Jose Reyes Departure Fallout
As most expected, Jose Reyes left Flushing. He signed a 6-year, $106M deal with the Miami Miracle Marlins.
Guess what? Fred Wilpon was right: Reyes didn’t get “Carl Crawford money”. Good for Fred; I bet he’s laughing his way all the way to the bank soup line.
According to various reports, the Mets never made an offer to Reyes. They just let him walk away. OK, it wasn’t quite like that. Rather, Sandy Alderson told Reyes’ agent what the Mets’ “parameters” were, the agent went numb in his tailbone after falling off his chair, then passed out from all the laughter, and once he regained consciousness, bid Alderson farewell.
I have been preparing myself for this ugly reality since the Mets chose not to extend Reyes last winter — when his value was at arguably an all-time low. But still, I had this splinter of hope that somehow, some way, the world would go upside down and Reyes would not get an offer better than the 4- or 5-year / $60M – $75M that the poor, small-market Mets could afford. I know the Mets finished second-to-last in 2011 with Reyes playing at the top of his game, and was pretty sure they’d finish dead last with or without Reyes in 2012, but if Jose was on the team, I might still have a really good reason to switch on the TV and watch them play. Now, I’m not sure why I’ll turn on SNY at 7:10 PM every night come April — much less, consider spending the time and money to watch the Mets at their fabulous new restaurant / food court in Flushing.
Of course, I’m being irrational and defeatist — it’s an immediate reaction to what’s happening (the beginning of the worst part of the next Mets dark age). As I step away from the ledge, I can see how this turn of events isn’t all that bad — I can even see the silver lining. For example, as a result of Reyes going to Miami, the Mets get the Marlins’ first second third-round pick in next June’s draft. And that’s SOMETHING! (What? Did you think the Mets would get something better than a 3rd-round pick had they traded Reyes near the July trading deadline?). Not only that, but I’ve heard rumblings that the Mets are talking with the agent for Jack Wilson. JACK WILSON! And not only that, there’s now buzz that they may also bring back Francisco Rodriguez. That’s right — if things break perfectly, we may get K-Rod back!
Happy days are ahead, Mets fans! Enjoy the winter!
let’s start a #freedavidwright campaign on twitter
he deserves so much more than the 2012 mets
Even with Reyes, the Mets wouldn’t have been a contender and still a long way from being one. The pitching is no where near good enough at the moment to compete with the Phillies and Braves. There is no point in signing Reyes for this kind of deal if the Mets weren’t going to be contenders during his peak years, which they weren’t.
If Wright isn’t traded soon I’d be surprised, with Murphy available it really doesn’t make sense to keep him. And if there’s a market for Bay, …
Instead, the only residual value that we are left with is the Miami Marlins third round draft pick in the June 2012 amateur draft. Whether the Wilpons had the money or not, whether Sandy Alderson’s aversion to long-term contracts stood in the way, the bottom line is that we lost one of the best homegrown talents ever to wear a New York Met uniform to free agency and to a division rival with very little to show for it.
Whether José Reyes becomes a perennial MVP candidate or, God forbid, he blows out his hamstring and does not play another game, Alderson clearly dropped the ball and there is no amount of his smug intellectualism that will erase this fact.
In the long run, the New York Mets may be better off without having paid José Reyes $106 million over the next six years. He is not the most durable player, and his absence becomes that much more pronounced because of his superstar talent. We may be better off with a shortstop who is a notch lower in talent but two notches higher in reliability. I can deal with that.
What I have difficulty in accepting is that we did not leverage José Reyes value on the trade market when the likelihood of re-signing him now appears in retrospect to be so remote. What hurts most is to consider the deficits in our roster and how they might have been addressed by the inclusion of two blue-chip prospects that a trade involving José Reyes would have likely yielded.
Here’s an example: San Francisco Giants likely would have parted with centerfield prospect Gary Brown and one more pitching prospect for José Reyes. We would have successfully traded José Reyes outside of our division and collected handsome compensation in the form of young talent. And that’s one of many, many trade scenarios.
I am embarrassed for Sandy Alderson.
