Mets Should Non-Tender Ruben Tejada

The Mets have a difficult decision to make with a playoffs hero. No, not Daniel Murphy, but Ruben Tejada. The man who entered Mets infamy with his broken leg in the NLDS is also entering his third year of arbitration. I say the Mets should non-tender him.

Tejada made $1.88 million in 2015, and is poised to make upwards of $3 million in 2016. That is far too much for a player who has been given opportunity after opportunity to seize the starting shortstop job and just cannot get it done.

Ruben Tejada didn’t have an awful year, actually. He is solid defensively, and hit .261 with a .338 on-base percentage. He also hit 23 doubles. But Tejada has very little pop in his bat and strikes out too often (70) for a player of his limited offensive abilities.

It would be rough for the Mets to simply cut ties with Tejada after he literally gave his body for the Mets cause. But it needs to be done.

At the very least, maybe Sandy Alderson can do what he did with Angel Pagan — trade him before making an arbitration decision. Hopefully he will get more for Tejada than he did for Pagan.

Ruben Tejada is only 26 years old. But it is time to stop waiting and accept that he is just not starting shortstop material.