Mets free-fall has distracted us from the Jose Reyes disdain

So much has gone wrong for the New York Mets. As a result, most of the disdain for Jose Reyes has gone away.

Earlier this year when the New York Mets were playing meaningful baseball, pessimistic fans poured a lot of their hate onto Jose Reyes. Justifiably so, his off-field past and poor play on the field this year made him an easy target.

Lately, everything is going wrong. The franchise is a complete and utter mess. Aside from the infamous Twitter user known as the “Jose Reyes virus guy” it seems the Reyes hate has scurried under the sink like a cockroach.

This week, Reyes passed Yoenis Cespedes in several important statistics. Namely, Reyes has dug into the batter’s box more often in 2018 than the $29 million outfielder. Constant opportunities to play have not helped him climb out from the early hole he fell into this season. Instead, it makes the decision to keep him on the roster and play him regularly look a whole lot worse.

We all understand why the Mets have kept Reyes for this long. I also believe many have accepted he’ll stay with the organization through the remainder of 2018. I hate to say they have a “need” for him. What they need is an infielder who can play multiple positions, run, and teach the kids a thing or two about being a veteran ballplayer. This is what the Mets wanted out of Reyes. I can’t say he has done his job well.

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As a mentor to Amed Rosario, I wonder how much of a positive influence Reyes has had on the young shortstop. Rosario is far from living up to expectations. He still strings together poor at-bats and has yet to really breakthrough with a hot streak at any point. I don’t blame Reyes for this, but I am not too fond of management for saying this is a reason to keep him around.

In addition to his possible failure to mentor Rosario and other kids, Reyes has played consistently poor defense. No matter where Mickey Callaway puts him, he finds a way to make errors.

The word “unacceptable” isn’t used enough when referring to Reyes’ play in 2018. If he was anyone else, the Mets would have designated him for assignment. Because he was a star for them a decade ago, they remain unnecessarily patient.

Reyes is the least of the Mets’ problems. A player by any other name would stink just as hard. The difference is the front office would have done something about it.

Distractions are a good thing to take our mind, eyes, and ears away from the problems. In this case, we’ve wisely moved on from Reyes.

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