FanPost

2011 Player Spotlight Preview: Jose Reyes

The Story: It was Spring Training 2009, full of excitement and optimism. We all saw the video's on SNY of Jose Reyes running sprints in the gym with the biggest grin on his face. It was good to see that the star shortstop was healthy after an injury plagued 2009 season. Then came the thyroid issue, causing Jose to be bed ridden for 3 weeks, and as he said "watch movies all day". It was a blow to the Mets and to the fan bases excitement. Was it going to be chronic condition? What happened was it caused Reyes to miss most of Spring Training, but once they did get it under control he was right back on the field.

2010 Year in Review: Jose Reyes made his season debut on April 10th. Just seeing his number 7 at the top of the lineup card made all Mets fans smile. He would start out slow, but get hot in June leading to his 3rd all star selection as the starting shortstop for the National League. In early July he strained his oblique and would miss about a week of action. He returned, but was unable to participate in the all star game. He played the rest of the season with the oblique never fully healed. Due to missing some time for the Thyroid issue and oblique injuries, Reyes appeared in only 133 games. If you pro rated his numbers over 162 they would have fallen in line with a typical Reyes season. His numbers were still very good for a shortstop as he hit .282 with 11 home runs and 54 RBI. He scored 83 runs, hit 29 doubles and 10 triples. The part of his game the seemed to suffer a bit was his stolen base numbers. He finished the season with just 30 stolen bases, which is the lowest of his career, except for seasons lost due to injury. Jose says he did not steal as much for fear of re-injuring the oblique. He did however show his toughness, playing through the injuries and still producing all star numbers.

My Spin on 2011: Entering his age 27 season, Reyes is in his peak physical years. He is entering his prime and in a contract year is ready to cash in. He has made it known that he wants to stay with the Mets. GM Alderson wants to see him and play for himself, as well as remain healthy, before committing the kinds of dollars he will undoubtedly command. I see this year being reminiscent of the 2006-2008 seasons. Jose will be dynamic on the base paths and surpass 50 stolen bases, stealing 57. He will hit close to .300, batting .291 with 16 home runs and 77 RBI's. He will hit 18 triples and 37 doubles. The one knock on Jose has been his low On Base Percentage for a lead-off hitter, which is .335 for his career and dipped to .321 last season. If he can get it back up to the .350 range as he did from 2006-2009 then that should satisfy the naysayers. It will be a sad day for all Mets fans if Jose leaves and we all have to see him in another uniform. He is virtually irreplaceable, as there is no other player aside from Hanley at the SS position that has the ability to affect the game in so many ways. I foresee him staying in flushing, when Sandy Alderson see's Jose for himself this season, there will be no way he can let him walk, even if it costs more than he wants to spend. I just cant envision the left side of the infield with David Wright standing at 3rd, and someone not named Jose Reyes standing right beside him.

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