PHOENIX — Ruben Tejada was sitting at his locker Thursday, examining the tattoo that circled his left wrist like a bracelet, when he was asked what the five ornately drawn letters signified.
They represent a saying from the Bible, Tejada said. He got the tattoo after last season, during a particularly rough time in his Mets career. Tejada had lost the starting shortstop’s job long before, and he had been labeled lazy. His opportunities were dwindling. Now he was struggling to properly explain what the letters meant. He turned to his teammate Wilmer Flores and asked him to translate.