Jeff Riger: Enough Of The Jose Reyes Talk

Ask any Tigers' fan who they would want to see wearing an old English D next season and the answer would unanimously be Jose Reyes.  And why not?  Reyes won the NL batting title in 2011, hitting .337 with 39 stolen bases.  He even got eight hits in 13 at-bats against Detroit at Comerica Park in late June when the love affair with the Mets superstar grew even stronger. 

Reyes can lead off, be a great defensive shortstop and he is just flat out fun to watch.  Plus he can help with the Tigers team speed, something that the club is in desperate need of.  I'm telling you, Tiger fans think Jose Reyes is the cure all, the missing link, to going back to the World Series.  But I don't want him! 

Below I listed my top 5 reasons for NOT making Reyes a Tiger.  Lets see if I can change your mind?

5. He doesn't play a position of need.

Reyes is a shortstop and a very good one at that but the Tigers are fine at that position.  It's hard not to agree that Jhonny Peralta was a huge reason that the Tigers got all the way to the ALCS last season.  Peralta hit .299 with 21 home runs and 84 RBI and he wasn't the defensive liability at short that so many people predicted, committing just 7 errors in 1,245 innings.  The so called experts believe that the reason Peralta was able to put up such good offensive numbers this season is because he was allowed to play shortstop again instead of third base, a place where he struggled in his last couple years in Cleveland.  Peralta is also only 29 years old making 5.5 million dollars in 2012 and 6 million in 2013 if Detroit were to pick up his option.  If Reyes were to come to Detroit, odds are he would want to play shortstop, meaning Peralta might be unhappy being moved to third or even second base and his bat could suffer for it.  If Detroit is going to pay a free agent to come to town, I would think it would be a no brainer for that player to be able to play second or third, Detroit's true positions of need

4. He struggles staying healthy.

 Reyes has been a victim of the disabled list multiple times and the majority of the injuries have been to his lower body.  In 2003, Reyes suffered a sprained ankle cutting his rookie year short by about a month.  In 2004 Reyes missed substantial time with a strained hamstring and a bad back later in the season.  The 4 time All Star played in just 36 games in 2009 suffering from a calf issue and another hamstring injury only to come back and miss the start of the 2010 season with a thyroid problem.  Reyes was also placed on the DL once again in 2011 with yet another hamstring injury. 

Of course all the injuries have not stopped the outstanding speed of the 28 year old, however his stolen bases have gone down substantially throughout the course of his career.  During the time of 2005 through 2007, Reyes stole a combined 202 bases, leading the league in the stolen base category each season.  In fact he had 78 stolen bases in 2007 alone, but since then he has failed to reach that 60 mark again in his career.  After 2008, when Reyes swiped 56 bags, he has not even registered 40 stolen bases in a single season.  You wonder at age 28 how many more steals the Dominican Republic native has left in him?

3. Never has been to the American League

I am a firm believer that the National League is inferior to the American League.  Sure the NL has won it fair share of All Star games and World Series, however I'm never convinced a player can play in the American league until he has a track record of doing so.  I will admit that this argument could be my weakest, as to why Reyes should not be signed by the Tigers but I truly believe it.  Just thought I would throw it in here.  Now back to more valid points!

2. Has not hit enough.

Everybody was WOW'ed by Reyes this season and his .337 batting average but it needs to be pointed out that the shortstop has only hit .300 just 3 times in his 9 season career and one of those instances happened in his rookie year where he only played in 69 games.  In 2006, Reyes his .300 in 153 games and 647 at bats but other then that he is essentially a .280 hitter.  Also while we are on the subject of average, I thought it would be a good time to bring up the fact that Reyes doesn't walk nearly enough for a lead off hitter.  He had 77 free passes in 2007 and 66 in 2008 but other than that, Reyes has never even been in the 60's in walks for the rest of his career. 

 1. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 After reading all of the above reasons, why in the world would you pay this man over $20 million a season to bring him to Detroit?  I say spend the money elsewhere and I think the Tigers agree with me.  Dave Dombrowski commented last week that his team can only afford so many 20 million dollar players and that they have reached their quota in Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander. 

The Tigers can win without Jose Reyes and I think it's time that fans start figuring that out. 

So did I change your mind?