A Positive Sip?

Call it a little piece of Monday optimism. Maybe it's cause I had a good weekend or maybe because this is the week where Sip and KFC begin our journey as the next Matty D and Benny the Sellout. Either way, It's all good in Momo Land.

So I was sitting in my backyard on Sunday rotting off my Saturday acquainatace with my old pal Mr. Jameson when my friend's father, a lifelong Red Sox fan, joined along. This man eats, sleeps and breathes Red Sox baseball and he knows his stuff. For years we have been jawing back and forth, talking shop and what have you, but really it's just a pleasure to converse with a man that is so passionate about the game.

The conversation shifted to the Mets and something very exciting hit me. The Mets are the owner of what will be 2007's biggest storyline.

We talked about the pitching or lack thereof. We talked Beltran and Delgado and then he got really excited when we started talking about David Wright.

What the rest of the world doesn't realize and the reason why being a Met fan will be incredible thru the year 2020 is not any of the big guys in the middle or bums on the hill, but the man setting the table, our good friend, Mr. Glass.

You all know me. I see things negatively. But barring injury this season, Jose Reyes will be the MVP of the National League.

I believe in that as much as I believe in betting on Ivy league basketball.

People have no idea just how good this guy is. Over the last three years he went from a kid who swung at 57 footers to a .300 hitter. And he is only 23.

When Ryan Howard was 23 he had three years ahead of him before he saw the city Philadelphia. Glass is working on year 4.

Last year we started to see all the pieces come together. The average, walks, homeruns, RBI all started to go up and up. All of a sudden the biggest weapon on the most potent offense in the National League was the first hitter the opposing pitcher saw.

I am happy to say, my friends, that he is only going to get better. As Reyes continues his transition from freakish athlete to freakish baseball player, we will witness the birth of a sure fire Hall of Famer and a man who will do to the leadoff position what Alex Rodriguez and Cal Ripken did to shortstop.

Reyes could be a 25 and 100 guy for the next ten years. He'll hit .300, steal 50 bases and get his OBP closer to .400. In short, he will put up numbers that baseball has never seen before.

What's so great about Glass is that he really is a big teddy bear. Has Jose Reyes ever done a single thing wrong? Other than the multiple children out of wedlock he seems to be a saint.

But how many times have you sat there in your living room, watched Glass in the dugout mastering a new handshake and just laughed because you had something so fun to watch every single night?

David Wright has the hype, the looks and the bigger contract. He will no doubt be a star in his own right. But Jose Reyes could go down as the best player ever to don a Mets uniform. Anything that we have seen so far is the smallest of tastes of what we will see in the coming years.

Think about it. This guy has barely grown into his body.

Knowing me, this out of nowhere case of optimism will certainly cause Reyes to have some freaking injury. When that happens, I will give you my address and you can come and hurt me. But for now, let's enjoy this guy tearing up the Grapefruit League like no hitter since Willie Mays Hayes in Major League II...

Going Deep.

VCD,

Sip

Pics courtesy of (softplex.com, mlblogs.com)