14
2011
On Keeping Reyes and Wright
An article by 
Last night, Jose Reyes regained the NL lead in the batting race with three hits to raise his average to .333 for the season. Ryan Braun is in second place with a .331 average. This is getting very interesting and will go down to the wire.
Reyes admitted that he can still feel his hamstring barking and that he has scaled back on stealing bases so he can remain on the field and avoid a third DL stint. Nothing wrong with being cautious, plus it enhances the chances the Mets will re-sign him.
Reyes becomes a free agent at the end of this season, and some rumors had him potentially signing a seven-year, $140 million dollar deal back in May/June, but no way he gets that now.
MLB Trade Rumors reported that the Phillies, Nationals and Giants could be the best fits for Reyes, but that as many as nine other teams could be a match.
On the subject of keeping Reyes and David Wright, Newsday’s David Lennon spoke to former Mets closer John Franco who had this to say:
“Those guys are the faces of this organization, so they have some tough decisions they’re going to have to make on both of them. Me personally, I would love to see both of them finish their careers here. With the young talent coming up, you can build a team around these guys, and it’s important to have guys like that around.”
Wright is still under contract through next season and the Mets also hold a $16 million option for 2013 . However, if Wright is traded, he can void the option and become a free agent after next season. While nothing can be ruled out this offseason, the likelihood of the Mets trading Wright is a longshot.
Expect the hot stove season to be fueled with plenty of Wright and Reyes rumors, but I still envision both Wright and Reyes making up the left side of the infield next season and beyond. Call me an optimist.
Graphic courtesy of Kelly Designs.
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 23 | 18 | .561 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 19 | .548 | 0.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 23 | .465 | 4.0 |
| Mets | 16 | 24 | .400 | 6.5 |
| Marlins | 11 | 31 | .262 | 12.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
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the likelihood of the Mets trading Wright is a longshot”
completely disagree joe, with that being said, it all depends on reyes, if he signs here wit the mets the likelihood of wright being traded goes up big time, as sandy has said it’d be difficult to have many players makin 15 million plus. also, if i am sandy, i;d be calling teams about pitching prospects for wright. this guy let citi field get to his head, his lack of clutch genes wear thin on new yorkers, and if it comes down to reyes or wright on the field, reyes is the obvious choice, as he can create offense by himself, unless you reverse time and bring back the beltran and delgado years of 2006-2008 to take away the pressure from wright
Do we know of potential suitors for Wright? I know COL and LAA were mentioned. I could see DET, but they have a big payroll…
once he’s on the trade block, if so, i am sure there’ll be teams inquiring about him.. the change of scenery is what some players need, imo, he needs to be away from pressure as possible.. here in NY EVERYTHING is under the microscope
ALEX, SPEAKING STRICTLY ON OFFENSE AS TO A ‘BACK TO THE FUTURE” EXPERIENCE Re. bELTRAN/DELGADO PRODUCTION, I CERTAINLY CAN ENVISION A MORE PHILADELPHIAN TONED EMULATION OF UTLRY,WERTH, HOWARD COMBO WITH DAVIS, BAY, DUDA OR MORE ACCURATELY WRIGHT,DAVIS,BAY,DUDA. WHILE REYES IS ACTUALLY THE MORE DISTINCTLY UNIQUE FORCE BETWEEN THE 2 INFIELDERS; WRIGHT IS CERTAINLY THE MORE REPLACABLE; BUT ONLY A FOOL CHOOSES TO DISCARD SUCH A “BIRD IN THE FIST” WHILE PARYING TO FIND ANOTHER SOMEDAY. TRYULY A LONGORIA,ZIMMERMAN COULDESSENTIALLY REPLICATE THAT NOW IN HAND; BY WHY? THERE’S NO FINANCIAL NECESSITY TO EVAN @ 100M; THE REDS CERTAINLY COULD’VE DEALT PHILLIPS MANY TIMES OVER; BUT DOES THEIR 2010 SEASON OCCUR WITHOUT HIM? WE IN NY, SURROUNDED BY THE HEAVY SPENDING PINSTRIPES Are being led by the press to consider 100m an insignificant investment; however this season only 6 other non-NY francises exceeded that mark:
BOSTON (162.4M)
CUBS (146.6M)
PHILLIES (141.9M)
TIGERS (122.9M)
WHITE SOX (106.5M)
ANGELS (105M)
NO, THE FINANCIAL IMMEDIACY DOES NOT EXIST & WON’T FOR AT LEAST 2 YRS!
I don’t see Jose Reyes going to the Phillies, PERIOD. The Phillies must be the Yankees of the NL in order for them to have the cash to go after Jose.
brandon, they have victorino, rollins and ibanez coming off the books, as well as the 8 million they were paying blanton and lidge contraxt extension that it will become a buyout, they seem to have found the answer for LF and CP. they can say let’s replace victorino and rollins with reyes, while payin around 16 to 19 million per to reyes. don’t you think?
victorino is going to be back IMO. They have no one else, and they like him.
Ibanez for sure is gone. Ditto Lidge
Hard to see them ditching rollins for reyes (that would be, as my daughter loves to say, “awkward”, but stranger things (Damon to the yanks?) have happened.
