Walk on the Left Side: Ruben Tejada Makes a Name for Himself

David Wright and Ruben Tejada seem more than comfortable working together after the departure of Jose Reyes

Welcome to our off-season, my Mets faithful!  I realize there is still post-season baseball to be played (how ’bout those A’s, huh?) but for the Kings of Queens, the off-field work is already starting.  As we at the Daily Stache begin the long wait until February 13, 2013, we’ll still be bringing you news and humorous anecdotes to keep you all tied over until then.  Where do I fit in to all that you may ask?  Or you may not ask, but it sounded good.  Well, I will be covering the left side of the infield, namely our beloved Mr. Wright and the very quickly up-and-coming Ruben Tejada.

Tejada has certainly more than stepped up to the plate (pun intended) this year, filling in very admirably for the outgoing Jose Reyes.  His defense became more and more solid as the season went on, and his discipline at the plate became second to none.  Granted, his hitting may have dropped off a bit towards the end, but he still puts in quality at-bats whenever he’s in the batter’s box.

Ruben has impressed so much that he has already been cemented as the starting shortstop for next year.  I’m really interested to see how he will continue to grow.

Now onto the big elephant in the room that will be discussed ad nauseum over the winter.  What will happen with David Wright?

Well, according to Sandy Alderson, David and R.A. Dickey will be his top priorities this winter.  David has said all the right things to the media and the fans about wanting to remain a Met for the rest of his career, and I so desperately want to believe him.  He has always been a stand-up guy thusfar and I see no reason why that shouldn’t continue.

Now I know there are those of you out there that don’t see individual players as a huge factor, and focus on the team itself as a whole.  However, you cannot deny that David is extremely important to the stability of this club going forward.  He is the face of the team, like it or not, and he has the potential to own every Mets record he can before he’s done.  He’s already the Mets hit leader, RBI leader, etc., so the sky’s the limit if he takes the chance.  If Wright walks, there will be a LOT of angry fans who will see this as the last straw and to be honest, I think it would take the franchise quite a few years to recover from that if it happened.

So Sandy really has his work cut out for him in order to convince David that the Mets have a plan going forward.  David wants to win (R.A. Dickey has said the same thing actually), and while he is steadfastly loyal, he’s also got big dreams.  Let’s hope the Mets can make them come true.