I did not see this article by Buster Olney here so I figured I would let you guys give it a read.
Mets must face possibility that Reyes has peaked
Saturday, June 6, 2009 | Feedback | Print Entry
A Jose Reyes triple exists somewhere on the list of the best things you might see at a baseball game, somewhere alongside an Albert Pujols laser and a JustinVerlander gem and a Denard Span wall-climb. Reyes hits a ball into the gap and when he realizes somewhere between first and second base that he can get threebases, his fifth gear kicks in, his feet moving impossibly fast, his hands churning at his sides.
He is incredible to watch in moments like these, and when it's all going well for him, when he's getting on base and stealing bases easily androcketing throws from the shortstop hole, he's among the most dynamic players in the game.
But here's the problem: Whether it's because of injury or slumps or mental lapses, those moments of dominance just haven't occurred consistently.Which is why the Mets' front office might start to draw on the lessons learned on the North Side of Chicago earlier this decade.
Six years ago, Mark Prior was among the 10 best things that you could see at a baseball park, with his sharp breaking ball and his command, and in 2003, he hadone of the best seasons ever for a 22-year-old pitcher, walking 50 and striking out 245 in 211.1 innings. So when Prior started to have injury problems, theCubs waited on him, and waited, believing that there would be some day when Prior would return to that same level of pre-eminence. And when some members of theCubs' organization look back on that time now, with the benefit of hindsight, they wonder if perhaps they waited just a little too long. They allowedthemselves to be held hostage, in effect, by Prior's potential.
The Mets could fall into the same pothole with Reyes, who, on his best days, can be better than almost any shortstop. He turns 26 in five days, and it'spossible he still can take his game to the next level.
But there are talent evaluators with other teams who have their doubts. They see a diminishment of range, for whatever reason, and some signs of erosion in hisdefensive play. They point out that even at its highest, Reyes' on-base percentage still falls in the range of .355 to .360, which is good but far from thelevel of an elite hitter -- and they wonder if he'll actually get better.
"I don't see a lot of evolution there," said one scout this week. "Jimmy Rollins struggled early in his career, but then he just keptgetting better and better, and I'm not really seeing that in Reyes."
Rest assured, most teams would love to have Reyes, and even if the Mets determine, internally, that Reyes will never play consistently at a higher level, thatdoesn't necessarily mean they should trade him.
But waiting for Reyes to develop into a superstar might turn out to be their search for the great white whale; there's a chance that it might never besatisfied. He might already be as good as he's going to get. Going forward, the Mets should not assume that Reyes is going to be an unmovable foundationpiece. They should not assume that they can count on greatness from him, because there have been too many periods when he has been much less than that.
Reyes remains in limbo due to a hamstring injury; the Mets really don't know when he's going to come back, Bart Hubbuch writes.
It's been a brutal week for the Mets, who found out that they had lost set-up man J.J. Putz for 10 to 12 weeks before they beat the Nationals on Fridaynight.