Reyes has a thyroid problem?

Jose Reyes has once again been scratched from the Mets lineup and is en route to New York for tests.

According to Adam Rubin, Reyes may have an out of balance thyroid.

It’s worrisome that Reyes has yet another problem, but if it is a thyroid issue, that is usually easily rectified.  A pill treatment can usually solve most hyper- or hypothyroid issues.

I actually just had my thyroid tested, too.  It involves some (more) bloodwork for Reyes to test the levels in his blood and an ultrasound to see if the thyroid gland is swollen or undersized.

Not encouraging news that Reyes is out once again, but if it is a thyroid issue, the Mets and their fans shouldn’t be too worried.

I hope this steroid/HGH talk begins and ends this week

Dr. Anthony Galea is a name I hope I don’t hear much more.

Because a steroid scandal is the absolute last thing the Mets need.

Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes have both been questioned by the FBI in connection with their relationship and visits to Dr. Galea’s office for treatment.  Galea is being investigated by Canadian authorities for attempting to smuggle human growth hormones into the US.

Both players have met with investigators and discussed their treatment with Galea.  Both claim that HGH or steroids were not involved or discussed.

Hopefully, as this week winds down, we hear less and less of this story.  Unfortunately, steroids are too juicy of a story to overlook, so as long as it’s slightly relevant, it will be written about and discussed at length.

But please, for the sake of Mets fans minds everywhere, let’s hope we don’t hear much more of it.  I think we have enough to worry about.

Jose Reyes hits two-run triple in first AB [Quote]

Via NJ.com…

“To be honest with you, it felt a little weird when I stepped in the batter's box,” Reyes said. “It was a long time that I don't face a big-league pitcher. When I hit the ball, I said, ‘Oh, God, I have to run now.’”

Reyes said he never thought about stopping at second, though. He said he wasn't running quite at full speed, but with the ball rattling around the right-field corner, he didn't have to.

Sorry if you drool on yourself after reading this.

Manuel’s Musing

“I think if you told Jose today, 'Jose I am going to bat you eighth until you get right,' he wouldn't bat an eye. He is so excited to be back on the baseball field, I don't think it would be an issue with him at all.”

-Jerry Manuel on where he might bat Jose Reyes

Heyman: Reyes to bat third until Beltran returns

Last spring training, we were all intrigued when Jerry Manuel discussed putting Jose Reyes in the third spot of his lineup.  We all scoffed when we heard the same thing this season.

But, according to Jon Heyman, this plan will be in action for more than just spring training.

Heyman tweets that Reyes will be batting third in the Mets lineup, at least until Carlos Beltran returns.

This, I think, is stupid.  We all know the saying “As Jose Reyes goes, so goes the Mets.”  That saying didn’t come from nowhere.  Reyes is the Mets sparkplug and dropping him to third seems silly.

There are other tweaks I’d like to see Manuel make with the lineup, but dropping Reyes out of the top spot is not one of them.

Here is what the opening day lineup will likely look like, if Manuel sticks to this plan…

1. Angel Pagan
2. Luis Castillo
3. Jose Reyes
4. Jason Bay
5. David Wright
6. Daniel Murphy
7. Jeff Francoeur
8. Rod Barajas
9. Johan Santana

It’s actually not too bad, but I still think Reyes is better suited for the leadoff spot.

What do you think?  Leave your comments below.

The Jose Reyes overkill post

We are all very, very excited that Jose Reyes is back.  How do I know this?  Well, let’s just take a look at all the posts over the last 24 hours that mention the Mets shortstop in the headline…

Newsday

• Jose Reyes and David Wright back together
• More Wright and Reyes
• Reyes, Santos, Thole and now Barajas?
• Another Reyes-Wright photo
• Jose Reyes back to normal?
• Another photo of Jose Reyes
• Photo of Jose Reyes

Daily News

• Jose Reyes is back in swing of things as he trains with New York Mets in Port. St. Lucie
• Video: Reyes on rebound for Mets
• Reyes in pictures

NY Times

• Reyes Is Revved Up and Ready to Run

NJ.com

• Jose Reyes says he could return from injury as a better player than before
• Healthy Jose Reyes arrives at NY Mets spring training

MetsBlog

• Read: Jose Reyes, Impact and Batting Third
• Video: Jose Reyes from PSL
• Notes: from PSL, about Reyes, Jacobs and Murphy
• News: Jose Reyes, and Chipotle, in St. Lucie

Mets Merized Online

• Reyes Batting Third And Other Astonishing Tales

Hardball Talk

• Jose Reyes' hamstring is feeling 'normal' again

Now, these are just the times Reyes was mentioned in the headline.  There were about 20-25 other articles where he was mentioned, just not in the headline.

Also, there are just from the blogs in my Google Reader.  I can only imagine how many others are out there, just from the last 24 hours.

