Jose Reyes is the heart and soul of the New York Mets. The7line has plenty of shirts showing their love for Jose, and they have every right to.
Jose is currently leading the Majors in triples with 11 and batting average at .342, .001 higher than AL MVP candidate Adrian Gonzalez (both of which are on my fantasy team). He already has a 3.8 WAR which is more than his two previous seasons combined. Most importantly, Jose is healthy and entering his prime.
I don’t expect him to continue putting up these ridiculous numbers through the entire season, surely he’ll hit a cold streak, but he has proved one thing, he should NOT be traded from the Mets.
The way I see it, the big boys in the lineup are injured but the team is still doing well. David Wright? Stress fracture in his back. Ike Davis? Bone bruises in his ankle. Jason Bay? He’s forgotten how to hit a ball. But with all these problems the Mets are only 2 games below .500, have scored the most runs in the NL east with 276 and that is why the Mets need to keep Jose, but trade David Wright.
Jose is currently leading the Majors in triples with 11 and batting average at .342, .001 higher than AL MVP candidate Adrian Gonzalez (both of which are on my fantasy team). He already has a 3.8 WAR which is more than his two previous seasons combined. Most importantly, Jose is healthy and entering his prime.
I don’t expect him to continue putting up these ridiculous numbers through the entire season, surely he’ll hit a cold streak, but he has proved one thing, he should NOT be traded from the Mets.
The way I see it, the big boys in the lineup are injured but the team is still doing well. David Wright? Stress fracture in his back. Ike Davis? Bone bruises in his ankle. Jason Bay? He’s forgotten how to hit a ball. But with all these problems the Mets are only 2 games below .500, have scored the most runs in the NL east with 276 and that is why the Mets need to keep Jose, but trade David Wright.
Granted, Jose isn’t doing this alone. Angel Pagan has been hot since coming off the DL. Dan Murphy has his batting average over .300 with 21 RBI while filling in for Ike. Justin Turner has over a .285 average with 27 RBI while splitting time between second base and third base. Ruben Tejada has a .325 average in 24 games this season after a May call up. Carlos Beltran thinks this is 2007; he’s batting over .280 with 9 home runs and leads the team with 39 RBI. So Jose is getting help from others in the lineup.
The reason this is significant is because we, as fans, and hopefully executives have learned, Jose Reyes is more valuable than David Wright especially to the Mets. The proof is in the pudding. David Wright was in a similar situation as Jose in both 2009 and 2010, where the other star players went down during the season. However, during those two years they combined to win only 149 games, compiling a record of 149-175… a measly .459 winning percentage. Both of those seasons Reyes missed time due to injury, nearly everyone did. However with the same group of guys as Wright in those seasons and Reyes as the lone part of the dynamic left side of the infield the Mets have compiled a 32-34 record. Take away the 5-13 start to the season, and that’s a respectable 27-21 record. Granted it’s a smaller sample size, 66 games compared to 324, but it should prove my point.
This is not knocking David Wright, he is a good player, a great one even, but in the words of Fred Wilpon, he is not a star. To trade Jose Reyes, would be the equivalent of trading away Tom Seaver. David Wright would be like trading away David Cone. Painful? Sure. Franchise killing? To a lesser extent.
Trading away David Wright would also open up plenty of other opportunities for the Mets as well. The Mets have a fortune coming off the books this year between the likes of Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo, Carlos Beltran, the possibility of not paying K-Rod, and trading David Wright. This money could be used to bolster their rotation by signing someone like Edwin Jackson or the currently injured Adam Wainwright if his options don’t vest. Not to mention a Wright trade would bring in some high level talent and a decent replacement or a great starting pitcher on the trading block.
If the Mets decide to trade away either Jose or David, please choose David. I was there for his first game in a Met uniform, and have been a fan ever since. However if keeping him means not being able to keep Reyes then surely I would pick Reyes due to him being much more valuable to the Mets. I don’t think it is an issue with money any more either. The Mets have $200 million coming in from the Einhorn purchase, and nearly $50million coming off their payroll, so they could afford to pay Reyes the likely $17-20 million a year it would take to keep him… which simple math would show is only $6-9 million more than what he is already being paid. For a New York franchise, that price doesn’t seem to steep now does it? After all it cost just about that much to go to a game nowadays anyway…. I’m Matthew Wiener; I don’t think the Mets should trade either Wright or Reyes but if they trade either, it should be Wright, and that my fellow optimists is the BOTTOM LINE.
The reason this is significant is because we, as fans, and hopefully executives have learned, Jose Reyes is more valuable than David Wright especially to the Mets. The proof is in the pudding. David Wright was in a similar situation as Jose in both 2009 and 2010, where the other star players went down during the season. However, during those two years they combined to win only 149 games, compiling a record of 149-175… a measly .459 winning percentage. Both of those seasons Reyes missed time due to injury, nearly everyone did. However with the same group of guys as Wright in those seasons and Reyes as the lone part of the dynamic left side of the infield the Mets have compiled a 32-34 record. Take away the 5-13 start to the season, and that’s a respectable 27-21 record. Granted it’s a smaller sample size, 66 games compared to 324, but it should prove my point.
This is not knocking David Wright, he is a good player, a great one even, but in the words of Fred Wilpon, he is not a star. To trade Jose Reyes, would be the equivalent of trading away Tom Seaver. David Wright would be like trading away David Cone. Painful? Sure. Franchise killing? To a lesser extent.
Trading away David Wright would also open up plenty of other opportunities for the Mets as well. The Mets have a fortune coming off the books this year between the likes of Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo, Carlos Beltran, the possibility of not paying K-Rod, and trading David Wright. This money could be used to bolster their rotation by signing someone like Edwin Jackson or the currently injured Adam Wainwright if his options don’t vest. Not to mention a Wright trade would bring in some high level talent and a decent replacement or a great starting pitcher on the trading block.
If the Mets decide to trade away either Jose or David, please choose David. I was there for his first game in a Met uniform, and have been a fan ever since. However if keeping him means not being able to keep Reyes then surely I would pick Reyes due to him being much more valuable to the Mets. I don’t think it is an issue with money any more either. The Mets have $200 million coming in from the Einhorn purchase, and nearly $50million coming off their payroll, so they could afford to pay Reyes the likely $17-20 million a year it would take to keep him… which simple math would show is only $6-9 million more than what he is already being paid. For a New York franchise, that price doesn’t seem to steep now does it? After all it cost just about that much to go to a game nowadays anyway…. I’m Matthew Wiener; I don’t think the Mets should trade either Wright or Reyes but if they trade either, it should be Wright, and that my fellow optimists is the BOTTOM LINE.
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