce right back with his healed leg… if he hits lead-off.

Surefire Prediction: Jose Reyes hits 20+ triples this season and at least one in the park home run. The hitting third experiment fizzles after Angel Pagan gets picked off first for the fifth time in the four games. Only one of these is a slight exaggeration.