Jose Reyes and David Wright will not be on the field tonight against the Phillies, and yet so much of the second half of the Mets’ season is about them.
Because the Mets cannot make a long-shot run to the playoffs unless Reyes and Wright are healthy and productive — especially if Carlos Beltran is going to follow Francisco Rodriguez out the door.
But this is more about the big picture. This is about Reyes and Wright offering up final statements on why they should be kept as a tandem. This is the last opportunity they might ever have together to convince management that the best long-term strategy is to build around the left side of the infield.
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The Mets have done this once already, giving Reyes and Wright multi-year contracts in the heady days of early August 2006. It was not far-fetched then if you were the Wilpons or Omar Minaya to believe that the organization had just committed to its version of Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez; that the Mets had made an investment that would be repaid in glory and championships.
Instead, frustration, injury and the humiliation of upper management followed and now here are the Mets once more having to decide if the shortest distance between Citi Field and The Canyon of Heroes is to allocate a significant portion of what will almost certainly be a dwindling payroll to Reyes and Wright. Do they go way outside their financial comfort zone to re-sign Reyes? And, if so, should they also keep Wright rather than trade him for further payroll relief?
“There is a shallow talent pool at both positions (shortstop and third),” an AL personnel man said. “And it is not like they have a Starlin Castro-like prospect at either position ready to no doubt take over. They are both in their prime and both have shown the ability to be top five at their position, maybe even top three. You have to keep an open mind about keeping both.”
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Mets GM Sandy Alderson has shown that he is open-minded. So he will, as always, gather more information in the second half. How is Reyes running? How is Wright performing after fracturing his back? Can the duo carry an iffy contender in the heat of a pennant race?
Reyes (hamstring) is eligible to come off the DL on Monday, though it seems most likely he will return — without a setback — shortly thereafter. Wright is scheduled to play his first rehab game tonight, five innings for Single-A St. Lucie. The Mets think Wright needs 10-11 games of minor league at-bats to be ready for the majors. Word is he has lost weight and upper-body mass to lessen stress on his back.
Obviously, both now offer significant physical risks despite, theoretically, being in their primes at the age of 28. Can they dismiss some of that concern with strong finishing kicks?
Alderson, as the Post reported earlier this month, already was leaning toward recommending to ownership that it make a significant offer to Reyes. Even with the physical worries, Reyes likely will receive a contract for no less than six years at $120 million, owing mainly to the dearth of quality shortstops currently in the majors.
Wright is owed $15 million in 2012 and has a $16 million option for 2013. When I asked a former Mets employee who now works for another team if he would tell his current club to obtain Wright if the third baseman became available, he said: “The back is a worry. But if he is fine, yes. He is a great kid, an above-average player and there just are not many good third basemen around.”
To dramatize the point, Wright has been out since mid-May and yet is still tied for 12th in the majors among third basemen with six homers. So a healthy Wright would have value in the trade market. But he has value to the Mets, as well, especially if, as expected, the team addresses those homer-thwarting wall heights and distances in the offseason.
Plus, like Reyes, Wright is popular and homegrown, and Alderson has acknowledged the need to restore goodwill with the Mets fan base.
First, though, Reyes and Wright have to get back on the field; have to seize this second-half opportunity to show why the organization should sink approximately one-third of future payrolls into them; have to use this last/best chance to demonstrate that the Mets are still best served building their future around them.
joel.sherman@nypost.com