7
2011
Reyes Says Mets Didn’t Want Him, Alderson Says He Should Have Sent Chocolate
An article by Hojo's Mojo
Jose Reyes didn’t mince words today when speaking to reporters after being introduced as the new Marlins new shortstop. Here are a few quotes from ESPN New York:
On whether he was surprised that Mets were not more aggressive:
“During the season, you guys know, I always say I want to go back to play there,” Reyes said. “But they don’t do anything to want me there. So, after that, there’s nothing really I can do. Now, I’m with the Miami Marlins. The Mets don’t do anything to have me. It is what it is, man. This is a business and I have to move on. It’s over. I can’t be crying about that, because they don’t show me anything. They don’t push anything to have me there. Why should I be worried about it if they didn’t want me?”
Do you think they just didn’t want you? Or was it probably their financial situation and not being to afford you?
“You know, I can’t tell you that, because they never talked to me,” Reyes said. “I don’t know if it was because of the money or they don’t want me there — they want to move on with some other pieces. I don’t know, because they never said anything. Sandy maybe talked with Peter, but they don’t offer anything. They don’t do like real offer. They don’t do anything, really.”
Would you have wanted them to call you more this offseason, show you more love?
“No doubt,” Reyes said. “They don’t do that. When we almost get close to making a deal with the Marlins, that’s when they called. But they call for nothing because they don’t offer anything. It’s kind of weird. I was confused a little bit. During the season a lot of times Sandy (Alderson) said, ‘We want Jose’ and stuff like that. I expect they’d at least call and say, ‘We’re still working on some things so we’re going to get to you guys.’ That never happened.”
Those are some VERY strong words by Reyes who clearly felt unwanted by the Mets.
As you all know, no offer was ever made to Jose Reyes during the exclusive negotiating window or after he became a free agent. It was Sandy Alderson’s strategy to let other teams openly bid for the All Star shortstop and let those teams set the market.
The Mets GM responded, sort of, shortly after Reyes spoke to the media, with a rather cavalier remark:
“If you’re asking whether I should have sent him a box of chocolates, perhaps I should have done that. On the other hand, the box of chocolates wouldn’t have cost $106 million either.”
Oh well, we’ll never know the truth of why this was handled the way it was, but it’s all water under the bridge now anyway.
About the Author: Rob Johnson
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It isn’t water under the bridge to me Rob – it says something.
They handled this terribly. Reyes made it clear. Bayonne and I were discussing this earlier. It seems like he never even felt wanted by the Mets.
I appreciate Jose’s bluntness describing the situation. I think it says a lot about the way it was handled.
Reyes may be a Marlin, but this shouldn’t be forgotten.
I keep re-reading this in disbelief honestly… It just bothers me so much. I guess the Wilpons got what they wanted. They brought in a cold, calculating GM who has no attachment to Jose Reyes to send him the message that they didn’t want him.
After reading through this again, it’s really hard to blame Jose for going to Florida. Still unhappy about it (had to be a division rival…) but still.
Believe me, it bothers me a great deal to, but I try to be objective when I’m reporting Mets news and not try to inject too much of my own opinion. But I was baffled by this probably more than most because I’ve been on this story from the end of the 2010 season when it was expected that Reyes would get an extension and then instead they just picked up his option which began a 13 month media circus with Reyes news and rumors almost daily.
Yeah, don’t worry, you’re always objective and timely with these news posts. You do a seriously important job.
I know it must be tiring to deal with all the Reyes rumors and posts but this one probably strikes me the hardest.
The thing that is especially infuriating is that if that’s how Sandy felt, then why not trade the guy during the season and at least get something back for him…
Instead we get nothing (Marlins 3rd round pick for Jose Reyes = nothing).
