How’s it going Met fans? Welcome back once again! The Grapefruit League is finally here! Even though these games are all in all meaningless, it still makes me happy to watch some Mets baseball live once again. That is, until like a week or so until Opening Day. At that point I do get sick of watching spring training ball, and just want the real games to begin. So far the early stages of spring training have seen some nice performances by David Wright, Gary Matthews Jr. and Ike Davis, but we’ve also seen our share of downs, including a 4-error Mets inning and dudes like R.A. Dickey and Sean Green getting smacked around. However, aside from Sunday’s intrasquad game, we have yet to see Jose Reyes get in on the action.
This marks the 3rd consecutive post specifically targeting Reyes, but tis necessary. The guy is absolutely irreplaceable, he even has his own motto, "As Reyes goes…so do the Mets!" And when Reyes uh, "went" last season, 2009 was more or less a lost cause. Today he caused a little bit of a panic when he was scratched from today’s starting lineup. Turns out that everything was all right, it was just some follow-up blood work. I’m no medical expert, not in the slightest degree. But…couldn’t this have been done following the game? Maybe even during it if he only plays a handful of innings? Not real sure how long this process takes, but I feel today he should have played. He needs to get back into the swing of things. His entire torso is probably coated in rust, he’s been out a long time. I’m happy to see him back and ready to play, but I’ll be even happier when he stops visiting doctors and bloodspinners 24/7 and actually laces up his cleats and mans shortstop finally. Come on Jose, you played Monday in the intrasquad bout. Now get out there and play in a Grapefruit League game!
Preferably not batting third, which appears to be what is going to happen as long as Carlos Beltran is out of action. I don’t like this. The Mets have plenty of run producers to fill out the middle of the lineup. The best guy for the leadoff job is Reyes, with both his wheels and his OBP skills. I don’t like him batting 3rd, it really puts a restraint on the usage of his speed. Instead of him raising fear in the opposing pitcher while on base, he’ll now be asked to be more of a RBI guy, a guy who is required to smack the ball really far. I don’t know how it will work out, but all I know is I’m not a big fan of this plan. Reyes is a great leadoff man, maybe even the best in the bigs. Why break what isn’t broken?
In other Mets news, the Mets inked relief pitcher Kiko Calero to a minor league contract. Calero, 35, spent 2009 with the Florida Marlins in what can easily be considered the finest year of his career. In 67 appearances, he pitched to the tune of a 1.95 ERA, striking out 69 batters in 60 frames, all while holding opposing hitters to a sweet .180 average. However Calero does come with a laundry list of injuries over the past couple of years, including some concern regarding his right shoulder this offseason, the apparent reason why a guy with such great statistics was only able to snag a minor league deal well into spring training.
With Kelvim Escobar likely to begin 2010 in the DL, and Ryota Igarashi being a gigantic question mark, Calero can be a great setup man for the Mets, if he stays healthy of course. Sadly he is another gamble, but a gamble that can really bring in some heavy rewards if all goes according to plan. And if he doesn’t work out, there’s no big loss due to him being on a minor league deal. Kudos to the Mets for standing ground during negotiations. Calero wanted a major league deal – and who knows maybe he did deserve one – but the Mets realizing there wasn’t any competition for his services stuck to their lowball offer, and never outbid themselves! Nice job Omar! Now someone’s got to answer me this. How does the guy with a stupendous 2009 season end up with just a minor league contract, while the guy who’s only tossed 5 innings the last two seasons has a 1.25 million dollar major league contract? It doesn’t make sense, and looking back on the offseason, I wish we’d never even touched Escobar and signed Calero a long time ago. The season’s not even underway, but Escobar is thus far looking like a total waste of money.
What do you guys think about Calero? Like, dislike, love, indifferent? Do you think Escobar will do anything for the Mets this season, or will he just collect his paychecks and never appear in a game? And do you think Reyes should have at least played a couple of innings in today’s Grapefruit League game and head to the doctor after, or are you cool with the way things occurred? Comment below my friends, and as always, thanks for stopping by everybody!
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