Just Mets

As the Mets continue to bleed losses and weight possibilities for internal solutions, one player who has remained absent all year long is Matt Reynolds.

He has been playing under Wally Backman at Triple-A throughout the 2015 season, and while he’s had his ups and downs on both sides of the ball, he’s posted a .272/.326/.406 line with 21 doubles, two triples, four home runs and 42 RBI.
For now, the Mets are reportedly considering shifting Wilmer Flores to second, installing Ruben Tejada at shortstop, and Daniel Murphy at third base.

However, if Tejada falters in an everyday role, the Mets would then consider promoting Reynolds to be their everyday shortstop.

Tejada has done a respectable job this season. He has been willing to take a bullet and learn a new position on the fly all while taking his lumps in the process. He’s had a good month or so, and at least offensively has not been the core problem. He’s had his moments at third which has undeniably cost the team outs and runs, but that’s attributed to a lack of familiarity at the position more than anything. That’s not an excuse – rather, he’s a victim of circumstance. He’s a shortstop, not a third baseman.

However, it’s hard to ignore the last three years with Tejada.

The fact remains he is who he is – a light-hitting utility infielder who can be valuable in a part time role. Anytime he gets prolonged exposure – including this season – his flaws which have prevented success as an everyday player have been exposed.

So if history is any indication, this probably won’t end up being a productive experiment.

As for Reynolds, given the state of affairs, it’s hard to quantify why he isn’t here right now. He may not be great, he may not even be a big league starter. But there’s only one way to find out and an audition could at least buy them time for the trade market to perk up.

Despite the home runs, it can be argued Reynolds should be starting over Flores at second base with Tejada at shortstop if for no other reason that Reynolds can’t be expected on to make a smaller degree of the routine plays, which is a huge reason for the losing aside from the offense.

There is no reason to expect the results to change if the club continues to run the same pieces out there. Sure, this guy may be here now, that guy may be there, but it’s the same players with the same skill sets.

So if they expect the results to change with the same players, regardless of where they’re standing on the field, they’re probably going to be disappointed.