Ruben Tejada

[letsgometsgo]

Tejada is a hitter. Period. He can flat out hit. His ability to hit with two strikes...and always seem to get to two strikes...shows an incredible amount of patience for a player of his age.

With that said, I would still upgrade if I had the opportunity. It is hard to make it as a one-dimensional player these days. And that's essentially what Rubin is...hits for average and can get on base, but has no speed and zero power. So he definately fills a slot for the moment, playing in that gaping hole left by Reyes. But I would trade up!

[KingsnQueens7]

He needs to add some muscle and work on gap power. He works long counts guys, and thats good to have in baseball. With some added double power he would become a stud. Love this guy moving foward!!!

[5+7=DYNASTY!!!]

I think you have it the other way around. He has the instincts but his below average speed won't allow him to steal that many bases. Bay and Murphy are faster than Tejada.

Tejada has below average speed for a shortstop, not for a baseball player. If he had those instincts he wouldn't get caught at such a high percentage.

[YoungStuna28]

Tejada has below average speed for a shortstop, not for a baseball player. If he had those instincts he wouldn't get caught at such a high percentage.

He has below average speed for a baseball player too. I'd give him a 45 out 80 on the scout grading scale.

If was faster he wouldn't get caught at such a high percentage.

[jomota]

Is there nothing else to talk about in the off season that we need to rag on Reuben Tejada???? He is what he is, a decent hitting, good fielding shortstop. He had 26 doubles in 110 games or so last year. He'll hit thirty plus if he plays a full slate of games. He hit .290. Higher than all but probably half dozen SS.

We have no offense or defense from catcher, no outfield, a horrible bullpen and we have people worried about Tejada. Tejada is one of the few plusses on this team. He is decent #2 hitter and a very good #8 hitter. The fact that this team isn't winning isn't due to Tejada. This team is loaded with problems. Tejada isn't one of them.

[YoungStuna28]

Is there nothing else to talk about in the off season that we need to rag on Reuben Tejada???? He is what he is, a decent hitting, good fielding shortstop. He had 26 doubles in 110 games or so last year. He'll hit thirty plus if he plays a full slate of games. He hit .290. Higher than all but probably half dozen SS.

We have no offense or defense from catcher, no outfield, a horrible bullpen and we have people worried about Tejada. Tejada is one of the few plusses on this team. He is decent #2 hitter and a very good #8 hitter. The fact that this team isn't winning isn't due to Tejada. This team is loaded with problems. Tejada isn't one of them.

Agreed. I'm just trying to temper people's expectations that he'll someday hit 10 + HR with 15+ SB. It's not happening, and that is perfectly OK. He's a solid SS that does the things you need your SS to do.

[MetsFanatic19]

Just throwing it out there, but over the past three season, Jose Reyes has averaged 9.6 homeruns (11, 7, 11). I think we could all agree that Jose is both stronger and better with the bat than Tejada is.

Also, in 1132 at bats, Ruben Tejada has 2 homeruns. El numero dos. Has not had more than 1 in a season yet.

There are some good hitters who are just not good at hitting homeruns (i.e. Luis Castillo). Even if he does get stronger, I don't see him hitting more than 6 homeruns a season.

What Tejada needs to do is hit harder line drives. His gap hits seemed to be cut off by an outfielder so much more often than it going all the way to the wall. If he can get stronger, I can definitly see his doubles rate start to go up, and that would be perfect.

Tejada is our future 2 hitter and our current 8 hitter. We don't need homeruns from the 2 hole or the 8 hole. We need a guy who can work the count, give you a good at bat, and hit line drives.

[jomota]

Just throwing it out there, but over the past three season, Jose Reyes has averaged 9.6 homeruns (11, 7, 11). I think we could all agree that Jose is both stronger and better with the bat than Tejada is.

Also, in 1132 at bats, Ruben Tejada has 2 homeruns. El numero dos. Has not had more than 1 in a season yet.

