I’ll say it.Â
 The Mets should’ve put Reyes on the Disabled List as soon as he hurt himself during batting practice in Puerto Rico.  They knew how serious it was and instead of resting him, they now have to resort to trying to squeeze him back in the line up. It won’t work. The Mets seemed to have forgotten the one thing that Jose Reyes is…..human. If anyone one of us suffered an oblique injury, we would be on the shelf for a while. Why is Reyes the exception?……. guess what, he’s not. So now he’s scheduled to play on Monday. MONDAY? You want to place a bet on that date? You want to wager that he’ll play and re-injure himself?Â
If Reyes plays on Monday and “hurts” himself again, I’ve got a secret to tell you. He didn’t “hurt” himself.Â
He was never healed to begin with.
Again someone in the Mets organization failed Social Studies because remember the saying those teachers taught us in that subject? “Those who fail to remember the past are doomed to repeat it.”
Just think, if the Mets had placed him on the Disabled List right there in Puerto Rico, he would have had at least 19 days of rest and he would’ve been ready for the second half.Â
Here’s another issue that’s killing me and I’ll say this too. The Mets are making a HUGE mistake batting Carlos Beltran 4th. That’s right. Why is a player who has not seen major league hitting in almost a year batting clean up?  Yes, he will be ready at one point but right off the DL and on to the most important spot in the line up? Yea, I know he’s Beltran but not the same Beltran of 2 or 3 years ago.  He’s got more rust on him than the Titanic. He needs time to adjust to major league hitting and batting clean up is not the place to do it….not in a pennant race.
Bat him 5th, bat him 6th. If he has an ego about it, the Mets should remind him of how important this season is. They also should remind him of just exactly how they did without him.
17 comments
stickguy
7/17/2010-11:48am at 11:48 am (UTC -4)
in a bad mood today, huh Gonz?
anyway, to address my opinions of your opinions:
1) why not hit beltran 1st? THe lineup has been sucking wind lately. Including Ike, who certainly is not hitting like a clean up hitter at this point. He also had what, a few weeks in the majors before getting the job? It is not like they are displacing Ryan Howard here.
Last night, they had 4 out of 8 starters in the line up that don’t even qualify at this point as legitimate ML quality hitters. certainly not starters. So, they need to do something.
and I just don’t see it making that much difference if they keep a slumping Ike in the 4 hole with beltran 5, or flip them.
2) Disagree abot Reyes. Muscle tweaks/twinges are difficult to predict. Sometimes it means there is a tear, and sometiems it is more of a glorified cramp. or anywhere in between.
So it made perfect sense to give hi a couple of days, to see how it reacted. Plus, they sent him for an evaluation/MRI in there, and it showed no structural damage. SO, the treatment plan is rest until it feels better. WHich they tried at first.
Hey, it seemed to be the same situation as Pagan. So either Angel had a less serious tweak, or he actually heals normally and/or has a reasonable tollerance for pain (2 things Reyes does not appear to have).
anyway, I think they forked up on THursday of that week. Once he still had pain and could not hit lefty, they should have put him on the DL then, and gotten a live body up. If they had done that, he would be eligible to come back already.
Of course, maybe he would nto be healed yet anyway (since we have no idea if he made it worse and extended the injury term trying to play). But that IMO would have been the prudent option.
oleosmirf
7/17/2010-12:00pm at 12:00 pm (UTC -4)
I dont have an issue with not going on the DL, we dont need depth and considering how important Reyes is and how quickly Pagan came back they did not want to play 15 straight games with Tejada and Cora playing everyday so i understand why they didnt.
I have an issue with the whole only batting righty. IF he wasnt healthy enough to bat lefty, he should have remained on the bench until he was good to go…
stickguy
7/17/2010-12:08pm at 12:08 pm (UTC -4)
agreed.
metsfan4decades
7/17/2010-12:07pm at 12:07 pm (UTC -4)
I agree with your analysis hear with Reyes.
I think the time to have DL’d him was late that week as well, after it became evident it wasn’t healing fast enough.
I wish the Mets would just stop saying when Reyes will be ready. First it was hopefully Thursday, then Saturday, then Sunday, now Monday….maybe. Just makes them look foolish.
As far as Beltran, I truly don’t care what lineup Jerry comes up with anymore. Use a dart board. Other than Reyes leadoff and Wright 3rd, the rest can be shuffled around ’till something starts clicking.
gonzowill
7/17/2010-11:57am at 11:57 am (UTC -4)
I think it’s funny when Jerry wants to know where the offense is after losing two games in a row and failing to score a run. I know where the offense is…one can only bat from one side of the plate and the other hasn’t seen a major league fastball since August.
oleosmirf
7/17/2010-12:03pm at 12:03 pm (UTC -4)
factor that in with Ike slumping, Tejada being a rookie and Bay being terrible plus this stretch of above average SP and that is why we arent scoring runs.
