He's back. Sort of. But I'm still staying away.
New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes has been cleared to resume baseball activities and is expected to return to Tradition Field tomorrow, according to John Harper of the NY Daily News.
“I can’t tell you if he’s going to be ready for Opening Day,” Mets general manager Omar Minaya said. “I can’t tell you that he is or that he’s not. But the reality is, we’re happy to get him back. I know for us and for all the players, everybody was excited. He’s excited. Let’s get him back here. Let’s get that smile back on our team.”
Last year, Reyes played only 36 games due to hamstring issues. He hit only .279 with two home runs and 15 runs batted in while stealing 11 bases.
In the four seasons before 2009, Reyes averaged 113 runs, 13.5 home runs, 66 RBI and 64.5 stolen bases per season while hitting .287.
With the exception of batting average, I would be highly surprised if he exceeds his average on any of the other four statistical categories in 2010.
In most fantasy baseball drafts, he's the fourth shortstop drafted behind Florida's Hanley Ramirez, Colorado's Troy Tulowitzki and Philadelphia's Jimmy Rollins. So, although his thyroid level seems to be back to "normal," if you want him on your fantasy team, you can have him.
We shouldn't forget that Reyes was a perennial top-5 fantasy player until this year's draft. We don't want to overreact to a misdiagnosed leg injury and this weird thyroid issue.
ReplyDeleteI guess how much you value Reyes also depends upon the league format. I'm in a H2H league that has triples as a stat category, which is traditionally a category that Reyes has owned.
To me, SS is a position with a lot of uncertainty. Tulo is going high, basically off of the strength of one half of a monster year; he was brutal in the first half though. Rollins has been tailing off ever since his MVP campaign. I could see Reyes having a better season than both of those two, though he comes with the risks that you outlined.