With Omar Quintanilla quickly sliding to his career norms, in other words Omar being Omar, perhaps it’s time to reconsider giving Ruben Tejada a pardon and allowing the 22-year old another shot at redemption.
Quintanilla is now batting .143 (5-for-35) in his last ten games with 11 strikeouts. Overall, his average has dropped to .31 for the season, a shade above his career mark.
Meanwhile, back on the ranch, Tejada took his demotion to Las Vegas in stride, unlike Ike Davis before him, and he actually had another solid night for the 51s going 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored and two RBIs. He’s now batting .314 in 70 at-bats with 11 runs scored and a .349 on-base.
It’s certainly something to think about, and lets face it, we do need to resolve who will be the Opening Day shortstop in 2014… Right?
By the way, our old friend Jordany Valdespin has hit the ground running in Vegas as well. He put on a heck of a show in the desert where he exploded with a five-RBI night going 4-for-6 with home run and two runs scored. Valdespin is batting .474 in 19 at-bats with nine RBI. Of course he is… 🙂
I never could understand the faction of Mets fans that were so down on Tejada. Even when he was struggling it was obvious that he was our best option. At this point Quintanilla is what he is. He’ll come up and give you a spark for a few week, but his numbers will always return to the mean. Tejada was very solid for us for the past two years both at the dish and in the field. He’s never going to be a star, but for a kid in his early 20’s he was more than serviceable. I think a lot of fans let a bad 50 games ruin their opinion of him.
I think with Tejada most fans had this weird notion that Tejada was a stud Shortstop defensively…And that he could work on stealing more bases and become the type of player the Everth Cabrera has become.
While a few(myself included) felt he was a second baseman whom could be a 2-hole hitter but not a full time Shortstop. And no way he would become a base stealer because he is too slow and the players that have success stealing bases with little speed did so because they have great instincts on the bases(they consistently get good jumps).
With that said…Tejada needed a wakeup call thats why it was so important he was sent down. His at bats were terrible he was popping everything up swinging for the fences when he should be trying to hit line drives and the ball through the infield holes. But more importantly his defensive was terrible he looked so lackadaisical out there at times. And if he isnt playing good to great defense he shouldnt be on anyones major league roster.
Just my opinion 😉
Jordany wont sniff Citi Field again until the Mets get rid of Terry Collins and brings in a real manager who commands respect. And a manager who doesnt split the clubhouse in half by being overly bias to veteran ballplayers.
We’re seeing 1st hand how terrible a manager and decision maker Collins really is… Lagares earned regular playing time months ago. We saw him looking more comfortable and having better at bats versus the Cubs at Wrigley but instead he benched Lagares the next day after hitting 2-3 with a homer to win the game. But Collins keeps yoyoing these young ball players in and out of the lineup.
Ive always said this and will continue to say it because it is true. Rookies/Young prospects need to play EVERYDAY!!! NO PLATOONING!!! NO DAYS OFF TO GET SOMEONE ELSE IN THE LINEUP
You cannot evaluate a player that way and even worst you stunt the prospects growth that negatively affects his development. Which is why GM’s ALWAYS SAY….
“IM NOT CALLING UP_____(insert top prospect name here)_____ if he’s not going to play everyday”
If David Wright played sparingly the way Collins uses prospects he’d look bad at the plate as well.
PLEASE DONT BRING COLLINS BACK NEXT YEAR!!! FOR THE PROSPECTS SAKE!!!
I agree that a wakeup call was necessary. Sending him down may have been necessary. However I don’t think that he can’t return to his previous form which was more than serviceable considering his position. It appears a lot of Mets fans have written him off.
And right on cue Terry-ble Collins benches Juan Lagares[who just won NL player of the week]in favor of Kirk Nieuwenhuis.
This guy has GOT TO GO!!!!
PLEASE!!!