Who Is The "Face" Of The Mets?

This question was posed recently to a group of panelists over at ESPN. It was a simple question - Who is the face of each MLB franchise? Here's the criteria that was used by the panel:

We took into consideration skill, popularity, historical and future impact and a host of intangibles to determine which current player, manager, executive, mascot or symbol best represented each of Major League Baseball's 30 franchises.

So who did they chooses as the face of the Mets? Well 4 out of 5 panelists picked Jose Reyes. The only dissenter was Matt Cerrone over at Metsblog.com who went with Willie Randolph.

Click here to see the results for the Mets.

Here are the complete results for every MLB team.

So what do I think? Without a doubt, Jose Reyes is the face of the Mets. If you ask the average baseball fan this question they will say Reyes. Why?

Well for one, he gets all of the hype and praise on Baseball Tonight and every other baseball show that exists. He's billed as the most exciting player in baseball and was even thought of as a possible top fantasy player and MVP before this season. Plus his smile is infectious, he shows personality on the field and is widely regarded as the gasoline for the the engine that is the Mets offense.

So as you can tell from that glowing (biased?) review I just gave to Jose "Hovito" Reyes, I agree with the 4 panelists.

Now while I love Willie Randolph, I think Matt Cerrone is doing some wishful thinking when they say Randolph is the face of the Mets. Sure behind the scenes, he's the one that runs the ship. But when the bright lights are on, it's Reyes who attracts the spotlight. As a matter of fact, the only managers I can think of that can be considered the face of their teams are Jim Leyland, Lou Piniella and Joe Torre. And Sweet Lou has some serious comp with Carlos Zambrano and Derrek Lee as does Joe Torre with Mr. Perfect, Derek Jeter. So sorry Willie, J-Rabbit got you beat here.

(On a side note, the guy who chose Andy Pettitte as the face of the Yankees needs to lose his right to analyze anything for the nest 2 years. Andy Pettitte? Over Torre, A-Rod, Jeter and Steinbrenner? Please.)

It's funny... if you would have asked me this question 2 or 3 years ago I would have said David Wright without question. Goes to show you how things can change in a hurry. Holla back.