SAT, IT’S NOT JUST NOW. FROM THE VERY BEGINNING AFTER WRIGHT WAS BROUGHT UP IT APPEARED AS IF OWNERSHIP CHOSE TO FIGHT THE CONTINGENT CLAIMING OMAR WAS ATTEMPTING TO COMPLETELY CONVERT THE TEAM TO “HISPANIC ONLY NEED APPLY”, BY OWNERSHIP’S CHOOSING THE CONSERVATIVELY RAISED WASP TO BE THE PREMERE PLAYER SPOKESMAN IN PURE AMERICAN ENGLISH DESPITE THE OBVIOUS TALENT ADVANTAGE BEING ON REYES’ SIDE OF THE LEDGER
PERSONALLY, AFTER THEIR FIRST SHARED SEASON IN FLUSHING I DECIDED TO PURCHASE A WRIGHT JERSEY OVER A REYES BECAUSE I BELIEVED FOR CERTAIN THE REYES’ CHOICE WOULD BE THE MOST POPULAR SINCE I WAS JUDGING WITH MY EYES & EVALUATION BASED UPON MY EXPERIENCES.
AS I HAVE ALWAYS JUDGED IT, IMO, REYES IS THE MORE LIKELY HOFer OF THE 2 AS HE HAS MORE AVAILABLE RECORDS TO SHATTER.
ALDERSON SHOWED VERY LITTLE CLASS OR UNDERSTANDING OF THE NY MARKET BY THAT CLUELESS BOX OF CHOCLATES COMMENT. GREAT! NOW WE HAVE FORREST GUMP FOR A GM AS THAT WILL FOREVER BE HOW I ENVISION HIM. AT LEAST SANDY SEEMS TO HAVE THE “STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES” ROUTINE DOWN PAT.
WITH ALREADY HAVING PONZIED 4 NEW MINORITY OWNERS OUT OF $100M, A TRICK THEY LIKELY LEARNED FROM BERNIE. HAVING NOW SHRUNK THE ONCE 140M PAYROLL NEARLY IN HALF I DON’T CARE TO HEAR ANY MORE POOR-MOUTHING OUT OF THEIR MOUTHS AS THE PRESS SHOULD CERTAINLY STRAT CALLING THEM ON IT!
you say we might never know the truth about why it was handled this way. well i will tell you the truth. the mets couldnt afford reyes. they couldnt offer him as much money as the marlins did. the end.
man, that is a seriously ugly hat.
and it was always about the money. On both sides. and his agent knew what the Mets were willing to go up to, so once they got over that, he was gone.
where are the marlins suddenly getting all this money?
Their gambling the fans will embrace the team, their new manager, Jose and their new stadium. How could they open their new stadium with the team they had in ’11.
you always hear this crap from the recently departed. He wanted the mets to say 100+. They were never gonna do that. get over it, Jose.
I apologize for not remembering who tweeted this but I recall reading a tweet that said and I am paraphrasing “the Marlins didn’t bid against themselves they bid to win.” Which I agree but with a slight twist. “The Marlins bid against themselves to win.” Which they did and I don’t blame them because they knew that for all the talk about 12:01am and all the love they threw at Reyes it was not enough until they upped their offer to get him to sign.
I think your missing the point. The Marlins increased their offer after it was reported that Brewers and Tigers planned to speak with Reyes in Dallas. Marlins the said they wanted him signed before that happened. Great move by the Fish.
Follow what you just said to it’s conclusion.
“The Marlins increased their offer after it was reported that Brewers and Tigers planned to speak with Reyes in Dallas.”
Your saying Peter Greenberg expected the Brewers and Tigers to speak with him in Dallas and decided rather than do that to take the next offer made to him by the Marlins?
Sorry but that doesn’t ring true to me. It was more likely that the offer was taken cause they did not expect a better offer to come and rather than run the risk of the Marlins pulling this one back they took the offer.
Course I admit this is all speculation on my part.
I should add that the point was that in the end for all the talk about 1 minute after midnight and love it wasn’t till the offer reached the $100M mark that an agreement was reached. Not a second before.
It’s always about the money.
I was surprised Reyes took what seemed to be the first formal offer thrown at him. Now, I’m not all that surprised. Seems like the market was just not going to be there for the offer Miami was willing to throw out there.
As I said in another post, I think Greenberg played it smart. He knew Jose did not want ot go to detroit or Milwaukee, but he used them to pressure the Marlins.
