"As the New York Mets -- winners of eight of their last 12 games -- continue to hang around the fringes of the National League playoff race, team officials are going to soon be pressed to make some critical decisions about the club's future.

Shortstop Jose Reyes is having an MVP-caliber season, hitting a league-leading .346, while also topping the NL in hits, triples and runs scored. He's also second in stolen bases and third in total bases.

With Derek Jeter on the disabled list, Reyes will finally have the Big Apple's shortstop spotlight squarely on him. In fact, Jeter hadn't yet spent his first full day on the sidelines before the tabloids started calling for the Yanks to bring Reyes to the Bronx. From columnist Tim Smith of the New York Daily News:

It's time to start thinking about what Jose Reyes would look like in pinstripes. As sacrilegious as it may sound to some Yankees fans and as scary and disgusting as it might sound to Mets fans, the Bombers need to figure out a way to get the best shortstop in New York over to Yankee Stadium.

Reyes will be a free agent after the season and Mets owner Fred Wilpon famously said several weeks ago that the team won't be shelling out "Carl Crawford money" to re-sign him."