The inevitable has happened and Jose Reyes is no longer a part of the NY METS organization. He took his talent to Miami. Here’s a quick video I threw together, Some pics and videos I was able to take of Number 7.
I know Shannon will probably touch on this some more.
I’m as unhappy as any Mets fan about the overall downtrend in the quality of the team, but can people stop pretending that signing Reyes to a deal comparable to what the Marlins have reportedly given him would have been the key to saving the team?
For those who argue that no one will go to the games without him, you might have noticed that by the end of last year no one went to games with him in the lineup.
For those who argue that he’s the key to future success, I call BS. The team is several years away from contending. Reyes is a 28 year old player whose offensive ability is based around his speed. Speedsters who aren’t Rickey Henderson have a tendency to see their offensive production fall off a cliff as they age into their 30s. Even if you think that Reyes has 3 years of all star level play left in him, the team likely won’t be able to contend in that time period, and it isn’t worth committing to him for 6 years.
I want the team to win in the long term. Signing Reyes for the sort of terms he wanted was not going to further that goal.
We’ll see who the real Met fans are now…this is near rock bottom. Not wholly because of not having Reyes…but read this carefully:
“Bernie Madoff and his specter are always referenced in these situations. I really don’t really think that Madoff has that much to do with this,” Alderson said. “But when a team loses $70 million, irrespective of Bernie Madoff or anyone else, that’s probably a bigger factor in our approach to this season and the next couple than anything else.”
Alderson wouldn’t say whether the $70 million figure was for 2011 only.
“Big losses, let’s put it that way,” he said.
You heard it from the source…the Mets are acting out of being losers…and Sandy just announced it to the world.
WOW! This video ranks right there with the first Melo/Coming Home vid from MSG. This one has a chance to become an instant classic. I see this Reyes stuff as rational as possible, but that Video nearly made me cry (and i just watched that in my office).