Jerry Manuel Wants Jose Reyes to Bat Third

Mets manager Jerry Manuel proves that he is clueless.

The Mets skipper wants to move Jose Reyes, who is coming off a hamstring injury, into the third spot in the Mets batting order, while Carlos Beltran heals up from knee surgery. This means the top of the Mets order would look like this:

1-Luis Castillo - 2B
2-Daniel Murphy - 1B
3-Jose Reyes - SS
4-David Wright - 3B

This is terrible!!! Why would you bat two of your weakest hitters at the top of the lineup! Sure Castillo hit over .300 last year, but he is so inconsistent at the plate, and lacks the nessecary speed to steal bases at the top of the order. As for Murphy he is still learning how to be a major league hitter. Why put him in a position where he could fail and fall even further behind. Sure, Murphy has the potential to be a solid number two hitter, but the Mets should gradually graduate him there as the year wears on.

Plus, the number three hole is for a power bat. Reyes is not a power bat, he is a guy who is supposed to drive the ball into the gap and steal bases. The worst thing that could happen to Reyes is that he develops the bad habit of aiming for home runs, instead of trying to get on base and steal bases. This has disaster written all over it.