Jose Reyes interview on WFAN [Video]

I’m about to pack up and hit the road back to my home state of New Jersey.  Just  finished up the first half of my senior year at Quinnipiac University, so it’s winter break!  (Man, when did I get so old?!)

While waiting on Jason Bay and reveling in the signing of Ryota Igarashi, here are links to the videos from Jose Reyes’ interview on WFAN from Wednesday.

Video 1 | Video 2 | Video 3

Enjoy and if anything happens, in the next three hours, shoot me an e-mail (TheRopolitans@gmail.com) and I’ll pull the car over and post from the road.

‘Mike and the Fast Latino Man’ [Image]

If Mike Francesa is still looking for a cohost, I think
Jose Reyes might be the perfect candidate.

Seriously though, I think Reyes did a fantastic job with the interview.  He was happy, energetic and from what he said, healthy.  Everything the Mets weren’t last year. 

He was smiling his usual smile and reminded every Mets fan watching or listening how much they missed him as a player and a member of the team last year.

Why do some fans want to trade Jose Reyes?

Yesterday, while listening to WFAN, a caller proposed a trade idea to Mike Francesa.  If you follow my Twitter feed, you may know what I’m talking about.

The caller came on the line and immediately said, “Reyes for Hallday? I’d do that in a second!”

Um…why?

Throwing the trade idea out the window and using it simply as a jumping off point, why are so many fans so ready to trade away Jose Reyes?  What has he done, outside of missing most of 2009, since he became an established player to make you want to move him?

Is it the “lack of effort”? The dancing? The injury?  What is it?

If you’re one of the fans that wants to trade Reyes, please post your reasoning in the comments.  Or e-mail me.  Something, anything – I just want to know what your thinking is.

Link: Rubin chock full of info

Adam Rubin’s latest blog post is teeming with info from day one of the GM Meetings in Chicago.

In brief…

• Matt Holliday and Jason Bay are likely too expensive.
• Mike Cameron is a longshot.
• The Mets really want to trade Luis Castillo.
• The free agent catching market is terrible.
• The Mets want to re-sign Alex Cora.
• Tim Redding and Jeremy Reed will probably be non-tendered.
• Johan Santana and Jose Reyes are healing.  Santana will pitch on his normal winter schedule, while Reyes is now walking sans-crutches.

For more, head over to Rubin’s blog.

Successful surgery for Reyes

Jose Reyes had successful surgery on the scar tissue around his hamstring tendon, according to Marty Noble.

Noble noted that Reyes should be fully healed by spring training in February.

Reyes surgery set for today

Jose Reyes will finally undergo surgery on his right hamstring tendon today.

The surgery will try to clean up the scar tissue around the injury.

Reyes will have the surgery in Dallas.

Reyes opts for surgery

As expected, Jose Reyes will undergo surgery on his right hamstring tendon.

From the Mets…

The Mets today announced that shortstop Jose Reyes will undergo surgery to clean up scar tissue around the accessory hamstring tendon behind the right knee (semi tendinosis tendon). He will not require surgery for the separate hamstring muscle tear in his right leg which he suffered in late September while working out for his return to baseball.

Mets Medical Director Dr. David Altchek of the Hospital for Surgery in Manhattan has directed that the surgery be performed by Dr. Daniel E. Cooper - the leading expert in the country in the surgical treatment of the chronically torn semi tendinosis tendon in athletes. Cooper, affiliated with The Carrell Clinic and based in Dallas, is the head team physician for the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Stars. Cooper trained under Altchek at the Hospital for Special Surgery.

The date of the surgery is yet to be determined. Reyes is expected to fully recover and be ready for Spring Training.

How many months late is this?  I lost count.

Agent: Reyes should be ready by spring training

According to Peter Greenberg, Jose Reyes “is going to be good for next year.”

Reyes is expected to have surgery on the leg.

Andrew Marchand of 1050 ESPN spoke to Greenberg who said he has consulted with Omar Minaya and Jeff Wilpon and they believe that Reyes should be able to begin working out in December of January.

If that’s true, Reyes should be ready to go by spring training.

Fingers crossed.

Reyes tears hamstring while testing torn hamstring tendon

Truly unbelievable.

Today, Jose Reyes tested his torn hamstring tendon.  According to the Mets, while Reyes was testing his torn tendon today in Washington, he tore his hamstring muscle in the same leg.

In a season that we thought couldn’t get worse, just did.  And there are only three games left to play.

Reyes’ next move is probably onto the operating table, though a team spokesman would not comment.