If Reyes is ready to go in Arizona, we will be fine…
stickguy
7/17/2010-12:10pm at 12:10 pm (UTC -4)
SO, do you think they can win any games in SF then? Or do you not care if they start the 2nd half with 4 straight losses?
oleosmirf
7/17/2010-12:40pm at 12:40 pm (UTC -4)
i think they can win 1 of these last 2. I just dont think there is really anything the coaching staff can do about it.
its just bad timing that our guys are slumping when we are going against the better teams in the league…
GravediggerHebner
7/17/2010-12:12pm at 12:12 pm (UTC -4)
Is that headline correct?
njstuckintx
7/17/2010-12:18pm at 12:18 pm (UTC -4)
Schitzo?
GravediggerHebner
7/17/2010-12:45pm at 12:45 pm (UTC -4)
I think either Beltran is ready to play or he isn’t I don’t see how he’s ready to bat 5th but not 4th.
As you did I thought Reyes should have gone on the DL when he initially got hurt. I also thought Pagan should have gone on the DL when he recently got hurt. I know some disagreed and they made some valid points but the Mets with their alleged motto of “Prevention and Recovery” need to actually do those things not just say them.
stickguy
7/17/2010-12:49pm at 12:49 pm (UTC -4)
Well, if you want to use the comments section of FWICG.com as a baramoter, the natives are getting restless. General consensus seems to be that the Mets are frauds, not contending, and should be sellers.
Oh, and of course, the Wilpons are horrible/cheap/broke owners and need to sell.
Pretty much looks like cut/paste comments from back around the end of April!
The wilpons can stay (I know, magnanimus of me to let them keep their team, right?). But Jerry needs to go.
Still, they really need to get the “actual” team on the field soon. If Reyes really isn’t dead, and can make it back by Monday, along with slappy, that is about as good as it will get.
Assuming, of course, that the Jidiot will just start Thole at least against RH SP, and bury Frenchy someplace and forget about him.
reyes/pagan/wright/beltran/davis/bay/thole/slappy. Every day, with the only changes being Frenchy when Beltran needs a day off, and Barajas/blanco (is Henry still even alive? He only has 74 ABs all year) against a LH SP to give THole some rest.
That at least cures the serious lack of OBP.
I would love to see a deal made to bring in a 2B bat that can actually produce runs, but I don’t expect it to happen. Other than that, this is the best that we can do for a lineup. If it can’t score enough runs to make the playoffs, then retool for next year!
Oh, and they can finally get the bench back in shape.
really this team could use 1 more SP and 1 more RP upgrade, but even as is, they should have the talent to make the playoffs if the offense ever gets off life support.
you just can’t run a line up out with 1/2 the guys below the Frenchy line (my new term for .300 OBP)
GravediggerHebner
7/17/2010-12:59pm at 12:59 pm (UTC -4)
If you get the SNY feed then you already know this but last night Keith & Gary (mostly Gary) broached the subject of the team shedding Barajas (trade/release) and making Thole the primary catcher with Blanco as his back up.
If one believes that SNY is a puppet of Mets corporate ownership (I don’t) then maybe he was preparing the viewing audience for an upcoming roster move.
IIRC the way they framed it was “the team can’t carry 3 catchers forever, something has to happen” and then theorized some possibilities.
I have no clue if Thole is a). ready or b). good enough but given Barajas’ tremendous fall back to his usual utter lack of production it seems like a wise thing to try. Like Francoeur, Barajas does not deserve playing time just because he has some positive defensive abilities and is a good interview.
stickguy
7/17/2010-1:06pm at 1:06 pm (UTC -4)
I don’t think they are puppets. Certainly not mouthpieces that are fed corporate propoganda to repeat.
I normally just “watch” the game on gameday, so I don’t often hear GKR. I just wait for y’all to report what they say!
I think they need to do something, even if it upsets the apple cart (and bruises some egos) a bit. If you aren’t producing, and haven’t been for a long time, this team doesn’t have the overall firepower to carry dead wood. Maybe 1 guy, but not 3-4.
Barajas was a cheap filler pickup, that had a nice April, but since then, his power (and ability to get on base) is totally gone. His D can’t possibly make up for that (and it isn’t like he is throwing guys out, or the pitchers are notably better when he is catching).
Cross your fingers that slappy is closer to the 2009 than the 2010 version when he gets back (I am not expecting it, but maybe it happens).
2 .350+ OBP guys 7-8, combined with Reyes/pagan at the top, will give this line-up a ton more balance, and produce way more baserunners. The middle of the order should feast on ABs with men on base all the time.
Heck, the mets even have a couple of SPs that hit well.
oleosmirf
7/17/2010-1:10pm at 1:10 pm (UTC -4)
well what options do the Mets have going forward…the only thing i can think of is sitting Tejada today and Cora tomoro and giving Turner a shot.
Francouer is going to play against lefties, his career .302 BA and .344 OBP are very good against the lefties, however when Beltran and Francouer are both in lineup, Bay has to sit over Pagan. I understand how much money he makes and that eventually he will get better but at this point, Pagan has to play over him…
stickguy
7/17/2010-2:00pm at 2:00 pm (UTC -4)
certainly a valid point about Bay/Pagan.
But one of th eissues I have with Jerry is I don’t think he has the stones to actually do something like that
stickguy
7/17/2010-1:07pm at 1:07 pm (UTC -4)
quick trivia: Josh Thole does NOT have the highest OBP on the team (he is 2nd). Who does have it?
A: Raul Valdes.