4. Ruben Tejada
Ruben Tejada made his MLB debut with the Mets in 2010 as a 20-year-old middle infielder with tremendous line-drive, gap-to-gap ability. His high batting average, contact rate, and steady defense made him an asset for a rebuilding Mets franchise when Sandy Alderson took over in 2011. After hitting .284 with 15 doubles in 96 games with the Mets in 2011, Tejada took the shortstop reigns from Jose Reyes once he departed for Miami.
In 2012, Tejada handled the position well and hit .289 across 114 games and showed that line-drive ability slashing 26 doubles. After 2012 however, Tejada never built upon his early success. He was demoted to AAA in 2013 after hitting just .202, and then lost his everyday shortstop role to Wilmer Flores in 2014.
Mets fans never embraced Tejada because of his disappointing performance following the departure of Reyes. As fans, we were hoping Tejada would be closer to Rey Ordonez with the contact and defensive ability, but that was never the case. Taking over for Reyes put a lot of pressure on the young shortstop, and he just never lived up to the expectation. Fans embraced Tejada after the Chase Utley slide during the 2015 NLDS, but Tejada would be released during Spring Training in 2016 following the acquisition of Asdrubal Cabrera.