Totaaly classless on Reyes’ comments and totally classless on Alderson’s comments, but Alderson’s comments are more disturbing because he is a baseball executive and his comments reflect very poorly on him. In other words he sounded like a WISE ASS!
OMG I can’t believe Alderson I totally lost respect for him for that comment..Reyes shouldn’t be treated like that he didn’t do anything besides give full efforts to our organization for a decade, Alderson you’ve been here a year show some fargin respect, you lied to him all season..I’m disguted
Now we have this guy Alderson , what trading Ike Davis, can we get Alderson out of here never thought I might want Omar back…in addition it completely obvious the only reason Reyes wasn’t dealt was to try to keep some fans in their seats
According to SA they had a framework of a deal Friday night that he thought they just might pull off. Come Saturday afternoon, the Marlins trumped it, Reyes excepted it.
Reyes is saying they never even negotiated.
Someone is lying. For all we know his agent never told him the whole story b/c he never took the Mets offer seriously. After all, he’s in it to get his cut too.
We’ll never know.
I’ve got no problem with SA’s response. I actually LOL at it.
Reyes alluded to not worrying about coming to Citi Field saying the fans have always been great to him. Wonder how he’ll feel hearing boos for the first time in his career? And I’d have to say this is a good possibility given some of the posts I’ve been reading over the past day.
The framework comment was a discussion among Alderson and his staff. Nobody is lying. Alderson said very clearly that he never made an offer and he said it several times. Plain and simple.
No it was Alderson and the agents.
Did you ever make an offer?
“No.”
Why?
“Well, we talked conceptually about all the elements of a contract. So I think there was an understanding on their part of what we were talking about in a complete contractual sense. But we did not make a formal offer.”
Right. I wasn’t implying the Mets made a formal offer.
Conceptual is just another way of saying we fantasized. It’s not formal, not concrete. If you just want to call Reyes the Devil, I guess there’s no changing anyone’s mind. Alderson did a great job.
The point simply was that the talk about the parameters of a deal was between the Mets GM and the agents and not the staff but if you feel otherwise fine.
“Conceptual” is just that. I know I am going no higher than, say, 5 for 85 with incentives. You tell me he is not taking less than 100. Why do you need an offer from me?
I hope Met fans should not get their 2012 season tickets to show the Wilpons their displeasure on running the team. Make Citi Field go empty next year.
Jose and his agent tried to ‘play’ the Mets with various comments and complaints to the press about the Mets.. That was dumb. Negotiating in the newspapers works only if you you can win by embarrassing your opponent. It didn’t work with Sandy because he’s being squeezed by the Wilpon’s. Some sports writers and Mets fans took up Jose’s views, but it was to no avail, not least of all because Sandy didn’t have the chips to play with..
Jose is a wonderful talent but he’s not as talented with money issues as the guys with green shades from Flushing. Very few teams apparently were committed to Jose, giving evidence that Greenberg didn’t do his due diligence and know the true marketplace. .
Sandy outplayed Jose in the game of negotiations. The Mets weren’t going to be used as a strawman team to help Jose hold up the dopes in the Marlins front office, who eventually wound up bidding against themselves. For much the same reason, namely how dumb the Marlins front office is, you can bet the farm that the Cardinals front office won’t be doing any favors for their hapless Marlins counterparts anytime soon. St. Louis spent way more and for a longer time than they really wanted to. But they got their man.
Congratulations Jose. Congratulations Albert. You guys did extraordinarily well but I don’t think you’ll be playing on the same team in 2012.
The more I read, the more I hear, the less I’m sad about this.
Did anyone hear Ron Darling and how he called out the Reyes camp for being disingenuous about the Mets not making an offer?
Sorry this guy made millions off the Mets, and then is upset they didn’t wine and dine him? Stop playing games. He’s lived in NY a long time now, what does he have to be shown?
Maybe we should take his advise, time to move on…….
when wright goes you will be crying like a baby. it was never about team with u …it was wright vs reyes! the bright side for u is tickets have been lowered..so has the team by the way.
