The Mets have plenty of obvious problems, like their Madoff-sized debt, their bloated payroll, as well as their owner’s lack of charm (to put it kindly) towards his players. Even their new spacious ballpark, with all its charm, is clearly a problem for their expensive power hitters like David Wright and Jason Bay, who’d much rather see Shea’s old dimensions.
With all that going on, shouldn’t Jose Reyes’ career year be a good thing?
In case you’ve missed it, the 28-year old Reyes, a career .290 hitter, is blistering the opposition this year, with a .341 batting average (1st in NL), 12 triples (1st), 103 hits already (1st), 54 runs (tied for 1st), 26 steals (2nd), 20 doubles (tied for 4th) and a .902 OPS (8th—excellent for a leadoff hitter, by the way).
The great year, unfortunately, is awful timing for the Mets as their star shortstop is a free agent after the season, and the Mets can ill afford to sign him to what will undoubtedly be a Carl-Crawford-type deal.
Left-fielder Crawford, Boston’s big new free-agent acquisition, got a $142 million deal over seven years. Reyes, also a great top-of-the-order hitter, should be in line for more, considering that he also doubles as a good defensive player at the most premium position.
As if this wasn’t enough, the news of Reyes’ meeting with money-over-loyalty agent Scott Boras had to send the Mets’ brass into panic. Only a Dr. James Andrews meeting could be worse, as the infamous Boras ALWAYS advises his clients to file for free agency, thus creating a bidding war where contracts like A-Rod’s (also a shortstop) $252 million deal, suddenly become plausible.
To be fair, Reyes has since said he’s sticking with current agent, Peter Greenberg. How long that will last is anyone’s guess, though. Greenberg negotiated Reyes’ last contract, a $23.25 million deal over four years that was immediately dwarfed by fellow Mets star David Wright’s $55 million contract over six.
Now, Tuesday’s news of Reyes not wanting to negotiate during the regular season, all but negates of the good news of avoiding the bullet that was Mr. Boras, as Reyes seems destined for free agency.
Right now with the July 31st trade deadline staring right at them, the Mets have two options, neither of which are appealing: A) put Reyes on the market and hope to get a Mark Teixeira-like bounty or B) ride him out through the end of the season and take the two first-round picks, with the hopes that several years and a few million signing-dollars later the Mets have something.
There are problems with both scenarios though (of course!)
Option A means the Mets have to find someone dumb enough to mortgage the farm like the Braves did for the Big Tex or what Omar Minaya did for Bartolo Colon a few years earlier, with his Expos barely in contention.
The Mets would also, usually, need to give an expensive player to a team capable of affording Reyes, like in New York, Boston, or Los Angeles. Yet all those teams aren’t a great fit for the fabulous shortstop as Jeter still owns the Bronx, LA can barely pay their own players anymore, and Boston has their leadoff hitter (Ellsbury) as well as their shortstop of the future in Jose Iglesias.
Option B, is even more difficult. The crapshoot, that is the 50-round MLB draft, is the least predictable draft of the four major sports, hence the 50 rounds. The picks can’t be traded beforehand and the ones that pan out take on average several years to do so.
Either way Reyes’ great year gives the Mets another problem.
