Dear Jose Reyes,

On May 7th I sat right here and wrote a letter to your teammate Carlos Beltran, and I asked him to step it up. Since May 7th, Carlos is batting .313 with 2 HRs and 16 RBIs in 67 ABs (this is not including yesterday’s game). Prior to the letter, Carlos was batting .219 with 2 HRs and 13 RBIs in 105 ABs. Seeing the marked improvement of Mr. Beltran following my letter, I decided it was my duty as a fan to write another letter to another struggling Met.

I’m not sure how else to put it, but you just seem like you’re on Pluto lately. I’m not talking about Mars, or Jupiter – I’m saying you are in far off outer space. Yeah, and Pluto’s not even a planet anymore. How does that make you feel?

Anyways. Ever since around the All-Star break last season you have been struggling. Through June last year you were batting an impressive .317, setting the pace for a hot Mets team that looked as if it had the NL East in its back pocket. But you tailed off and so did the team’s record. Your September last season was just abysmal, you batted .207 amid a legendary collapse – in case you need reminding. But, the team’s offense didn’t struggle. In September, the Mets offense scored 157 runs, their 2nd highest monthly total last year. But what caused your struggles Jose? You didn’t play particularly well in the month of August last year either. Let’s see what happened before August last year that might have had an influence on you…

Aha! We traded for Luis Castillo on July 30th, is that why you’ve been so bad? He is probably a bad influence, he is lazy and doesn’t run for ground balls hard nor does he run out hits that hard. Castillo even said at the beginning of this year, that he is going to need regular days off. That’s not the right attitude. But is he really rubbing off on you that much? Please. Granted he’s not a good influence but honestly blaming it on him would be a pretty lame excuse for your struggles.

I’m not sure anybody but you knows why you’re on Pluto.

You seem lackadaisical in the field. You were picked off twice in this series against Colorado, one of the times was off 2nd base. Getting picked off 2nd, not to mention by a lefty, is embarrassing. You really have to be in a daze.

Also, what’s up with that error you made yesterday? Even through your rough patches, your fielding has never stuttered. You’ve always been a natural out there with a cannon. But, you go out there and botch that double-play ball yesterday, which led to a HR and a Rockies lead. Everybody makes errors, but that was a bad one where it seemed like you just weren’t paying attention and you weren’t focused on the ball.

Jose, I’m not sure what’s exactly wrong but I hope you find your swagger soon. You need to realize how much fun you should be having and how good you can and should be. When we see you hit the ball and run, even people who don’t know baseball can look at you and say, “Damn, that kid’s a stud.” But somebody who hits .270 without drawing walks, makes stupid plays and dazes off is by no means a stud.

I just hope you smell the fresh air and awake from this trance to be the stud that sent us mashing through the NL East to begin last year.

Sincerely,

Andrew Beaton

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