I have been critical of Jerry Manuel in the past, and rightfully so. His nonsensical decisions based on his own gut feeling disregard logic or reason. But as the injury-depleted Mets become harder to watch, the game-within-a-game of “What Will Manuel Do Next” has become increasingly entertaining.
For some unexplainable reason, Manuel batted Argenis Reyes in the leadoff spot Monday against the Brewers. Generally, a leadoff hitter is one of your team’s best hitters; someone with the ability to get on base so that the “big boys” can knock him in.
Argenis Reyes is not this player. In 122 career at bats, Reyes’ batting average is .205 and his on base percentage is .242. Argenis has done nothing to prove that he is worthy of a major league at bat, yet he is leading off for a team with playoff aspirations. No amount of injuries can excuse this.
Since Jose Reyes went down with an injury, Jerry Manuel has had to mix and match to find the right guy to slot in at the top of the lineup. Most of the time, Manuel had Alex Cora (.315 career OBP) batting leadoff. Perhaps Manuel believes that since Cora and Argenis replaced Jose Reyes at short stop, it only makes sense that they should replace him as the leadoff hitter. Maybe he thinks that the team will find a comfort zone with a Reyes atop the lineup.
But what boggles the mind most is that Luis Castillo, who has been a more than serviceable leadoff hitter throughout his successful MLB career (.367 career OBP), has somehow moved down from #2 hitter to #8 hitter.
Can someone please explain this logic to me? Oh that’s right, Jerry Manuel doesn’t believe in logic.*
With all of the injuries the Mets have experienced, Luis Castillo is now one of the top 4 hitters in the lineup. My good friend Common Sense suggests that Castillo should remain the #2 hitter or be moved to leadoff when Jose Reyes got hurt. But instead, Manuel has decided to bury him at the bottom of the lineup, where his walks and singles do little more than clear the pitcher so that Argenis Reyes can lead off the next inning with a ground out.
If you are going into game 1 of a playoff series and your #1 starting pitcher is injured, you would pitch your #2 starter, right? Well I can only imagine that Jerry Manuel would pitch a minor leaguer or a long reliever in game 1 and have the #2 starter pitch out of the bullpen.
*For reference, see Friday’s Subway Series game, when Manuel pinch hit Argenis Reyes as the tying run in the biggest spot of the game instead of Daniel Murphy, who is a .308 hitter against lefties (albeit in only 39 career at bats, but Reyes is a career .160 hitter in 25 career at bats against lefties). Of course, Argenis struck out.
Pete Lappin (3)
