NEW YORK -- Jose Reyes spent the afternoon pledging his allegiance to the New York Mets, telling anyone who asked that he wants to be a one-uniform lifer, a Met in sickness and health, no matter how improbable that notion appears to be.
His legs churning at video game speed, his dreads flapping this way and that, Reyes has kicked up a free-agent frenzy in the big city so consuming that fans in five boroughs have forgotten the New York Yankees also have a big-name player without a contract or any guarantee he'll return in 2012.
"I'm not afraid to go somewhere else," Brian Cashman said, "but I don't want to go anywhere else, if that makes any sense."
It made perfect sense.
"I'm not desperate to stay," Cashman said, "because I also know how hard this job is."
No, the Yankees' general manager didn't sound quite as enthusiastic about staying home as did Reyes, who said the unmitigated fan support has touched his heart and hardened his desire to keep slapping triples around Citi Field's unconventional walls.
"My players know it's my job to find someone better than they are," Cashman said, "and that applies to me, too. It's Hal Steinbrenner's job to find the best for the franchise, and if there's someone better in his mind that's available, or should be promoted ahead of me, then he should do that."
Cashman was speaking to ESPNNewYork.com before his Yankees took the Subway Series opener by a 5-1 count. On muscle memory, the GM had more than a few interesting things to say.
He claimed Robinson Cano, not Reyes, is the best player in this series, even if Alex Rodriguez was busy canonizing the Mets' shortstop in the visitors' clubhouse. Cashman said in a draft of Yanks and Mets position players, he would take Cano first, Reyes second, and poor A-Rod third.
Statistically speaking, there's no doubt that Citi Field has played a tangible role. Wright, for example, hit 10 homers in his first season there after swatting at least 30 in the previous two years. Jason Bay has hit exactly 10 home runs in two seasons with the Mets after compiling 181 in the six years prior.
Then there's the effect of psychology. In 2009, Atlanta's Chipper Jones said he thought Wright was becoming frustrated with the stadium's dimensions. Though Wright denied it, other players have acknowledged that hitting at Citi Field requires a certain mental makeup.
"If you try to hit home runs at Citi Field, a lot of them are going to be flyouts and your average is going to go down, and you're not going to be that effective," outfielder Scott Hairston said. "You really have to battle yourself to stay within yourself and hit line drives."
Wright may have been hurt by Citi Field more than anyone because of his propensity for hitting home runs toward right-center field—a trait he shares with many of the Yankees' best hitters.
Cano, Teixeira and Curtis Granderson all hit a majority of their home runs in that direction, and Rodriguez also has power to the opposite field. None of the Yankee Stadium homers hit by Jeter or Rodriguez into right or right-center in the past three years would have left Citi Field.
With three games scheduled this weekend, the Yankees hope to survive—and quickly head back to their bandbox in the Bronx.
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