Blogging Mets is Unfortunately Right Again

Every March I write a post predicting who I think the key player on the Mets will be for that particular season; the player whose fortunes will determine the team’s fate. This year I chose Jose Reyes, and unfortunately, I was right.

(If you want to go back and read that post, you can’t. Somehow it has disappeared from the site, with the link going to a post a post I wrote about Lucas Duda the following day. To prove I am not a liar, here is my tweet that day.)

Of course, I predicted success for Reyes and the Mets. But as we all know, Reyes has struggled all season. He is batting just .095, with six hits in 63 at bats. No surprise, the team is 8-10 on the young season.

This is not to say Reyes is the sole reason the Mets are two games under .500; they are hitting just .211 as a team. It does not matter how great the starting pitching is — a team will not win with such a low batting average.

But Reyes was supposed to be the table-setter, getting on base so the big guns can drive him home. It has not happened, and thus the Mets have been a disappointment.

As I am obliged to say, it is still early in the season. The team will almost undoubtedly turn it around. The same cannot be said for Jose Reyes, though. While he has been benched for now, the Mets say he is not in jeopardy of being released. But with Reyes making the major league minimum, the Mets do not have a financial incentive to be patient. If they can find a better alternative (the third incarnation of Kelly Johnson?), the Mets will likely end the Reyes homecoming with little sympathy for the fan favorite. We all hope it does not come down to that.