It Just Didn't Feel Right

When I learned that Jose Reyes was taken out of the game after getting a hit in his first at-bat, something just didn't feel right. So I wrote my boys to get their thoughts on it. We discussed it a little, but I never got a real answer out of them. Instead, the talk turned to what to do in the off-season with not just him but Wright as well. I suppose some issues are more pressing than others.

So then on the way home, I asked The Wife, the sports ethicist, for her thoughts on it. The conversation went as such:

Me: So Jose Reyes entered the day with the highest batting average in the league. No Mets player has ever won it. After he got a hit, manager Terry Collins took him out of the game. What are your thoughts?

Wife: Well I don't see anything wrong with it, but I don't think I get why he came out.

Me: Well, he got a hit which increased his average. By leaving the game it meant his average could go no lower since it was the last game of the year. So essentially he took the easy way out.

Wife: I suppose it all depends on how he felt about it.

Me: There were whispers last night that it might happen that way. Some of the bloggers thought he would come out of the game so the Shea faithful could give him an ovation. But instead of getting cheered, a lot of fans booed. They were like...wait, I paid this money to come see you and you're being taken out early?

Wife: That's fine and all, but what did he think about it? It's only wrong if they weren't on the same page.

Me: Good point. Actually, we found out after the game that Reyes asked to be taken out. Collins felt like he had to oblige because of what Reyes means to the team, but was torn because he saw the other side of it too.

Wife: So what do you think?

Me: I think he took the cheap way out, but that's fine. He says that winning the title was important to not only him but to the entire fan base as well. I can't fault him for that even though I think it's lame.

Wife: Yeah, but would you rather have had him play and then lose the title on the last day of the season?

Me: Actually, I think I would rather have had him play. If he lost it at least he went down swinging. Who knows though, maybe he could have gone 2-4 or 3-4...nothing says that 1-1 would have turned into 1-4. Bottom line for me though, is what this says to the fans. There is a really high probability that this was his last game for the Mets, the organization he has been with since he was 16. Our last memory of him was him being taken out of the game early. All the fans that went out to a 1:00 start on a weekday wanted to see him potentially for the last time...and he requested to leave the field. It just doesn't feel right.

Wife: Well, does Reyes have any obligation to the fans?

Me: That right there is the conversation killer. You break out that question and you kill the debate.

Wife: Why?

Me: Well, because Reyes, like any athlete, does not owe anything to the fans or the owners. We expect them to love the team as much as we do. We cheer for them when they do good, but boo them when they do bad. Reyes is no different. Sure he is being cheered now. Fans are pleading with the ownership to re-sign him and they are pleading with him to come back. But not long ago, we were booing him and talk radio was suggesting that he was an injury bust. We don't care about Reyes the person. We care about Reyes the baseball player. Reyes doesn't need to care about the fans. If winning the title was important to him, than he has every right to do what he did. I just think he looks a little selfish, which is not the perception I would want to paint during my free agent year.