SF Giants: 5 Reasons They Still Need to Sign Jose Reyes

It is the question that everyone is asking: will Jose Reyes be wearing a Mets uniform in 2012, or will he trade it for another for the first time in his major league career.

Although many believe that Reyes likes it in New York and might want to stay, money speaks and speaks loudly when a potential $100 million contract is on the line.

If Reyes decides to leave the Mets to test the free agent market, it would be in the Giants' best interest to do everything in their power to bring him to the Bay.

Here is a list of five reasons why the Giants need to make Reyes their No. 1 priority this upcoming offseason.

1) Positional Value

In this day and age, shortstops who can impact the game both offensively and defensively are at a premium.

It could be argued that Reyes, along with Troy Tulowitzki and Hanley Ramirez, are the only superstars left at the position today, making them quite an asset to any team.

Teams around the league realize this and will certainly be willing to throw truckloads of money at Reyes to bring lure him in.

However, if the Giants were to win the bidding war and sign Reyes, they would be set at the shortstop position for the rest of the decade; and not a lot of teams would be able to say that.

2) Need for a Shortstop

Since Rich Aurilia left the Giants in 2003, they have struggled mightily to find an impactful player at the shortstop position.

Not to take anything away from Omar Vizquel, who was always one of my favorite Giants, the position has always been a tough hole for the Giants to fill.

While Orlando Cabrera seems to be the short-term solution for the rest of the 2011 season, the Giants are left with slim pickings after the likely departures of Miguel Tejada and Mike Fontenot at the end of the season.

The Giants farm system is also thin at the shortstop position despite the presence of Brandon Crawford, who will probably never amount to anything more than an average everyday player.

Ehire Adrianza is predicted to be nothing more than a defensively gifted player, and Joe Panik, the Giants' top draft pick in 2011, is predicted to be making the switch from shortstop to second base due to his lack of arm strength.

This only increases the Giants' need for Reyes. 

3) Need for an Adequate Leadoff Hitter

Just like the shortstop position, the Giants have always had difficulties in finding a true leadoff hitter who can get on base and make plays.

Before Andres Torres' breakout year in 2010, Kenny Lofton was the last true leadoff hitter the Giants had, and that was all the way back in 2002.

However, Torres has struggled thus far in 2011 and hasn't been playing everyday because of it. The Giants are now shuffling between Aaron Rowand, Cody Ross and Andres Torres at the leadoff spot—all less than appealing to Giants fans.

Reyes would arguably become the best leadoff hitter the Giants organization has ever had, and would drastically improve the team's offense.

As we have seen this year, Carlos Beltran and Pablo Sandoval are the only two hitters in the Giants lineup who can hit and get on base. The only problem is that the Giants struggle to get hits in front of and behind their two sluggers, making it extremely tough for the Giants to score runs.

With Reyes getting on base before Beltran, (if he stays in San Francisco) Sandoval and Buster Posey, the Giants will be scoring so many runs that it would make everyone's head spin since the fans are so accustomed to "torture" baseball.

4) Need for a Base Stealer

Another aspect of the Giants offense that has been absent for so many years is the presence of a legitimate base stealing threat.

Since 1997, Barry Bonds and Dave Roberts were the only two Giants to steal over 30 bases in a season.

Jose Reyes has already stolen 32 bases in 2011 and has averaged over 58 stolen bases in the five full seasons he has played in his career.

Are you starting to see a trend here?

Reyes has the potential to help the Giants in many offensive categories that they are currently lacking production in.

5) Not as Injury-Prone as You Might Have Been Led to Believe

Let me start by saying that I am not trying to declare that Jose Reyes is an iron man and never gets hurt, because that is simply not the case.

However, one argument that consistently arises when debating whether or not Reyes is worthy of a long-term contract is the fact that he has been labeled by many to be "injury-prone."

While Reyes hasn't done much to prove otherwise, it is important to look at the facts and not let the label dictate whether or not someone is simply injury-prone.

Excluding the years 2003, 2004 and 2009, Jose Reyes has averaged over 153 games a season—which is excellent for a player at the physically demanding shortstop position.

While you might be asking yourself, "that's not fair that I can exclude those years since he was injured the majority of the time."

It isn't entirely Reyes' fault he missed extended periods of time since the Mets training staff mishandled his injuries so severely that it actually forced Reyes to miss 125 games in 2009.

There was a similar situation in 2004 with some thought the Mets began their mistreatment of Reyes' injuries. 

Why Signing Jose Reyes Would Be a Mistake

The championship team the Giants built in 2010 was the type of team that every sports franchise in the world strives to put together, and that is being constructed from predominantly homegrown talent.

The Giants' young core players that have beem brought up through their farm system like Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, Jonathan Sanchez, Ryan Vogelsong, Brian Wilson, Sergio Romo, Pablo Sandoval, Buster Posey, Brandon Belt and Nate Schierholtz were either essential to the team's success in 2010 or are vital to the team's performance in 2011.

If the Giants wanted to keep these core players together in order to compete for championships far into the future, signing Reyes wouldn't be the logical thing to do.

Some of those players like Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez and Wilson are due for long-term contracts within the next couple years, and that isn't even including the contract that Vogelsong will receive if he continues to pitch the way he has.

Adding another $20 million per year to the payroll for Reyes would financially tie the hands of the Giants front office, forcing them to let some of those key players walk away after their arbitration years are up.

There is no doubt that Reyes would be an excellent addition to the Giants; however, they will eventually have to decide if acquiring Reyes would be worth the potential loss of some of their own players in the future.