Coming off a 2013 that wasn't all it might have been, mostly because of wrecking his ankle sliding into second base on April 12th (we get told that diving hands first is a bad thing to do because of the chance of injury, but both Jose Reyes and Brett Lawrie wrecked their ankles sliding feet first). We hoped that in 2014 we would get to see what a healthy Jose Reyes could do,
In 2013, when Reyes, finally, came back off the injury list he was still being very careful with his ankle, which cost him range defensively and speed on offense. I had hope that his range are short would look much better this year.
Well, he wasn't all that much healthier, nor was he much better:
Year G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG 2014 143 655 610 94 175 33 4 9 51 30 2 38 73 .287 .328 .398
Provided by "Baseball-Reference.com"
Fangraphs had him at a 3.3 WAR, making him worth $18.1 million to the Jays,, Baseball Reference had him at a 3.1 WAR.
His wOBA was .321 and his wRC+ was 102.
Compared to 2013 Jose walked less (5.8% down from 8.1). His strikeout rate was about the same (11.1%, down from 11.2%). His line drive rate was slightly better than last year's (22.6% up from 21.2). He hit fewer ground balls (41.5%, down from 45.7) and he had a few more fly balls (.35.9%, up from 33.1). Fair fewer of his fly balls left the park (4.7%, down from 9.0).
Jose's BABIP (.312) was almost exactly the same as last year's (.315).
He hit lefties and righties about the same. .289/.328/.404 vs. RHP, .281/.326/.383 vs. LHP.
He hit slightly better at home (.293/.335/.415) than on the road (.281/.320/.381).
He wasn't great with RISP (.225/.278/.287), which was a huge change from last year when he was great with RISP (.383/.475/.468).
In the first half of the season he hit .273/.327/.411, in the second half. .303/.329/.383.
By Month Reyes hit:
April: .200/.250/.333 with 1 home run, 5 RBI in 11 games.
May: .269/.348/.437 with 2 home runs, 11 RBI in 29 games.
June: .276/.311/.405 with 3 home runs and 7 RBI in 27 games.
July: .324/.361/.414 with 2 home runs and 10 RBI in 26 games.
August: .301/.322/.372 with 0 home runs and 8 RBI in 25 games.
September: .302/.324/.387 with 1 home run and 10 RBI in 25 games.
His defense? Well you saw it, it wasn't good. He had a -6.6 UZR/150 at short (somewhat better than his -8.0 for last year). He made 19 errors (after making just 8 in 2013) giving him a fielding average of .965. The hamstring issues cut his range and shoulder problems might have caused the spike in errors. With a good third baseman(say Lawrie) and a good second baseman (say Goins) on either side of him, his lack of range is far less of a problem than when his has Juan Francisco and Steve Tolleson flanking him.
Fangraphs has him 7.1 runs better than the average baserunner, which seems very fair, he stole 30 bases and was only caught 2 times. That's a stolen base percentage that I can get behind.
His favorite team to hit against? He hit .480/.419/.760, in 6 games, against the Angels.
His least favorite team to face? He was 0 for 10 with a walk, in 3 games vs the Reds. Against AL teams, he hit just .156/.206/.250 in 7 games against the Royals.
His longest hitting streak was 13 games, from May 30 to June 12. His longest on base streak was 17 games. His longest hitless streak was 4 games.
We have Reyes signed for 3 more seasons, at $22 million per, with team option for 2018.
The biggest mistake the Blue Jays made with Reyes, this year, was starting him in the exhibition game in Montreal. Then he started the first game of the season, had one at bat and then came out of the game and went on the DL. He didn't play again until April 19. He seemed to spend a good part of the rest of the season dealing with hamstring issues.
I'd really like the Jays to be fair more proactive in their efforts to keep Jose (and many of their over players) healthy. Jose ought to be DHing on occasion. I'd have him DHing weekly. Tell him that he is DHing every Monday (or which ever day) and hold that plan. This season he didn't DH at all, and rarely had a day off (other than his time on the DL). And yet he was fighting hamstring troubles and shoulder troubles most of the year. Gibby and Alex both said that he didn't like to DH but I don't understand why they are letting the players take charge.
In the best of all worlds, I'd like the team to pick up another shortstop and move Reyes to left or center field, but since we need a second baseman already, I think it is a long shot that we'll get players to fill both middle infield slots. So, the second best plan is to get a second baseman that can play a very good defense (but hit better than Goins) and find a way to keep Lawrie and Reyes healthy. I can live with his defense if (a) he is healthy and (b) he has guys on either side of him who can range into his space and limit the amount of ground that he is to cover.
Healthy, he is a very good lead off hitter, something that would be very good to have. We do need table setters and he can be one of the best.