Ruben Tejada has been on the disabled list since May 30 with a strained right quadriceps. Before the injury, Tejada was hitting a mere .209 in 187 at-bats with the team, and was close to a demotion. Omar Quintanilla was called up to replace Tejada, and has hit .235 in 85 at-bats. However, he has been very solid defensively.
"Based on what we're seeing right now, Ruben has got to go earn it back." Terry Collins said on Thursday. "He's got to go play. He's got to go get his game together. He's got to go get himself in good, really top shape. We know he can. But there's no reason why we're going to take {Quintanilla} out of the lineup unless it's fatigue. He's played very, very well offensively and defensively."
Tejada will likely begin a rehab assignment this weekend with Single-A St. Lucie. After that, he'll likely spend some time with Triple-A Las Vegas.
"We sent him out for a reason. He wasn't playing well." Collins said.
I think it's very interesting that Collins is talking about Tejada as if he was demoted instead of injuring himself. Of-course, a demotion for Tejada was likely if he hadn't gotten injured due to his poor play, but Collins is talking like Tejada needs to prove himself and work his way back.
I like Tejada, and at this point, I'd rather see him out there than Omar Quintanilla, who has no future role with this club. The Mets are a rebuilding club, and Tejada was once seen as a building block for this team. At age 23, he still has plenty of time to make adjustments to his game, and be the player that fans expected him to become.
Quintanilla has played well defensively while filling in for Tejada, but offensively he has been awful. He's hit .245/.367/.664 in 26 games for the Mets this season. I like him as a bench piece, but he just doesn't cut it as an every-day player.
Hopefully Tejada comes back relatively soon and proves that he belongs. Sandy Alderson recently said he wasn't a "core" player for this organization, so hopefully Tejada uses that as motivation to prove the doubters wrong. I know he's capable of being a good player, it's just a matter of staying off of the disabled list.
I think it's very interesting that Collins is talking about Tejada as if he was demoted instead of injuring himself. Of-course, a demotion for Tejada was likely if he hadn't gotten injured due to his poor play, but Collins is talking like Tejada needs to prove himself and work his way back.
I like Tejada, and at this point, I'd rather see him out there than Omar Quintanilla, who has no future role with this club. The Mets are a rebuilding club, and Tejada was once seen as a building block for this team. At age 23, he still has plenty of time to make adjustments to his game, and be the player that fans expected him to become.
Quintanilla has played well defensively while filling in for Tejada, but offensively he has been awful. He's hit .245/.367/.664 in 26 games for the Mets this season. I like him as a bench piece, but he just doesn't cut it as an every-day player.
Hopefully Tejada comes back relatively soon and proves that he belongs. Sandy Alderson recently said he wasn't a "core" player for this organization, so hopefully Tejada uses that as motivation to prove the doubters wrong. I know he's capable of being a good player, it's just a matter of staying off of the disabled list.
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