Despite Jose Reyes’ awful season thus far, the New York Mets are keeping him around for nostalgic purposes.
Heading into Wednesday’s contest with the Orioles, Jose Reyes has a slash line of .141/.208/.197. Atrocious. Reyes’ veteran leadership is the only possible argument for the New York Mets to make in favor of keeping him on the 25-man roster. Or at least, that’s what we all thought.
On Wednesday, Mike Puma of the New York Post reported that the New York Mets have discussed releasing Reyes, but they are hesitant to do so because they feel it would not be the “proper sendoff” for the longtime Met doing his second stint in Flushing.
Mets officials have discussed releasing Jose Reyes, but are conflicted given Reyes' roots in the organization. Mets want Reyes receiving a proper sendoff.
— Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) June 6, 2018
Get out a thesaurus because this is baffling, perplexing, disconcerting, confusing, infuriating, and about every other negative word you can imagine. What this report is telling us is that the Mets are hesitant to cut Reyes because of his long affiliation with the ball club.
Are they forgetting that they are in the midst of a playoff race? One which they currently sit 7.5 games back of the division and 6.5 games out of the second Wild Card spot. It’s going to be an uphill battle to climb back in the race and they are sacrificing a roster position out of respect for what Reyes has done in the past?
This is an egregious error on the part of Mickey Callaway and Sandy Alderson. Once again, the organization is tripping over itself. They’re worried more about public perception than the bigger picture.
This same problem surfaced just a few days earlier when Puma reported that the Mets were looking to save Noah Syndergaard for the Subway Series, rather than pitching him on Wednesday against the Orioles—which would line him up to take on the first-place Atlanta Braves the following week.
Syndergaard’s injury timeline may have thrown a monkey wrench into the possibility of him lining up against the Orioles and Braves, but the organization’s original intent is still concerning. They were more concerned with facing the Yankees than they were about picking up games on the Braves.
Not that we needed any more evidence of this organization’s ineptitude, but the last two weeks have been a complete tailspin. Losers of 10 of their last 12, the playoffs beginning to look more and more like a pipe dream, and the organization’s more concerned with Reyes’ legacy than they are with winning games. Inexcusable.
And while we’re on the subject of Jose Reyes’ legacy in New York, the question has to be asked: What legacy? Sure, Reyes has spent the better part of his 16-year career in New York, he appeared in four All-Star Games, and won a batting title in 2011. But again, what legacy?
Reyes never advanced past the NLCS with the team and he was a big part of one of the biggest collapses in MLB history in 2007. On Sept. 11 of that season, the Mets held a six-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies with 18 games left to play. The Mets blew that lead and let the Phils sneak into the playoffs in large part due to Reyes.
In the final 18 games of the season, the team finished with a 6-12 record and Reyes had a slash line of .203/.292/.329. He will forever be remembered as one of the many players to blame for that epic collapse. But make no mistake, Callaway and Alderson would kill for that kind of slash line from Reyes right about now.
Fortunately for Reyes, this second-rate organization doesn’t seem to care about on-field production, the playoff race, or anything that a team should prioritize. Instead, they are focusing on all the wrong things.
But with all this being said, is anyone surprised? Mets fans deserve so much better than this.
