Guess who homered on the first pitch he saw and went 3 for 4 overall?
I asked Mets.com beat writer Anthony DiComo about Havens' status, which he answered in his mailbag column a few weeks ago. I hope Havens' (and the new Mets management) has finally figured him out because he is too great a talent to be wasted as a minor league retiree.
Dan Capwell of Mets Today makes a great point that makes me feel optimistic about Havens:
"Comparisons to Fernando Martinez abound, but Havens’ injury history reminds me more of the Jay Payton saga. Like Havens, Payton was taken as a compensation pick for losing a lefty free agent pitcher (Payton: Sid Fernandez, Havens: Tom Glavine). Drafted in 1994 and highly-touted, Payton had four surgeries, three on his elbows and one on his left shoulder. After spending the better part of his first several professional baseball years on the DL rehabbing, he finally made his debut late in 1998 season, only commit to a major base running gaffe in a key loss to Atlanta. The good news is that he later rebounded to help the Mets to a World Series berth as the starting CF in 2000. Hopefully Reese’s story has a similar outcome."
Considering Havens plays 2B and not CF, and hits much better than Payton ever did, I'm getting more and more hopeful about Reese.
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