Whether he goes on the DL or not, the latest Jose Reyes injury should send a signal to not only the Mets but to all teams. As soon as Reyes left the game in the first inning, it was a set-back-not for Mets but for Reyes. I’ll give him the first injury to his hamstring-everyone gets hurt once during the season-but to hurt it again. That’s a whole different issue.
Here’s a question: Do you think a team is going to shell out 120 million/6 years for a player who has demonstrated that he can’t stay healthy for an entire season? I think we might have answered that the first time, but what about now?
Here’s another: Should the Mets invest in Reyes? What do you think is going through Alderson’s mind today? I think he may be a little happy Reyes refused to sign a new contract mid-season. I think he, again, was happy the first time-but now I know in his mind things have changed for Reyes and that money he thinks he deserves.
I’ll go on a limb and say yes, the Mets should re-sign Reyes, however, the money and the years are not going to be he thinks he should get-nor his agent. At this point, I would offer no more than 3 years.
Literally, if Reyes goes on the DL, he won’t have a leg to stand on when it comes down to negotiations for a new contract. Hell, even if he doesn’t go the DL, he still lost some leverage. Can Reyes walk into a room and demand big money because he could guarantee a season like his first half of this year? An MVP/injury free year?
How could he? As a runner myself, I know how age and injuries go hand in hand. I also know about age, injuries and re-occurring injuries.
And the news is not good in those areas-believe me.
Perhaps Reyes was never fully recovered from his first injury. There have been many a conversation about his hitting and OBP since he has come off the DL.
Do you think he was holding back?
Perhaps.
It’s irrelevant now.
If Reyes goes on the DL for the second time this season, do you think he’s value goes down? Do you think the Mets should re-sign him?
21 comments
MetsFan4Decades
8/8/2011-1:00pm at 1:00 pm (UTC -4)
Lots of questions in this post.
I really have no idea what will happen with Reyes and his contract situation now. However, my feeling is this latest injury will reduce his value to the Mets, specifically in light of who our current GM is. I believe they’ll still offer him a contract during the Mets exclusive rights time period, but think he’ll still test FA.
I also believe they’ll be a handful of GMs out there who will offer big money and multiple years, injuries be damned. All you have to do is take a look at some of the contracts that were offered over the past few years to know this will happen. For example, the Yankees basically offered AJ a contract based on really one good season and his ability to shut the Yankees down when he faced them. Yeah….how did that work out? They really didn’t do their homework.
Based on everything I’ve read and heard on Alderson’s style, I don’t think there’s anyway he overpays either in years or $$. Since, as I said, I believe there will be GMs that will, we might very well be looking at the last two months of Reyes in a Met uniform. That is, if he makes it back to the field this year.
Sigh….
Anonymous
8/8/2011-1:07pm at 1:07 pm (UTC -4)
No more than 3 years? I can’t see any situation where he does not get 5 years. I can realistically see someone offering 5 years with some sort of vesting option for a 6th year at 17(ish) per.
The question is, if you are the Mets, do you do that? Taking into account the points I’ll list below, yeah, I think they should.
And as to your question of how can he demand that type of money? A couple factors.
1. A very mediocre FA class this year.
2. He plays a premium position (SS) that is in demand
3. When healthy, he’s a monster (aka, worth the risk? let the stare down start)
4. The Mets have absolutely zero people to replace his production or play SS as well as Reyes.
5. The Mets will have the money
6. He’s 1/2 the face of the club (with Wright being the other)
oleosmirf
8/8/2011-1:55pm at 1:55 pm (UTC -4)
You can never be sure but I have a hard time believing there is a team out there willing to give him 20 mil a year for 7 years.
I’ve always been 99.9% sure Reyes was coming back and I still think he gets around 6 years 108 mil
Anonymous
8/8/2011-2:32pm at 2:32 pm (UTC -4)
i think sandy has to think long and hard as to whether signing reyes to 5 yrs at big money is a wise investment.
unless the mets are going to operate like the yankees or the sox they may not be able to afford to sink so much money in to the dl on annual basis.
oleosmirf
8/8/2011-3:06pm at 3:06 pm (UTC -4)
I have zero concern with Jose. If he gets injured, o well but financially the Mets will be fine so long as Sandy is the GM.
The days of giving big contracts to undeserving players is over…
Anonymous
8/8/2011-3:36pm at 3:36 pm (UTC -4)
No concern with Jose? that’s about the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever read.
And giving a big contract to Jose might just be repeating the same mistakes.
oleosmirf
8/8/2011-5:16pm at 5:16 pm (UTC -4)
Jose and David, like other homegrown stars, are looked at differently. Noone cares how much those guys make. Its irrelevant. It is absolutely ridiculous that Mets fans are obsessing over how much to pay him. Just pay the man the lowest amount it takes to bring him back. The man puts up MVP numbers as a Met. Almost every single player we bring in from outside the organization has never met the expectations yet some are ready to get rid of one guy that actually gets it done because he gets hurt a little bit. I’ll take 120 games of Reyes a season and the decline that will come later instead of a taking a chance on someone from outside the organization.
