This is while Carlos Beltran would be injured
Manager Jerry Manuel said Friday that he might move Reyes to the third spot in the order from leadoff while outfielder Carlos Beltran is out after knee surgery. Either Angel Pagan, Beltran's likely replacement, or second baseman Luis Castillo would bat leadoff.
"I think he's ready for that if it's something we need," Manuel said, according to the Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. "This could be a part of his evolution as a player."
"I'm good with it," Reyes said, according to the New York Post. "I just want to be in the lineup."
Reyes said the order switch isn't a definite yet, however.
"He's not sure yet. We just talked about it a little bit yesterday," Reyes said, according the New York Daily News. "I said I'm open to anything you want me to do. It's not a problem."
Could Jerry Manuel actually be making a good move in batting Jose Reyes third? In their book, The Book, Tom Tango, Andrew Dolphin and Mitchel Lichtman explored optimum lineup construction. They came up with this
Your three best hitters should bat somewhere in the #1, #2, and #4 slots. Your fourth-and fifth-best hitters should occupy the #3 and #5 slots. The #1 and #2 slows will have more walks than those in the #4 and #5 slots. From slot #6 through #9, put the players in descending order of quality.CHONE has Reyes projected as the third best Mets hitter (excluding Beltran). So, in an optimal lineup construction, he should hit fourth. But how would Reyes hitting third look in a Mets lineup? I used Lineup Analysis to find out how many runs the Mets would score. The OBP and SLG columns used projections from CHONE
The Lineup was Pagan, Castillo, Reyes, Bay, Wright, Murphy, Francoeur, Catchers (.318 OBP, .371 SLG), Pitcher (.176 OBP and .179 SLG)
This Lineup would score 4.66 RPG. The optimum lineup, scoring 4.888 RPG would be Wright, Bay, Catchers, Pagan, Reyes, Francoeur, Murphy, Pitcher, Castillo.
If you switch Castillo and Pagan, having Castillo lead off, you score 4.7 RPG; switch Castillo and Pagan, and Bay and Wright, you get 4.8 RPG. Switch Bay and Wright, you get 4.65 RPG.
And if Reyes doesn't bat third, and the lineup is Reyes, Castillo, Wright, Bay, Murphy, Pagan, Francoeur, Catchers, Pitchers they'll score 4.66 RPG.
So if you're going to bat Reyes third, have Pagan lead off and Wright hit fifth, though it doesn't make that much difference if Wright bats fourth or fifth.
In the end, batting Reyes third or first is not going to make a difference to the Mets.
