It was entirely believable that Jose Reyes signed with the Marlins so early in the free agent process; without seeing what other offers were out there; declining to go to the Mets and seeing whether they could and would match or surpass the Marlins deal.
After all, the Marlins have a history of…signing…big…name…free…age…
Um…well, they signed Carlos Delgado after the 2004 season. The contract was heavily backloaded and didn’t have a no-trade clause, so naturally they traded him—to the Mets, whom he’d spurned to sign with them—following the 2005 season.
Never mind that.
They have sane ownership widely respect…ed…in…base…ball…circl…
Actually, Jeffrey Loria is petulant, disingenuous, capricious, bullying and sneaky.
Well, okay.
They’ve known on-field stability with their man…a…gers….
So, Ozzie Guillen is the seventh managerial change that Loria has made since taking over as Marlins owner in 2003 and that’s not counting Bobby Valentine, who essentially had the job until he got into an argument with team president David Samson (Loria’s son-in-law) during Valentine’s interview.
The players enjoy the…at…mos…phe…
Alright, Logan Morrison has filed a grievance because the Marlins demoted him for reasons he and the Players Association think were based more on his use of Twitter than for his play.
There’s an air of professionalism perm…e…at..ing…the…tea….
Okay. Hanley Ramirez is a diva who’d make Madonna look reasonable; doesn’t play hard all the time; and has taken the “prodigal son of Loria” act to its logical conclusion by acting like Loria.
Er…ah, so…playing the game fairly and in an aboveboard manner is the hall…mark…of…the Mar…lins…organ..i…za..ti…
Oh, well there’s that overblown issue of using Leo Nunez AKA Juan Oviedo while he was an illegal immigrant living in the United States and pitching for the club under an assumed name and that the team presumably knew about it and said nothing.
Aside from all that, it’s Utopia.
Are you getting the picture?
This whole “story” started when someone, somewhere said that Marlins had agreed to terms with Reyes, pending a physical.
The news blasted across the internet; Twitter went bonkers; people searched for information; Mets fans whined; Marlins fans rejoiced; those with a stake in roasting the Mets teed off.
It went on briefly and with a white hot intensity.
Then it stopped.
Because the report was a lie.
Typical of social media, it followed the script that a rumor based on nothing usually does: it’s reported; it’s repeated; it’s reacted; it’s refuted.
Fast, frenzied and embarrassing, if there was any shame or plausible deniability left for those with a clear and blatant agenda in Reyes leaving the Mets, it was extinguished with this bit of “news”. Prepared with their purposeful bashing, it came and went, did its damage and receded. The backtracking was half-hearted because, as a form of self-justification, we again saw the vitriol doled out on the Mets front office and ownership…even if there was none to be passed around.
Let’s just say, hypothetically, that the report was accurate and Reyes had signed with the Marlins.
What then?
Would it be because of his craving for the stability, sanity, atmosphere, adherence to rules and professionalism with the Marlins that was missing with the Mets?
Would it be the money?
Does it matter?
And how are the Wilpons and Mets GM Sandy Alderson to be held accountable if Reyes signed immediately with one of the first teams he visited before making the rounds and chose not to go back to the Mets with the offer to see if they’d match or surpass it?
What were they supposed to do if that had been the case?
The Mets and Alderson asked Reyes and his agents the Greenbergs what it would take to sign the player; they received silence in response; Alderson basically said, “okay, shop around and get back to us”.
If Reyes decided not to do that, who, if anyone, is to blame for that?
The argument that the Mets should’ve signed Reyes to an extension before this is ludicrous. Despite protestations to the contrary—using his games played from 2005-2008 as a basis—he is not a guarantee to stay healthy and perform as he did at his best over the first half of the 2011 season. He missed almost the entire 2009 season with a torn hamstring and 5 weeks of this season with more hamstring woes; he had hamstring troubles in his first two seasons and his 2010 spring training and part of that season were compromised with a thyroid condition.
This is not Lou Gehrig or Cal Ripken.
The idea that the Mets should have traded Reyes at mid-season is just as idiotic. They want to keep him; the number of players who’ve been traded and then return to the team that sent them away as free agents are limited and unimpressive (think Austin Kearns). Worst case scenario, he leaves and they take the draft picks; had they dealt him, he wasn’t returning and the hit the team would’ve taken for dealing Reyes, Francisco Rodriguez and Carlos Beltran wouldn’t have been worth the potential bounty unless a trading team got unimaginably desperate and sent them a Bryce Harper/Mike Trout-type, blue chip, can’t miss prospect.
So they kept him. He’s a free agent. They’re interested in making an offer when they know what the market is and if they can afford it.
That’s the way it is.
Reyes has a right to sign with anyone at anytime.
He’d be stupid to do it with such expediency unless someone offers a Jayson Werth contract of lunacy, but that has yet to happen. Because he hasn’t signed anything.
Not even on Twitter.
There’s a troubling rush to judgment and a stimulus response of rage inherent with any unverified statement presented and accepted as fact.
Reyes may stay with the Mets.
He may leave.
The decision was not made last night.
But we received a preview of the true face of those who have a vested interest of their own in the outcome.
It’s an ugly face.
It’s a duplicitous face.
Now that we know what it looks like, we can see through the subterfuge of what they’re selling.
And we can point it out and shun it.
In a sense, it’s worth the attention that it’s received as a means to uncover the truth.
The truth of lies.
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