Is Jose Reyes Injury Contingent on the Mets Record?

Jose Reyes has been out since May 26 with a tear in his hamstring tendon. His timetable, which is mostly up to him right now, has been sketchy but the general expectation was that he would return after the All-Star break. It is surprising that after so much talk about his return in the second half of the season that he has not made enough progress to at least play in minor league rehab games. David Wright who was hit in the head with a pitch will be coming back shortly off his disabled list stint and he had a concussion!

Who knows where the New York Mets season could have been if Jose Reyes had came back in a reasonable time frame. I am going out on a limb here to suggest that it is possible he just does not want to come back and play out the rest of the season. After all with the way the New York Mets have been down sliding, why would he want to? Why not just draw out the injury ala Carl Pavano and sit out the rest of this season and begin again fresh next year?

Age makes a difference Carlos Delgado and Alex Rodriguez both had the same type of surgery on their hip and one is back at the age of 34 making dives and hard plays at third base while Delgado, 37, is still trying to get back. Jose Reyes is 26!

According to the NJ.com, on June 9, Jose Reyes said that he was so anxious to get back on the field that he would return even if he were only 80 to 85% healthy. At the time, the New York Mets were 2 games back in the division and they were leading the wild card.

On July 12, Jose Reyes worked out and reported that he is getting close according to ESPN.com. New York Mets manager Jerry Manuel went on to say, "It was very encouraging to watch him move as freely as he was moving." The New York Mets were 6 ½ out in both the division and wild card standings then.

On July 30, according to the New York Post, Jose Reyes was at a Latino night club dancing the night away. Should he not be resting his hamstring? Dancing is certainly not rest. The New York Post reported this as a sign that he would be due back soon and how Jose Reyes himself had said he was at 80%. The New York Mets claimed that he was rehabbing in Florida and not at the club. It is possible that the New York Post was wrong or that the New York Mets did not know what Jose Reyes was up to that night? The New York Mets were 9 ½ back in the division and 6 ½ behind in the wild card with plenty of baseball left to play.

There are three possible explanations for why over a month and a half later he is still not back. One is that he naturally had an unfortunate setback, which is what were supposed to believe and entirely possible. Second, he had a setback from supposedly dancing or not properly caring for himself. Third, he saw the Mets standings and had a setback...know what I mean?

It seems that the more the New York Mets fall out of contention, the less eager Jose Reyes seems determined to come back. This is significant since there is no time table and the team is waiting on him to indicate when he is ready.