Jose Reyes National League MVP Campaign Under Way

Jose Reyes is on track to become the National League MVP in baseball. Coming back from a series of injuries that limited Reyes and the New York Mets the past few seasons, he has been nothing short of spectacular in the current season. Though there has been talk about the Mets trading Reyes, he could very well be ready to win the NL MVP if he can stay with New York for the full year.

Coming into the games of Saturday, Reyes has a .340 batting average for the season. Reyes has also posted 32 extra base hits that included 11 triples and 89 total hits. In addition to that, Reyes has 20 stolen bases, 24 RBI from the leadoff position, and 44 runs scored in his first 60 games. All of these statistics have him near the top of the league leaders for every category. This has the Mets playing .500 ball for the first time in a while as well.

Reyes is a free agent at the end of the current season, but there had been a lot of discussion about whether he deserved a long term deal from the Mets. As he continues to hit the well though, fans are getting on board with giving him a deal that will let him retire in New York. He is one of the hottest hitters in the game, and it appears quite clear that he has recovered nicely from injuries that hampered him the last two years. Now the 28-year-old could be looking at Carl Crawford type money at the end of the 2011 season.

All of this success at the plate has put the Mets into an odd position regarding the future of Reyes. He has a lot of value when it comes to the trade market, but the front office has to decide if that is the best course of action at this time. The fans are not going to forgive the team if they deal Reyes during the regular season, but a 31-32 record isn't going to get the Mets into the playoffs. It creates a scenario where the Mets could get someone to overpay to gain the services of Reyes.

The best option for the Mets is to offer Reyes a nice long contract and keep him in town for quite a while. It they are intent on trading him though, there are several teams that could really use a good shortstop. Included amongst them are the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox; two teams that notoriously overpay to get new talent. Maybe that could create a huge deal in the next month or so, or maybe the Mets ownership is content to lose him to free agency and simply get back two nice draft picks.