As a point of comparison, back in 2005, Reyes walked 27 times. All year. In 161 games. The following season, things looked to be on the up-and-up, as he nearly doubled those numbers with 53. And in April of 2007, I believed that he was tapping into a potential that even I had not imagined him capable of.
And so it was, that as of May 23, 2007, I thought that my Mets had the best shortstop in Major League Baseball - and he was only 24 years old.
But it hasn’t worked out that way. Since that day, his line has been a far less impressive .268/.338/.407. Journalists, bloggers, sports radio, pretty much anyone with a voice, pen, keyboard or even a talking wheelchair put much of the blame on Reyes for the team’s failure to clinch a playoff spot in September. It’s absolutely true that Jose had a terrible month to close the 2007 season. The man batted .205. His OBP was .279. His god-given talent was no where to be found at a time when everyone was looking for someone to blame.
At the beginning of the 2008 season, it was believed that one of the keys to the Mets success was to get Reyes back on track. But right now, I’m just wondering - what does that mean?
So is Jose Reyes the blame of the Mets issues, and if not then Who? Well, a lot of things.
- We’re still in May. There’s a lot of baseball that is played in one year. We’re still at a small portion of that one year. Smaller the sample size, the more anomalies stick out.
- Strength of Schedule. Here’s a part of that “sample size” thing. The 2008 Phillies have thus far played 49 games. 28 of which were played against the Giants(6), Padres(3), Nationals(6), Pirates(3), Astros(4), Rockies(2) and Reds(4), who are generally considered to be the worst teams in the NL. The Mets have played 45 games. Only 14 of them against the aforementioned of underachievers. Now this is cherry-picking to the highest-degree, but the Mets haven’t exactly had it easy so far.
- No Power. So I don’t let this team off that easily, consider this. Collectively, the Mets are slugging .391. That’s “good enough” for 12th place out the 16 NL teams. In 2007, the Mets slugged .432 (8th Place), which is not great by any means, but acceptable once you consider Park Factor. For these Mets, it hasn’t been a lack of “clutch hitting” as some have suggested. They just aren’t hitting period. If they can’t hit in any other situation, how can you expect them to hit in “clutch” situations?
- Pitching. This is the area that concerns me most. It’s one thing to cite the lack of power in a Mets team that plays in a pitcher’s park. But if that holds true, then how do we describe the pitching as anything more than “not good”? Their ERA at the moment is a rather respectable 4.04. But what that doesn’t show is the fact that as a team, they’ve allowed (including unearned) 223 runs. That’s 4.7 runs per game. It’s a big difference.
- Injuries. This is kind of a double-edged sword. Yes, the Mets have been without Pedro Ma