In an ESPN article  Buster Olney writes that the Mets must face the idea that Reyes has already reached his greatest potential as a player. Olney compares Reyes to Mark Prior who never made it in Chicago. He point’s to one MLB scout that says, “I don’t see a lot of evolution there,” said one scout this week. “Jimmy Rollins struggled early in his career, but then he just kept getting better and better, and I’m not really seeing that in Reyes.”

Buster continues saying, “Going forward, the Mets should not assume that Reyes is going to be an unmovable foundation piece. They should not assume that they can count on greatness from him, because there have been too many periods when he has been much less than that.”

I usually agree with Buster Olney and he’s not saying the Mets should trade him, Reyes raising the possiblity that Reyes has already reached his potential is not going out on a limb. The same could be said of any young all-star. Now trading Jose Reyes has been brought up here but he’s only 26 years old. Most MLB players don’t reach their prime till their late 20’s- early 30’s. I do think if the Mets did break up the core of Wright, Reyes and Beltran, Reyes would be the one to go. Beltran is older and not many teams would take his contract, Wright is too much the face of the franchise but Reyes is young, in a manageable contract and would return the most value of the three.

Yes, Reyes had been injured early in his career but he was definitely mismanaged by the Mets (remember trying to change the way he ran?) also Reyes has been very durable the last few years, he’s played at least 148 games the last four seasons and has put up consistent all-star numbers. And here’s the other thing, Reyes, if even doesn’t elevate his game, which I think he will, is  still one of the top five shortstops in the game and one of the best leadoff men in the game. Which are two things that are so very difficult to replace. As I’ve said before I think the Mets should keep the core together and then put tougher, grittier players around them. I think part of the problem on the team is a lack of identity, Wright and Beltran are starting to take that leadership role after Delgado went down but neither are the ra ra type of player either. Another collapse in September could completely change things but we’ll see.