Jose Reyes, the superstar shortstop for the New York Mets, is currently sidelined due to mysterious leg injuries. The native of the Dominican Republic hasn’t played since May 20th.

Jose Reyes Injury Update (Image: Zuma Press)

The bad news for Mets fans is that there isn’t a definite plan for when he can return to the lineup. His initial injury was a calf strain. However, he has since suffered a hamstring tear.

On the season, Reyes is hitting .279 with two homers, 15 RBI, 18 runs and 11 stolen bases. At 25, many experts thought this could be a huge year for Reyes but that hasn’t happened. Instead, the shortstop is struggling to find his way back onto the field.

To date, Reyes’ best season may have been in 2006 when he hit .300 with 19 homers, 81 RBI, 122 runs and 64 stolen bases.

According to Reyes, he doesn’t think his latest hamstring injury is as serious as hamstring injuries he has suffered in the past. That said, no one really knows when he’ll return to the Mets’ lineup.

That’s because he’s giving up hand-shakes. Or at least he will be giving up the intricate, celebratory handshakes he used to do with his teammates. Because God forbid that anyone have fun while playing baseball.

In addition to the Mets’ championship dreams, a part of Jose Reyes’ died on that final weekend at Shea Stadium. The fun part, the dancing part. Alas, it looks like the shortstop’s celebratory handshakes, just like the one that turned the Marlins into maniacs during that doomed series, are now history.

“I’m not even thinking about that,” Reyes said Tuesday. “No more handshakes. People kept saying we got teams fired up when we did those handshakes, so now I want to focus more on baseball.”

I really don’t think that Jose Reyes’ celebrations were responsible for the epic collapse of the Mets last season, but oh well. The baseball season is quite long and  boring. There’s a lot of sitting, and waiting, and traveling. I suspect Reyes will use some of that time on handshake choreography. Because what else is he going to do, knit?