Jose Reyes left the field in the first inning of the Mets' game against Minnesota on Sunday after experiencing pain in his right leg while running from second to third on a Cliff Floyd single. After taking a walk to reach first, he reportedly hurt the leg while sliding headfirst into second on a stolen base on the first pitch to the next batter. An MRI diagnosed the injury as a Grade 1 strain of his hamstring. While it's classified as the least severe level of strain, New York doesn't yet have a timetable for Reyes' return. Reyes missed three weeks in May with a strain of the same hamstring while at AAA Norfolk last season. After that incident, the Mets put him on a vigorous stretching program, which supposedly has helped him considerably.

New York doesn't want this injury to drag out, so the Mets will wait for him to fully heal and won't rush his recovery. If he's not playing in spring training games by April, I expect he'll open the season on the disabled list, though I don't expect him to miss more than a couple of weeks of the season. Barring setbacks, I anticipate he'll be running normally by May at the latest. Given the extent to which Reyes relies on his speed offensively, I'm troubled by the possibility that he may be plagued with chronic hamstring problems. However, he seems committed to addressing the trouble with strengthening and stretching exercises, so I'm not going to be too worried until we hear of this happening a third time.