There are some good hitters who are just not good at hitting homeruns (i.e. Luis Castillo). Even if he does get stronger, I don't see him hitting more than 6 homeruns a season.

What Tejada needs to do is hit harder line drives. His gap hits seemed to be cut off by an outfielder so much more often than it going all the way to the wall. If he can get stronger, I can definitly see his doubles rate start to go up, and that would be perfect.

Tejada is our future 2 hitter and our current 8 hitter. We don't need homeruns from the 2 hole or the 8 hole. We need a guy who can work the count, give you a good at bat, and hit line drives.

So do you want more HRs or more doubles???? You seem to be looking for two different things. There are a few really good hitting SSs in MLB. Jeter, Tulow, Reyes maybe one or two others. Tejada is in a group below the elites. There are many others way below him. What's wrong with that???

If Tejada plays like he has for the net 5-6 years, I'm OK with that.

Ike will strike out over 150 times and swing and miss at slow basketballs thrown by a lefty and people go nuts over him. Tejada is steady and reliable and we're looking for more.

We're OK at SS.

[YoungStuna28]

Tejada was the 16th best SS in the league last year out of 25 SS with minimum of 400 PA.

We could do better, but it's not an area of need at this time, and we have bigger fish to fry in the OF and 2B.

[fanofclendennon]

Maybe Ruben Tejada can catch? Oh, wait, we finally have a catcher now, don't we?

Never mind.

[Paulie6986]

Is there nothing else to talk about in the off season that we need to rag on Reuben Tejada???? He is what he is, a decent hitting, good fielding shortstop. He had 26 doubles in 110 games or so last year. He'll hit thirty plus if he plays a full slate of games. He hit .290. Higher than all but probably half dozen SS.

We have no offense or defense from catcher, no outfield, a horrible bullpen and we have people worried about Tejada. Tejada is one of the few plusses on this team. He is decent #2 hitter and a very good #8 hitter. The fact that this team isn't winning isn't due to Tejada. This team is loaded with problems. Tejada isn't one of them.

Yep.

Lets pick on Daniel Murphy instead.....

[jomota]

Tejada was the 16th best SS in the league last year out of 25 SS with minimum of 400 PA.

We could do better, but it's not an area of need at this time, and we have bigger fish to fry in the OF and 2B.

Based on what, some of these ridiculous stats everyone throws around???? What does he have a low FIP-a-dee-do-da or BABIPPY???? Is there now a shortstop ERA or something????

Watch the games. He's a decent SS. He's not a corner stone, he's a complementary player. The problem is we have no cornerstones for him to complement.

[Rio40]

I'm not ragging on Tejada and Mets Fantatic the Luis Castillo argument doesn't work because he actually had speed.

All I'm saying is he can be taught how to steal bases. Jeff Bagwell stole 30 bases multiple times. There is no way he is more then a tick slower then Bagwell was. Its all about learning how to steal on the pitcher vs stealing on the catcher.

Tejada has enough quickness to play SS so theres no reason he shouldn't be able to steal bases. Since he's quick he should be able to get good jumps once he becomes a better baserunner.

Once again this isn't a thread bashing Tejada. I'm just simply stating that with hard work he can become one of the better SS in the league.

[Rio40]

Plus as Mets Fanatic pointed out he hits a lot of line drives in the gap that get cut off. If he works on getting stronger many of those balls in the gap will go for extra bases. Getting stronger will also keep him on the field more.

Tejada is a good natural hitter but could become a great hitter if he added some gap power to his game.

[DisgruntledGoat]

Let's see if he does what he said he would do and show up BEFORE spring training(like he was going to last year)to work on his game,I'm going out on a limb and saying there will be some sort of excuse why he doesn't...a problem with his travel visa or some other nonsense, I think he lacks a viable work ethic, I'm not particularly enamored with him, he's "Adequate" at best....