Outside of David Wright, Jose is easily the safest guy to give 100 mil too
TRS86
8/8/2011-3:44pm at 3:44 pm (UTC -4)
Here is the question. Regardless of stats how much is Jose Reyes worth to the Mets? How much of a difference will he make in tickets merchandising… Also it is not like if they do not sign Reyes they will or even should invest heavily in a down FA class. Then factor in that you also need to show Wright there is a reason for him to stay too. So while stat wise Jose may not be worth more than 4/68 he might be worth the 5/90 with an option it takes.
SaltyGary
8/8/2011-4:49pm at 4:49 pm (UTC -4)
If Reyes doesn’t re-sign would anyone be in favor of trading Wright in the off-season? Wright, Bay and rookies aren’t gonna get it done, so why not go in full re-build mode. Also the attendance difference of rookies and wright or all rookies would be barely noticeable.
Anonymous
8/8/2011-4:59pm at 4:59 pm (UTC -4)
if wright finishes strong and maintains his trade value, sure. otherwise, they may be best off waiting until july 2012 to deal him.
SaltyGary
8/8/2011-5:27pm at 5:27 pm (UTC -4)
I’m down with that path. Looking at the starting 25 (with Reyes on DL), anyone who feels that it can be turned into a contending team in the short term is loony tunes.
Anonymous
8/8/2011-6:13pm at 6:13 pm (UTC -4)
You’d have to get something like Belt, Bumgarden + 2 more to make it worth wild. I’m not certain you could get that return.
Anonymous
8/8/2011-6:21pm at 6:21 pm (UTC -4)
from the denver post:
It’s Wright to be a little wrong.
That’s the prevailing opinion of Rockies fans. As Colorado tries to
climb back toward respectability, many see the Mets’ David Wright as a
key rung in the ladder. Wright would fit perfectly. It’s an open secret
that the Rockies want the third baseman.
Alas, it’s not going to happen. Wright is under contract for $15
million next season with a $16 million option for 2013. The Mets, once a
mess, are starting to regain their footing. They want to re-sign Jose
Reyes and keep Wright. Credibility, what an interesting concept. They
aren’t trading him.
Anonymous
8/8/2011-6:45pm at 6:45 pm (UTC -4)
Interesting. That’s the first instance, for me, hearing other organizations would be after Wright. Most of the talk I’m used to is people like you and Salty and such wanting to trade him away for useful chips. I see the validity in both sides to the argument. I lean toward keeping him, myself.
Now, for giggles sake, the size of the offer to get Wright would have to be astronomical. And looking at their team construction and players they have in the minors, there is no package I could see them coming up with that any Met or Met fan would be happy with. A couple grades of their minor league system showed zero grade ‘A’ type prospects. Then again, it didn’t account for the guys they got from the Indians.
oleosmirf
8/8/2011-5:21pm at 5:21 pm (UTC -4)
I would not trade Wright under any circumstance. A team develops a .300 30 HR 100 RBI player maybe once every 15 years?
It would be silly to trade him…
SaltyGary
8/8/2011-5:57pm at 5:57 pm (UTC -4)
But if there is nothing around him what’s the point? Love Wright and it’s great to have a face, but his value will be stronger now than a couple years from now. There will be a waive of pitching that will start making it’s way in 3 years, and I would rather build around that.
Anonymous
8/8/2011-5:57pm at 5:57 pm (UTC -4)
Move Wright to SS and Murphy to 3B!
TRS86
8/9/2011-2:54am at 2:54 am (UTC -4)
Yeah Mets want absolutely no one to show up or watch their team for 3 to 5 more years. LOL. Give it a rest. They did not trade Reyes and they are not trading Wright.
SRT
8/8/2011-5:08pm at 5:08 pm (UTC -4)
Interesting….per Rubin:
Assuming Jose Reyes lands on the disabled list — which appears the likelihood — outfielder Mike Baxter is expected to be the call-up, just in time to face his former team, sources told ESPNNewYork.com.
SaltyGary
8/8/2011-5:21pm at 5:21 pm (UTC -4)
FYI Capuano’s contract goes from 1.5 to 4.5m if he has 32 game starts and 200 innings. He has 21 starts and 127 innings with 9-10 possible starts remaining. So not happening but he has reached some benchmarks that have netted him an extra 300k so far.
SaltyGary
8/8/2011-5:29pm at 5:29 pm (UTC -4)
Also current 25 man roster (with Reyes on DL) is at 54 million. That is probably 80m less than last year.