I had to. About 2 innings into my turning on the game, the topic in the booth turned to the possible trade of Jose Reyes. Fair enough, but it very quickly devolved into a discussion of "Who can you get to replace what he does?" which of course is not a new question among Mets fandom, and one to which I honestly cannot bear being subjected to anymore.
Let me preface this by again saying I like Reyes. He's a tremendous talent. But what everybody--included the three wise men in the booth--keeps missing is that it's not a question of replacing Reyes and what he does. Clearly, that's a tall if not impossible order. What you do in that case is get other players who do--wait for it--other, different things that contribute to winning baseball games.
I feel like a jerk for continuing to say this, but it needs to be said: "what Reyes brings" has won this franchise very little. The Phillies don't have anything close to What Reyes Brings, and they've won the damned division 4 years running. The Giants barely had an offense at all, much less What Reyes Brings, and they're standing on the Citi Field turf as I type this with a freakin' "World Champions" patch on their sleeves.
I'm sorry, but there's no trophy for having the most dynamic leadoff hitter in the league. I honestly can't recall a team in my lifetime that's even attempted to build a lineup around a leadoff man. It's entirely possible for a team to win without What Reyes Brings, and that keeps getting proven over and over. Hell, the Mets are sitting in last place WITH What Reyes Brings. How valuable can it possibly be in the grand scheme of things?
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