Jun
21
2011

Reyes Says No Negotiations Until After Season

An article by Hojo's Mojo

Jose Reyes has told the Mets he will not discuss a new contract with the team during the season.

This afternoon at Citi Field, Sandy Alderson spoke with reporters and said he reached out to the agents for Jose Reyes and was told their will not be any negotiations for a new contract until after the season.

The agent, Peter Greenberg, was contacted by the Mets in recent days to gauge whether Reyes would be willing to begin contract discussions now. Greenberg, in turn, discussed the matter with Reyes, who decided that he did not want to do so, at least in part because he did not want the distractions of contract talks to get in the way of his performance on the field.

Reyes did say in the Spring he wanted to deal before the season started because he didn’t want any distractions during the season, so this is not surprising.

So now what do the Mets do?

Do they trade Reyes before next month’s non-waiver deadline or risk losing him for nothing but two compensation picks if he were to sign elsewhere?

David Waldstein of the NY Times explains the dilemma the Mets now face.

Although Reyes, through his agent, made it clear to the Mets that he would not entertain contract talks until after the season, he could change that stance if the club worked out a potential trade before the July 31 deadline with another team, particularly a pennant contender.

That team may want to make a deal only if Reyes agrees to a contract extension to cover future seasons. In such a situation, the team would probably want a 24-hour window from the commissioner’s office to talk directly to Reyes and his agent about a long-term deal.

If Reyes and that team came to an agreement, the Mets would get more in return for letting him go. The most unattractive option for the Mets would be to trade Reyes before July 31 as a short-term rental for another club. If that were to occur, the Mets would get substantially less in return.

Decisions, decisions…

About the Author: Rob Johnson

7 Comments + Add Comment

Chakrabs June 21, 2011 at 5:49 pm

If the Mets are unable to sign Reyes, they should take the $20 mil or so it would have cost and try to snag the Rays or Marlins scouting and development folks!
XtreemIcon June 21, 2011 at 5:51 pm

So basically what happened was……….exactly what we were told was going to happen three months ago?

Awesome.
- Donal June 22, 2011 at 9:41 am
  
  Crack journalism right there
  - jessep June 22, 2011 at 9:58 am
    
    I think the part that wasn’t “known” is that we now know that Alderson has contacted Greenberg. Before you could speculate, but we didn’t really know. Also, Alderson was testing the waters to find out what it would take… he wasn’t making an offer. The fact they won’t even tell him what they think he wants is the story.
    
    Not that Jose won’t “negotiate”
Even Flow June 21, 2011 at 6:12 pm

No surprise there. Get ready for Reyes to be dealt by July 31st.
Bayonne Mets Fan June 21, 2011 at 7:02 pm

This is BIG news because at least now we hear it from the horses mouths as opposed to suspecting it would happen or hearing it might happen.

Anyway, let’s just forget it for 3 hours and win a ballgame!
sarge June 22, 2011 at 1:12 am

He, Jose, said in spring training what this post is reporting, what is new, maybe that SA reached out to his agent but this was stated by Jose and his agent in ST.
Nothing new here.

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