Ruben TejadaThis is not anything new. Ruben Tejada is struggling. All Mets fans thought it would only be a matter of time before Stephen Drew was signed or a trade was made.

Well Stephen Drew is still in a beach house in Florida and the only trade the Mets made was to ship Ike Davis off to Pittsburgh.

Now with April almost over the Mets sit at 10-10, better than most expected but not playing their best baseball.

Jose Valverde has been dethroned as the closer; Curtis Granderson can barely hit his weight and Travis d’Arnaud has struggled to start the season.

Sandy Alderson needs to make a change. And on the offensive side of the ball, Ruben Tejada seems to be the guy to replace. Everyone expects Granderson to turn it around and for d’Arnaud to start getting some better luck.

The Mets have a surplus in pitching and it’s soon going to be time to deal from the crop of pitching to help upgrade a position. Ruben Tejada’s days as a Met, much like Ike Davis, have always seemed to be numbered.

At some point, Tejada’s shortcomings in the field and the plate would become too much and he would have to be replaced. That time has come.

No longer can the Mets and their fans deal with Ruben Tejada being in the lineup everyday.  Terry Collins has even gone as far as pinch-hitting for Tejada in key moments late in game. If that doesn’t spell the end, nothing will.

The Mets want to start winning at the big league level, they have set 90 wins as a goal and they have become to spend money to invest in the big league club. This is no longer a team that is rebuilding and can allow guys like Tejada to play full time.

Now, Sandy Alderson is a smart guy. He knows this. He knows that an upgrade needs to be made. But so does the whole league. Alderson can’t give away his hand and make it known that Tejada is done. Because if that happens, the price for a shortstop will skyrocket.

So he is waiting for the right time, or for Wilmer Flores to prove that he can be a viable option at the position. The latter seems very unlikely. With only 20 games gone and over 140 to go, Alderson has time to make the upgrade. The team, with all of it’s struggles so far has played better than expectations during a hard stretch of baseball.

That’s an encouraging sign. When Granderson and d’Arnaud start playing better, David Wright turns into his MVP form and the Mets upgrade in places that need fixing, they will become a good baseball team that will starting winning games and a lot of them.

But the time for experiments is over. Ruben Tejada has had ample opportunities to stick at shortstop. He just isn’t the guy for Flushing. The longer he’s there, the worse it becomes for the Mets. Sandy Alderson, it’s time for a change.

10 comments on “Ruben Tejada and time for a change

  • Jerry Grote

    In other news, Nick Franklin is on base 47% of the time and slugging the tune of nearly .750.

    That’s not a misprint.

  • steevy

    People criticized Franklin for his defense I think.I was very much in favor of getting him if possible.Worse comes to worse he plays second in the future.

  • Chris F

    In a week, the DBax will be having a fire sale. Owings may become available.

  • Metsense

    The time for a change was last winter. They have a rookie catcher that needs to establish himself, a first baseman that was demoted to the minors just last year, a free agent signing that is coming off a down year and a second free agent signing that is coming off an injury plagued year and Sandy still didn’t think that a shortstop was a priority. I am so happy that the Mets are 10-10 and still competitive. Tejada is not a starting shortstop for this team. He is too weak offensively and only adequate defensively and his other starting teammates aren’t strong enough to carry him. If the Mets want to improve their .500 record then the obvious positional upgrade is shortstop.

  • peter

    Chris we wouldn’t be having this conversation if Granderson was doing what we thought he was brought here to do. If the Mets are at 5 be grateful. The team as a whole is better situated then it was last year. Though I blame SA for not having a better back up plan for a closer the team has a solid outfield and your 3 other positions in the infield are set. You don’t need Tejada to hit 300 to keep him in the line up. Leave him in the 8 hole and let him continue to work on his hitting and fielding, This team doesn’t need Drew(even if he is an upgrade). The mets are headed in the right direction and when Montero and Thor come up later this season the starting pitching for 2015 should be complete. Better to invest time and energy on the bull pen and not waste the SP.

  • Raff

    I believe the Mets are going to ride it out at least another Month, after the “Super 2” time passes and after the compensation pick for Drew is no longer a reality. In the meantime- they have a little over a month to assess what options they have internally and to better understand what options may be available elsewhere- including drew and others.

  • Patrick Albanesius

    Seattle is tanking hard, but their pitching has been a bright spot, so Franklin being moved for a pitcher doesn’t seem all that realistic now. Arizona is desperate, though, and Ownings might be had for less than he was earlier. Or maybe a dark horse will come out of nowhere.

  • david

    people keep looking at flores as a non issue but i’ll bet he’ll be playing short before you know it
    on the other hand franklin would be interesting at second if the eventual intention is to move murphy

  • Jerry Grote

    at some point, I think I’m going to have to find a way to give credit to the coaching staff.

    Somehow this team has scored roughly the middle of the pack in runs, while having the fewest hits, doubles, triples, hr, lowest team BA (.216), slugging pct and ops.

    • Jerry Grote

      something I am beginning to come around on … Eric Young Jr. I looked again at his numbers since those first few at bats.

      When you include the 5 ROE (which don’t help his OBP, but should), he’s reached base 36 times in the last 17 games, and in the 33 times in which he’s either singled, ROE, been HBP or walked, he’s gotten himself into run scoring position another 11 times.

      I guess its time to rethink Eric Young Jr. He’s going to have to get on the field when Lagares returns.

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