Oh wait …
Do you really think the Wilpons would trade their only draw to the ballpark for the last 2 months+, amidst his PRECIOUS BATTING TITLE chase….if you hadn’t heard from all the Met “experts” – THE 1ST IN FRANCHISE HISTORY (thanks, didn’t know that) —— ‘cuz I don’t.
This is what happens when you have absolute morons running the show; and controlling the ideas of the executives in office.
Ask Nelson Doubleday…..he would tell you himself. And did, years ago:
“Mr. Jeff Wilpon has decided that he’s going to learn how to run a baseball team and take over at the end of the year,” Doubleday told the newspaper. “Run for the hills, boys. I think probably all those baseball people will bail.”
Wondering when these “baseball people” there now, will bail?
Hopefully, they’re permitted to operate as they’d like to – without much more intervention from the Wil-TWITS.
Because the logical mind in me speaks, quite loudly – saying something to the effect of:
Sandy Alderson would never take a 3rd round compensation pick for Reyes, when he could have traded him at the deadline for a haul and a half….unless he was led to believe that re-signing him was more or less a drop in the bucket — according to what his bosses were telling him, anyway.
And, in fact – this SMACKS and REEEEKS of the ever-loved Billy Wagner trade a couple of seasons back……where it boiled down to the Wilpons grabbing $3MM and Chris Carter…..in lieu of actually getting some legit talent back for a few bucks. Or holding onto Wagner to offer arbitration, and grab some picks.
They keep making the same mistakes over, and over, and over, and over, and over – and it doesn’t matter who the figure-head is.
In addition, financial “flexibility” means very little when you’re chasing the Matt Capps’ and Octavio Dotel’s of the world….I think the Ponzi’s will start seeing that in mass droves this year.
…………..unless, of course – Alderson pulls a few miracle trades out of his posterior.
Sell, please – SELL!!
All the more reason to ask Mr. Wilpon and his brood to please…please…for the love of God and the sake of Mets fans all over the country…please sell this team and put us out of our misery!
I may not watch a game in 2012 and I sure wish that it mattered to these b*astards. I don’t think it will.
What matters to me is :
A. the lack of planning and initiative
B. The lack of a plan going forward.
I wasnt in favor of trading Reyes or letting him go, But oif you knew 5 years 80- mill was your cieling you are a fool for not trading him.
The contract the marlins got was well work 17.5 a year he is 28 year old ss that ranks first or second in baseball, thats the going rate for superstars these days,
I cant wait to reuban tejada has an Angel Pagan year this year and is batting 238 in Aug and Reyes is winning an MVP award how some of you who think the Mets were smart cause of injuries were to let him go.
We can sneer as much as we want at the Mets, and since Joe et. al. find some satisfaction in doing this (and they deserve a lot of it), go right ahead.
But, (1) Gavin isn’t wrong & sneering at the Mets doesn’t change it (2) why would Reyes want to stay with a loser team (at least standings wise, in other ways too) unless they pay him MORE money than that.
The Winter of ’10-11 is gone, so we can move on from saying what they should have done then. The Summer of ’11 is gone too though I don’t know what more they would have gotten for giving up an injury prone rental. So, what … we push it back to mid-Spring?
Fine. For now, the Mets would have to spend over 106M, six years, to retain Reyes, who — as much as I’m sure he just loved Queens — probably didn’t need that much incentive to go to a team that actually has an immediate future.
I have said more than once I think moving in the fence will for the time being likely hurt the Mets given their current pitching staff.
I doubt the Mets would have got much more than the picks will give them to trade an already once injured rental. Meanwhile, the months of the season left would have been worse, while as is, even with him getting injured AGAIN, the team was more watchable (as many have said, even if you don’t care) the rest of the season.
I think seats are overpriced and never have gone to many games over the years. I also think games are too long to be stuck in the seat the whole time. SNY is my avenue to watch the Mets, plus WFAN.
Would you mind remaining your site to KansasCityMetsToday.com? You may get more hits.
