Everybody Loves Reyes

Not to impede on the territory of Toasty Joe, but there's a cool article in this week's Sports Illustrated about how the NL East is now home to the three best shortstops in baseball: Hanley Rameriez, Jose Reyes and Jimmy Rollins:

Rollins, Reyes and Ramirez represent the next step in the evolution of the shortstop, from speedy, slick-fielding slap hitter (Phil Rizzuto, Luis Aparicio, Ozzie Smith), to thickly built slugger (Cal Ripken Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Nomar Garciaparra, Miguel Tejada), to an even more versatile, physically explosive prototype. "They're unbelievably athletic, freakishly strong and fast," says Uggla of the NL East trio. "They have a lot of power, but they use their speed and gap shots to get on base." Through Monday they were on pace to average .339, with 232 hits, 46 doubles, 34 homers, 66 stolen bases and an astonishing 177 runs scored apiece.

The never modest Rollins though, put himself as the best of the bunch in terms of present value:

"It's probably me, Reyes and then Hanley," he says.

Regardless, it will be interesting to see who gets the nod for starting NL shortstop at this year's all-star game. My money is on Reyes.