The Ruben Tejada Era, Day 2 Applesauce: Old Shortstops, New SABR Toys, Life Goes On

So, let's start with a pick me up Mets fans. Yes, Jose Reyes is still a Marlin, but his heir apparent looks better at shortstop than you might think. Unfortunately, there are a couple problems here. One, that is a tiny sample of innings of shortstop. And two, Tejada's athletic tools are all basically averageish, so I do wonder if he is going to have the range to handle short if he keeps filling out. But he's certainly not a bad little player if he can keep the walk rate up.

Now let's wrap-up some Reyes stuff:

Ted Berg says free will is an illusion, people! Also, being a Mets fan kind of sucks.. Howard Megdal frames the loss in terms of the Mets being super broke, you guys. Jonah Keri looks at the Marlin's big splash. Something something Moneyball something something. Meanwhile, the SNY.tv crew does a Mostly Reyes Podcast.

I think one thing the Mets do need to do is put the 'C' on David Wright already. But I thought he was supposed to be a grissonless non-leader. I am so confused.

What, you thought we would be done with Reyes stuff after the jump?

Toby Hyde argues that the Mets were right to let Reyes walk. Fish Stripes takes a look at the contract and declares it a small overpay. Mike Axisa of Fangraphs compares Reyes' deal to other shortstop megadeals, while Hanley Ramirez is taking news of the move to 3B well...so far.

With Reyes gone, there is obviously a large hole at the top of the 2012 Mets line-up. It will probably be Angel Pagan, but Collins is keeping the Irish Hammer in the mix. You know, assuming we don't trade him. In bad news, the obsession with moving Mejia to the pen continues. I mean, yes, he *probably* ends up there at this point, but (A) they are going to need to stretch him out when he gets back, and (B) this is basically going to be a year in which you just try to have him build up arm strength and regain command. Familia being in the starter mix in Spring Training is odd, though you could sustain an argument that he is a better MLB arm than Dillon Gee is right now.

Sandy Alderson held a postmortem on the Reyes loss, the payroll, and second base. And he namedrops Nellie Fox!

One more 2012 Mets closer candidate is out, as Matt Capps resigned with the Twins. I'm okay with this, as I thought Capps was a pretty meh option, especially for 4+ million. I think we should definitely use go hard after Jenrry Mejia Frank Francisco.

Instead of going through every minor deal, and every rumored meeting, I'll just point you to MLB Trade Rumors Day in Review.

New toys, everybody! Fangraphs has updated their player pages with all kinds of neat-o PitchF(x) stuff. You can also fill out 2012 player projections.

Wahoo's on First has a new Simple WAR calculator you can play around with, too.

In happier news, Ron Santo, the best player eligible not in the Hall of Fame, will be relinquishing that title. Beyond the Box Score looks at the new title holder. Still, it's a shame Santo died before this mistake was rectified, it's probably even worse that he might not have gotten in were he still alive. But he's a Hall of Famer for posterity now, and he probably wouldn't want us to moan about the circumstances. Over at fangraphs, Dave Cameron argues that Santo's election might pave the way for Scott Rolen.