As for trading Reyes mid season, we have no idea what conversations Alderson may or may not have had. I’m sure teams approached him and made offers and if one of them blew him away, I’m sure he would have taken it. You assume that other teams offered, or would have offered the Mets the house for Reyes. Fans always overvalue what they have and dream up trades that are like “I’ll give you Reyes and you give me Lincecum, Cain, Posey, Wheeler, and 50mil.” Other teams are not that stupid. Alderson judged that the two draft picks were better than what they were offering. Do I know that for a fact? No. But you don’t know the opposite either.
You guys kill me. You ran Omar out of town for doing the same thing you wish Alderson would do: Overpay. You don’t need the biggest, most expensive players to win. the Phllies took the Rangers best pitcher last yr and the Rangers returned to the WS and the Phillies never made it. The Nats gave Werth a big contract and he stunk. the object is to build a TEAM, not help out your fantasy league. You build, you build slowly, patiently. It takes time. The Rays stunk for a decade for they got there. We already have Wright, Duda, Davis as good pieces. More are on the way. Bay’s and Santana will soon be gone, giving the Mets payroll relief and maybe something in return in a trade. True fans stay. Losers run. So run away losers. but when this turns around, make sure you don’t come back.
Second its pure propoganda that the Mets got into this bind by overpaying free agents. Ther Mets got into the bind becuase your man fred wilponzi and his lovely son jeff wilponzi were funding the team thru an illegal ponzi scheme. All teams that are in big markets have fa busts glenn, but only one with a brain like an animal isn’t smart enough to see that and buy’s the propoganda fed to him by the once rich dudes.
thirdly glenn you don’t have a clue about the 2 championships and no matter how they were developed it was a different era and free afgncy didn’t exist for the first one so once again you are out of your league. And what about the 4 minor league pitchers. Do you think young pitchers all pan out or don’t get hurt. How old was the injured Mejia, or the Nats’ two young studs Jordan Zimmermann or Strasbourg or generation K. Once again since we are animals what are you with even less intelligence than us animals?
As for mid season, for once you are right we don’t know what conversations Alderson had, but we do know he failed to make a move. HE FAILED and your defending him is a laso a FAILURE. As for Omar, Omar brought in guys well into their 30’s for your info Reyes is 28. I guess we better get rid of Wright and Santana because they are much older. Lose again glenn.
The Mets, as of this date have not lost a cent to Madoff, outside of attorneys fees. They actually MADE money. They got their money out early. That’s why they are being sued, because the other side alleges the Mets were in on it. The Mets lost money last yr because their payroll was too high and they didn’t sell enough tix. So your contention they are in this bind due to Madoff is wrong. They may have to pay out at a later date, but that remains to be seen and if they lose it will be only 85m at the most.
Second. Sure prospects don’t pan out. However, unless you’re going to spend like the Yankees you cannot build a team by buying up FA’s. The Phillies built via the draft and thru trades w/ prosepcts they got via he draft. Adding Lee came at the end. the Giants built via the draft and trades. the Rangers, the Rays, the Cards, the Braves, teams that win yr in and yr out build. The Mets need sustainable success. You need more than 25 guys to win. You need an organization that can funnel player after player to made trades, replace old players, ineffective players, injured players. Omar bought FA’s but when those guys got hurt the Mets had no depth. The Mets the last two seasons have been over or at .500 at the All Star Break only to fade down the strength. Why. no depth to replace worn out and injured players or to make trades to improve. You need depth and you can get that thru scouting, drafting, trading.
I love Reyes, I wish he was still a Met but he wanted more than you should pay to get an oft injured SS for a team that in all likelihood will not make the playoffs. And if the Mets are in the hunt they will have a lot of money to make a GOOD trade.
Third, Alderson did not fail to make a move. He did trade Beltran and got back Wheeler, a player all the so called experts said he would never get. Alderson never says he won’t make a trade. He would trade Wright if the right deal came along, but you don’t just trade to trade. You trade for value.
Fourth. I damn well would trade Santana if I could and get out from under his contract. you wouldn’t???
Five. Prospects often flame out. That’s why you get as many as you can. the Mets will have a 1st rd pick, a sandwich pick, a 2nd rd, 2 third rd picks. Stockpile those youngsters, and you keep the best and trade the rest.
