“At This Moment, Ruben Tejada is the Shortstop Here”

The New York Times had a piece earlier in the week, titled “Little Choice but to Hope Tejada Can Handle Job,” featuring quite possibly the least-supportive selection of quotes I’ve ever seen about a player.

“At this moment, Ruben Tejada is the shortstop here.”

“We don’t have a lot of options. He’s our main guy right now.”

“We just need him to get on base and turn the lineup over…. That’s all we need him to do. He’s definitely capable of it. He’s probably capable of more than that. But that’s what we need him to do.”

I assume the Mets have tried and failed to trade Tejada, because certainly no team would be interested if this is how his own team talks about him. What confuses me is why Terry Collins and Dave Hudgens feel like it makes sense to go on record about how disenchanted they are with a player who is still on the team, and who they still need to perform. I felt bad for Ruben Tejada after reading this article, even if he is as lazy as the piece makes him sound. Who wants to be publicly insulted by his boss? Professional athletes may make a ton of money, but they also suffer a lot of public shame and ridicule… though usually it comes from fans and commentators, not their own employers!

There is something a little puzzling about the Mets’ front office if they would rather stick with a player they think is the worst than be able to find some sort of acceptable replacement for him. Surely there is a shortstop available somewhere, anywhere, that would be preferable to them, based on this article.