They also have some contracts going up. Howard gets more, and Lee jumps up about 10mill. So adding reyes at big $$ is still having them pushing if not over the luxury tax.
again, add up extra $20 million to the payroll, how much are they really losing overall. more than $60 million is coming off the payroll. they will still have 30 to 40 million to work with, and far less “holes” to fill.
Alex, Victorino will not be released. There is no way the Phillies are going to give him up. I see Ibanez going, and maybe even Rollins. But as it was previously mentioned, Lee is going to get an extension, and we all know that Howard will get a huge extension too. So really it doesn’t look like they will have alot to spend.
According to one sports writer yesterday (can’t remember which one), even if Sandy was so inclined to trade Wright this off season, highly unlikely Wilpon will allow it.
According to Rubin: ‘I would think Reyes signing elsehwere would decrease the economic incentive to have to trade David Wright. And trading him on top of letting Reyes go would be a double-slap to the fan base that I don’t believe this organization would be prepared to do, even if it made sense from a strictly baseball perspective.’
I’ll put the chance of Wright being traded at 5%.
Reyes resigning with the Mets is anyone’s guess right now. I’ll put that happening at about 35-40%. Unless the Mets offer during exclusive dealing rights window is a legitimate one, he’ll file for FA. And there will be at least one or two GMs out there that will throw $$ and years at him that the Mets likely won’t want to match.
Elias just updated their player rankings.
Reyes comes in at 74.725 – an A type player.
Rollins comes in at 74.176 as a B type player so Reyes is barely keeping the A ranking.
that is ridiculous. what the hell? reyes is competing for a batting title. and hes barely an a? RIDICULOUS
Wright and Reyes both go. 25 million saved. That is 1/8 of the Einhorn money.
The more I think on it, DW could certainly be flipped, but my crystal ball can’t fathom who they’d want/get in return. The fact that Murph or Turner or Evans or Lutz or etc. etc. etc. could slot into 3rd (Murphy specifically) and not drop off too significantly in production (though it will go down, for sure) could be the key, as I’d assume they’d need at least a pitcher & position player at the major league ready level + 2 prospects in return for Wright.
The only thing that makes me think Wright will stick around is if Reyes goes, as the team needs a face to help put butts in the seats. And I say this from the point that Even though Houston sucks, people went to see Hunter Pence. He was the last face they had. They have no one now. They are practically giving away tickets and people still aren’t coming to games. Yes, win and they come, but if you aren’t going to win a lot, you need to at least have someone the fans can put their faith in. Without Reyes and Wright… Yikes, at least until the kiddies start playing like they are stars.
“Reyes attempted to steal at least 70 bases each season between 2005 and 2008; after missing most of 2009, he’s only attempted to steal roughly 40 bases each of the last two seasons (despite being on base this year at a higher rate than at any other point in his career).” (Thanks to Matt Cerrone.)
The decline of Jose Reyes appears to have begun, despite this being a career year at the plate.
I wouldn’t say Reyes getting offerred 140 Mil is a longshot…
I’m am positive some team will do it (just look at the money Washington threw at Werth!)
The question is going to be will Reyes take that kind of money to go to some place less desirable to play in?
When your making close to 20Mil per year for 5 years you kind of want to live somewhere where you can actually enjoy all that money.
Being rich in NY is way more desirable than being rich in Texas as Alex Rodriguez quickly found out!
He will get those high offers but will they come from teams in contention or some small market or team trying to buy respectability the way the Nationals did last off season?
It’s not going to be about how much money Reyes gets offerred but WHO offers it!
As for Wright I can see him being shipped off but not until the trade deadline next year.
Right now Sandy wants to build on what he saw from the team this year which on the whole was good if we had more pitching. If they are again out of it at the deadline or around the same place they were this year then I definitly see Sandy re-evaluating where the team is and going for the rebuild.
So we are not out of the re-building woods yet by any means and until we are tootally out of those woods Wright’s statsu as the face of the franchise could be in jeopardy! Especially if they need to find a place to play Murphy!
3B is Murphy’s natural position and held it quite capably while Wright was out with a broken back!
You wouldn’t lose much on the batting side, trading Wright and substituting Murphy and if Wrights recent error problems continue maybe not anything on the glove either.
He may be the face of the franchise right now but it didn’t miss a beat while he was out and Murphy took over. Now I hope they keep Wright because I happen to think we are better off WITH him than without him…
But I can’t say Sandy is going to feel that way come the trading deadline of 2012 if we are still 10 games out of the wildcard and someone makes a solid package offer for him.
Especially if Reyes DOES go for the money as for all intents and purposes that will mean rebuilding regardless of what Sandy wanted to do at that point!
OK, your an optimist.
I agree I think/hope both Wright and Reyes making up the left side of the infield next season. Though I am not sure about Wright being here beyond.
While great teams find ways to keep players for there career, the Mets need to put an end to the 50 years of finding ways to get ride of them.
Reyes going to Phillies is interesting but something he has to consider is that the Phillies are getting old, the rotation not yet but most of the position players, Utley, Rollins, Howard, Ibanez, Ruiz, Halliday are getting old and how they age or break down together or slowly will determine whether this team is good in the future and something that Jose I hope will consider.