Following Sunday's demonstration by New York Mets' SS Jose Reyes that he has a lot of maturing in his future, he and Mets announcer Keith Hernandez had a confrontation on the team's charter flight. Reyes was apparently goaded on by family and friends who heard Hernandez say Reyes has to stop being babied by the other adults around him.
The precipitating event was a throwing error Reyes made that looked as if 1B Carlos Delgado could have been charged instead. Immediately afterwards, Reyes was shpown throwing his glove to the ground in frustration. To those watching, it appeared as if Reyes was showing up his veteran 1B. At the end of the inning, in another act of apparent petulance, Reyes throw his glove to the ground again while his sunglasses fell off his head.
Hernandez' comments seemed completely in line. The sad part is no one in the Mets' organization appears to have the wisdom to do so themsleves and needed a broadcaster to point to the elephant in the room.
Given the organization mess - no minor league depth, no major league depth, maybe the Mets need to think the unthinkable - trade Jose Reyes. With an affordable long-term deal ('09:$5.75M, '10:$9M, '11:$11M club option), the Mets should be able to rebuild their system with a couple of major-league ready players and a few good minor league prospects.
Will this work or will more efforts need to be made to transform the clubhouse? This morning's New York Times reports some of the players are now shunning Keith Hernandez. Is this good or a sign of across-the-board clubhouse petulance?