Hitting Reyes Third

I love Spring Training. As the manager you can do whatever you want and it brings no judgment. Batting Oliver Perez second was one thing that you know you'll never see in a real game, but Jose Reyes hitting third might have been born today.

It is known that Jose has been one of the best leadoff hitter sin baseball. But we also know that he's not your prototypical leadoff guys. Reyes has gap to gap power to add to his blazing speed. He also loves the fastball and may be able to provide the Mets 20-25 bombs on top of his already high triple mark. He could be a solid run producer. It truly changes the dynamic of the Mets offense. It will allow Carlos Beltran to possibly hit second, and will move David Wright down to his 2005 batting position of fifth. The problem is that the entire balance of the Mets offense comes down to one person. Second baseman, Luis Castillo.

The Mets second baseman is coming off the worst season of his thirteen year old career. But, in what appears to be better spirits and shape, we hope that the once pesky Castillo can get the ball out of the infield this year. The very early returns are good, with Castillo collecting 3 hits in his 4 at bats of the spring. If he shows promise in Spring Manuel will bat Reyes third to start 09.

I'm not saying it's the best thing to hit Reyes third. But it is worth thinking about if and only if Castillo can hold his own. At the very least it will allow Jose to be more comfortable with runners on. That can be helpful when he comes up in late game clutch situations batting number one.