There are some knuckleheads attending Mets games this week and they are booing Jose Reyes.
Long time readers know I never was the biggest Reyes ran. I did not enjoy the way he ended his Mets career. I think he wanted to be a Marlin, otherwise why didn’t he wait until morning to see if some other team made an offer?
So fine, be a Marlin.
Why are people booing him?
What about the Jose Reyes that so many of you loved? The Jose Reyes that is at the top of many of the Mets statistical leader boards?
No I wasn’t a huge fan and I’m not going to pretend I was. But why the hell are people booing him?
He may have left town under cover of the second inning but he didn’t give us the finger on the way out.
He’s not Bobby Bonilla.
Mike Piazza was allowed to stop by in a Padres uniform when the Mets decided they wanted another catcher. Nobody booed. The free agent had signed elsewhere because the Mets didn’t want him.
The Mets did not want Mike Piazza.
The Mets did not want Mike Piazza.
The Mets did not want Mike Piazza.
Nobody booed the Padres catcher.
I don’t recall Tom Seaver being booed. (I think Tom could give us the finger and we’d still cheer.)
Cut it out. Today.
You can respectfully clap or you can react the way you do when Generic Marlin is up. No booing.
…
Now this will start a discussion of the Wilpons and how they are stupid and how Sandy is the worst GM ever.
This came up several times last night and I want you to think long and hard about this…
Of all the problems with the 2012 Mets, of all the things you could fix about the 2013 Mets, at what point is shortstop your concern? 24th?
They have a shortstop. They had an option at shortstop. The other guy wanted money they didn’t need to spend.
They had a shortstop. They had a bat they wanted to play at second. So the kid needed to play shortstop.
Shortstop is not the problem.
LF, CF, RF, C, 6 bullpen spots and I dunno 3 starting pitchers would make this team better.
It’s not the shortstop. An infield they have.
Move along and stop booing.
To compare Reyes to Piazza in this instance isn’t exactly fair. Piazza was a (winning) player at the end of his career who came in for a 3 game set. Jose is a player that left in the prime of his career to join a division rival. Although I won’t boo him, I can absolutely understand why people would want to.
I really think the fact that he went to a division rival is one of the biggest reasons. It felt like a slap in the face. I also agree with the distinction about Piazza being at the tail end of his career as opposed to Reyes. Also, Seaver was traded – even if it was with his blessing in regards to his relationship with management, there’s a difference in perception for a player who is traded versus a player who leaves via free agency. Look at Beltran.
I’d argue that leaving under the cover of the 2nd inning *was* something of a middle finger.
Mike Piazza’s career was over
Mike Piazza’a career was over
Mike Piazza’s career was over
Jose Reyes is in his prime
Jose Reyes is in his prime
Jose Reyes is in his prime