Yankees fans are realizing what NY Mets management already knew last September

Juan Soto. Clay Holmes. Luis Torrens. Carlos Carrasco. Marcus Stroman. There are a lot of players with a shared employment on the New York Mets and New York Yankees rosters. Way under the radar up in the Bronx is the presence of a briefly employed utility man named Pablo Reyes.

If you checked out of last season at all, you might have forgotten Reyes was ever a member of the Mets. He was an early season addition to the minor league system via trade with the Boston Red Sox. He spent most of his year in Syracuse until the September roster expansion when the Mets chose him over Luisangel Acuna to be their added position player.

Reyes would make his way into only a single Mets game. On September 1 in a 2-0 win over the Chicago White Sox, he was a pinch runner in the ninth inning. He wouldn’t even get a chance to play the field because he pinch ran for the DH. The Mets quickly replaced him on the roster with the much speedier Eddy Alvarez before eventually making room for Acuna.

Briefly employed Mets utility man Pablo Reyes is lingering on the Yankees roster without much to do

Following the Mets as closely as we do, we can appreciate how all 26 players from the Opening Day roster have served a purpose. The position players are fair game on any day. Not a single roster spot feels particularly wasted.

The same isn’t true for other teams, including the Yankees. Reyes hasn’t been very useful at all for the Yankees nor has he been all that productive. In their 20-9 win over the Milwaukee Brewers, he was 0 for 3 with a walk. He didn’t pick up his first hit of the year until April 19. The veteran utility man started on April 21 for just the second time all year, the first being on March 29 in that aforementioned blowout win against the Brewers.

The Mets immediately knew they could do better than Reyes. The Yankees haven’t come to the realization just yet. He played well in spring training. As we should all understand, those stats don't mean a thing.

Reyes has yet to complete a full game, being pinch hit for in the ninth on Monday after a 1 for 3 performance. Nearly a full month into the season and there isn’t a day where Reyes has played all nine innings. His clock is ticking and a pinch hit strikeout on April 22 in his lone trip to the plate only accelerates the inevitable.