Mets fans need to realize this: Ruben Tejada is not, was not, will never be Jose Reyes. More importantly, it will only hurt Tejada's confidence, stunt his development, and generally be unproductive if fans try to turn him his predecessor or constantly compare him along the way.
Tejada brings his own skills to the table. He works some of the best at bats I have seen in a long, long time. He takes a ton of pitches, was known as a defensive wizard in the minors (and should be in the majors before long), and gets on base. He makes good contact and has come through in the clutch a number of times for the Mets. And all of this was before his 22nd birthday.
Tejada, however, will not be a lead-off hitter, he will not steal 70 bases and I doubt he will ever even score 100 runs. But could he be the starting shortstop on a championship team? Yes. Absolutely. He is now one of our major pieces. Dear Mets fans, be happy with your shortstop. I am. He's one hell of a young player and certainly someone to be excited about. Furthermore, he gives us the opportunity to invest elsewhere and round out and balance our team.
Rootin' for you, Ruben. Keep taking those steps. We are all happy to have you up the middle and in our lineup.
I don't think Tejada will EVER be good enough to be an every day player on a winning ball club. I think Valdespin is the current hope for the Mets future at SS.
ReplyDeleteTejada is stopgap until Jordany is ready. With a great year in triple a, he may even be up by June. Especially if.Ruben struggles.
ReplyDeleteNot to knock Tejada, but he's a lot closer to a Doug Flynn or a Jose Oquendo than a Jose Reyes...and I don't know if Tejada is even as good as Flynn/Oquendo defensively...
ReplyDeleteHey VT... long time.
ReplyDeleteThe bottom line here is that neither Spin or Tejada projects even close to what the Mets have been used to at this position.
Shortstop will become the 8th hitter and the days of having a Mets all-star here are now over for the remainer of this decade.
There are options beyond Tejada and Valdespin.
ReplyDeleteThere are rumors floating about Jason Bartlett being shopped, Jimmy Rollins is still out there and Alderson might waste money on a defense SS like Jack Wilson.
It's a bad day for Met fans.
Don't really need all stars at SS, need all stars.pitching...until that happens, what's the difference that he's gone
ReplyDeleteFlave:
ReplyDeleteI can't evaluate or project something that isn't.
Right now, the Mets SS situation, both present and future, is... adequate
Charles:
You have it figured out, young man.
While I don't think Tejada will ever give the Mets what Reyes did (obviously), he can provide solid defense and I can see him blossoming into a very good #2 hitter a la Mark Loretta. Don't sell the kid short.
ReplyDeleteI think Valdespin will have more value as trade bait - world of talent but a 10 cent head. I'm not counting on him becoming anything - he doesn't seem to have the drive to match his natural gifts.
Time to build the pitching staff and find an OF who can leadoff.
I'm going to echo what Michael S. said.
ReplyDeleteI am not nearly as high on 'spin as most of you seem to be but I'm also higher on Tejada than the generally consensus, so it appears. This is a kid who, at 21 years old, got on base 36% of his at bats. Wanna know what Reyes' obp was at age 21? .271. In fact, Reyes never got on base more than 36% of his at bats until this past season.
No, obp is not the whole story, however people forget how heralded Tejada's glove was in the minors. He could win a gold glove there someday. You cannot tell me a gold-glove caliber SS who gets on base at a .360 is a "stop-gap" or not a elite-team-quality SS. 25 MLB teams would take that right now over what they have.
I haven't been a Spin fan becuase of his attitude... and he knows I know what a pain in the ass he was in Savannah...
ReplyDeletebut...
he has grown... and something else happened in the last 12 months...
his body grew and baby fat turned to muscles... check out his HR/RBI/Slug last year in AA... it's OF-type numbers
Mack...Thanks for the welcome back...
ReplyDeleteSad day for the Mets...and I feel bad for Tejada...good kid, and decent utility player...but, will he be treated like Ray Knight was treated when he replaced Pete Rose? And can he handle that wrath of fans for something that wasn't his fault?
I think the Mets need to see what they have with Tejada, especially if they are going with Murphy at second, a strong defensive SS can only help.
ReplyDeleteI almost feel like we need an early campaign to keep fans off Tejada's back. The kid has a lot of talent (thanks to Stephen for backing me up and providing more detail) and what he doesn't need is the pressure of replacing Reyes and suffering the wrath of impatient fans while he continues to go through his growing pains.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious to see how his strength training goes...he's been working out steadily and should add power to his high OBP over the next couple of seasons.