Mets all-time hit leaders

With some guy across town doing something special, I decided to take a look at the Mets all-time hit leaders.  Here’s the top 20…

#	Player	Hits
1	Ed Kranepool	1,418
2	Cleon Jones	1,188
3	Edgardo Alfonzo*	1,136
4	Mookie Wilson	1,112
5	Bud Harrelson	1,029
6	Mike Piazza	1,028
7	Darryl Strawberry	1,025
8	Howard Johnson	997
9	Jerry Grote	994
10	David Wright*	963
11	Jose Reyes*	960
12	Keith Hernandez	939
13	Lee Mazzilli	796
14	Kevin McReynolds	791
15	Felix Millan	743
16	Rey Ordonez	720
17	Rusty Staub	709
18	Carlos Beltran*	703
19	John Stearns	695
20	Wally Backman	670

*denotes active player.  And yes, Fonzi is still active.

What really intrigues me here are Reyes and Wright.  Both seemingly have very long careers ahead of them, hopefully with the Mets.  It would (will?) be kind of cool to watch as they climb the chart and possibly battle for the top spot, maybe game in and game out.

Also, would have never picked Rey Ordonez or John Stearns to be in the top 20 spots.  Sorry, guys.

Report: Jose Reyes has torn hamstring, may require surgery

In a report for the Daily News, Adam Rubin relays info from a source that Jose Reyes has a completely torn hamstring and may require surgery.

Rubin writes:

While hardly ideal, surgery is not necessarily as ominous as it might sound. That tendon is expendable, and is sometimes partly removed and inserted into the elbow when a pitcher undergoes Tommy John surgery.

This morning on Twitter, pAuLiE_bRuZ asked me, “Do you think it’s a joke that they are deciding now that Reyes needs surgery?”

To put it plainly: No.

This season has seen a multitude of injuries and another one getting worse is no surprise.  The Mets front office needs to take a very serious look at their training staff and their medical professionals.  Things like this shouldn’t be found out months after the fact.

Something is very, very wrong with all of this.

Mets DL trips

This list was put together by reader and friend David Cancel.  It lists the date, the player, the injury and where it took place.  It’s long and excruciating.  Take a look.

• 8/5 Jon Niese (Torn hamstring) - 8/5 @ Citi [Added]
• 7/25 Gary Sheffield (Strained right hamstring) - 7/17 @ ATL
• 7/20 Fernando Nieve (Torn right quadriceps - out 6-8 weeks) - 7/19 @ ATL
• 7/9 Fernando Martinez (Right knee inflammation) - 7/1 @ MIL
• 6/22 Carlos Beltran (Bone bruise, right knee) - bruise first mentioned between LA and BOS (5/21), finally out after OF slide 6/21 @ Citi
• 6/12 John Maine (Right shoulder fatigue) - last pitched 6/7 @ WAS
• 6/5 J.J. Putz (Right elbow surgery - out 8-10 weeks) - 6/3 @ PIT
• 6/3 Ramon Martinez (Fractured left pinkie finger) - slide 6/2 @ PIT
• 6/1 Angel Pagan (Strained right groin) - 5/31 @ Citi
• 5/26 Ryan Church (Strained right hamstring) - 5/22 @ BOS
• 5/26 Jose Reyes (Right calf tendinitis) - complained of stiff right calf after 5/13 game @ Citi, rested 6 days, re-aggravated @ LA on 5/20
• 5/18 Alex Cora (Torn right thumb ligament) - slide @ SF on 5/17
• 5/16 Carlos Delgado (Right hip impingement) - slide @ Citi on 4/26, rested for 5 games, played 7 games, then shut down.
• 5/7 Oliver Perez (Right patellar tendinitis) - last start 5/2; was complaining about it since Spring Training
• 4/17 Brian Schneider (Strained back muscle) - @ Citi
• 4/5 Angel Pagan (Right elbow sugery - out 2-3 months) - bone spur, prolly from Winter ball
• 4/5 Tim Redding (Right shoulder fatigue) - spring training

Yikes.

Thanks, David!

Jose Reyes has scar tissue

Unfortunately, not the song.

Jose Reyes had an MRI today on his ailing knee that revealed scar tissue and inflammation behind the knee.  This all stems from the hamstring injury earlier in the year.

Reyes will remain in NYC for physical therapy to try to break up the scar tissue and reduce the inflammation.

With Reyes, Jon Niese and Gary Sheffield all in for MRIs today, do you think the Mets will get a group rate?

Reyes returns to New York with leg discomfort

As the final nail in the coffin of people-who-still-think-the-Mets-have-a-chance-if-their-players-all-come-back-healthy, Jose Reyes has returned to New York with leg discomfort.

The news was tweeted by Steve Popper, David Lennon and Kevin Burkhardt.  Each of them believe this signals the end of any hope of Reyes returning in 2009.  I must agree.

Reyes will be re-examined by Mets doctors in NYC.

With the season swirling the drain, there should be no reason for any of the Mets players to rush back.  That is, except for Carlos Delgado, who needs to prove to teams he is still able to play.

So long, 2009.  Hello, 2010.