FAs will always be there. In a few yrs when the Mets improve they can spend the $ they saved then.
Have the Mets made mistakes? Absolutely. Are they a good team now? Absolutely not. but you don’t make one error to fix other. Smart people think, animals react. you’re upset today and overreacting. understandable, but illogical.
If it’s to me, what’s your point re: tuning in to SNY? I run a blog here called “MetsToday.com” so if I don’t tune in, i may as well close the blog. Tuning in doesn’t mean I approve of or enjoy what I’m seeing.
And you’re right – the Mets will rise again, eventually. When? Who knows, but it’s not likely to be for at least 5-6 years, if not longer. And waiting that long makes us what? Martyrs? Yippee!
You cant build a team on FA signings? Then you mention the Cards, Ever here of Matt Holliday? You know the guy the mets were going to sign him but he wouldnt hit in Citi field.
To call people idiots on here for wanting to keep Reyes is crazy. Is 17.777779 a year a lot of money? YES! Overpaying? Yes! But whose fault is it that it got to this? The Mets for not signing an extenstion. They gambled and lost and as usual we the met fans have to pay for it.
now Jose Reyes, our Jose Reyes who we signed as a 16 year old and has been as good as we ever dreamed will be leaving the mets at 28 in the prime of his career just as we are seeing him mature and go to a divisional rival who ironically hated him more then any other player.
This ownership group is pathetic and belongs in Kansas City.
Unfortunately, Alderson’s media chats utterly failed to do that. He’s sounding increasingly awful. His cluelessness in saying “if everything breaks right, we can be competitive in 2012″ is staggering. “Hope and pray” logic + trumpeting anything other than a playoff appearance as some sort of worthy accomplishment = HELL NO. This if the perfect formula to keep fans AWAY from this team.
If he’s not telling us the Mets will be the team to beat in 2014, we have to assume that’s because he can’t see the path from here to there any more clearly than we can.
Separately, I must say, I don’t get all the hate directed at the Wilpons. I wish they’d sell the team too! They seem fairly incompetent. At the same time, they do seem to really care about the team, and not all owners can say that.
I agree with comments above, a large part of the problem here is the Wilpons. I have been saying since the beginning of l’affair ponzi that Fred took a devastating financial hit as a result of being involved… This was of course stridently denied by ownership (I believe their story went from we made $$—>we got all our $$ back—>we lost $$ but only a little—>??) but those denials look pretty ridiculous now. Rakoff gets some blame because he’s managed to limit the liability of the Wilpons in recent court rulings to a sum that will not force them to sell. Its really the worst of all possible outcomes, actually– the Wilpons seriously financially compromised but somehow they avoid the finishing move that forces them to sell. They will limp on in this semi-broke state for years…
2. To say that Alderson has no “plan” ignores that he’s one year into a GM spot where he inherited a big “dead money” payroll (he did a great job unloading K-Rod’s salary and getting a stud prospect for Beltran), a shrinking budget due to shrinking team revenues and financially strapped owners, and few MLB-ready prospects.
3. The only present plan can be the one he’s laid out: play Davis, Murphy, Duda, Tejada, Thole and see what they’ve got, wait the 2-3 years for the 4 top pitching prospects to come up and show what they’ve got, trim the dead fat from the payroll, and wait for next year’s free agent class which is sttornger than this year’s. What other realistic plan does anyone see?
4. And, yes, no question: The vedry best thing that could happen to the Mets and its fans would be for Commissioner Bud to stop propping up his blow buddy and force the Wilpons to sell. Other than the fact that Fred is polite and affable, how is his financial situation and management of a key MLB franchise materially differetn than McCourt’s? They both squandered millions of dollars on personal vanity (houses for McCourt, Bernie’s Ponzi scheme for Fred), put hapless family members in positons of responsiblity (Jomies and the Idiot Son), and allowed the organization’s talent development base to wither away. The best thing Mets fans can do this year is to stay away from Citifield, drive attendance dwon under 2 million and hope that forces Bud’s hand.
The Marlins got a superstar ss in the prime of his career.
The Mets in return will get the Marlins attendence from last year.
Amen!