So you are a member of the camp that makes up lies, twists words and speaks for people……..good for you. Ignorance is bliss.
baby al is often a keen observer with a sharp wit but this must be a case of mistaken identity or amnesia caused be the baby’s dislike of the Wilpon’s. Over time baby al has shown himself to be an all around good guy. We haven’t seen much of him on these pages in a while. Did baby al simply miss a lot of your comments? You have opined about a lot of general Mets issues including those specifically related to Santana, Ike, Beltran, Keith and Ronnie, to name just some that roll out of my memory.
des,i have spoke for probally 2 years about the wilpon desire to dump players.this has become fact.how long have i said reyes is gone?how long have i said winning is not the wilpon goal?on these pages fans have said geniusalderson has 7 straight seasons as a sub 500 gm. if this is true what the hell is he doing here?he is here to lie in a double talk fashion something minaya could not do….he was too good a man.as far as being away i felt it would have been selfish on my part to say”I TOLD YA SO” but to make u happy kind sir, “I TOLD U SO.
Hi baby — we’ve got our connections crossed. My response to you was based on the fact that Kay has made many comments on any number of Mets issues. They included Reyes and
Wright but also Santana, Ike, Beltran, Keith and Ronnie, to name a few. I’ll stay out of your views and concentrate only on facts.
I hope all is going well for you. If so, don’t spend too much time reading some of our whiners and kvetchers. Take care.
hope all is going well for u des. albert p signed with the angels.yesterday u had the cardinals outsmarting the marlins and resigning him. quess the angels outsmarted the cardinals.u had geniusalderson outsmarting the marlins. one question how can u outsmart me if i get your player?perhaps your point was geniusalderson never wanted reyes.which is what i have been saying all along. sorry,the whiners are the ones who bleed orange and blue..like me.the question i would like answered from anybody is it true geniusalderson has 7 straight loosing seasons as a gm?
No, that was repeatedly disproved.
yeah it was disproved baby al but here’s the rest of the story – instead of 7 it was 6 straight losing seasons, than add to that a 79 win AVG with SD – read it here al:
http://metsmerizedonline.com/2011/12/sandy-alderson-is-now-the-face-of-the-franchise.html
thanks bayonne.
All jessep did was make Alex’s and Will’s point even stronger – Instead of only 7 straight losing seasons, it’s now 6 straight losing seasons as a GM, AND a losing record in 5 years with the Padres.
And what I failed mentioned was that the Padres record was worse in Alderson’s last year there than it was before he got there – in 04, they had 87 wins, and in his last year there, they had 75 wins – So he did NOT turn them around.
Vinnie B — Alderson turned them around twice, the first time up, the last time down. lol
baby al — I don’t think I had the Cardinals outsmarting the Marlins. What I had was that Albert had his price tag driven up by the Marlins and that to compete the Cardinals would have had to spend much more than they otherwise would. In a sense, the Angels bailed out the Cardinals. The fact that the Angels outbid everyone is a fact of life. It worked out well for Albert but it is going to be indirectly felt by other players on his team when the luxury tax is invoked.
I don’t resent any player getting all he can. But I think the owners of said players are nuts. I guess one or two owners are counting on the bankruptcy process to bail them out if their revenue drops. We’ll see what happens since the business of baseball is going through uncharted territory.
kay, for your information reyes has been nothing but a solid citizen since he has been here ..because he said he wanted a call makes him a villian to u.this is a kid that came to this town a youngster and never took a misstep.this is a kid who gave the mets a discount the first time…then wright cleaned up with his deal.what i am saying is guite simple genius alderson will either trade or let wright walk after next year.geniusalderson is here to dump salary. geniusalderson is here to lie only when his lips move.thats something minaya couldn’t do.as far as twisting words look up prior post between us. ya can look it up.
Did I say a word about how he conducted himself while here? No, I didn’t – look it up
I was referencing what I saw yesterday and this week only – go ahead look it up
Have I EVER called Alderson a genius – No I haven’t – look it up
Why is it YOU bring up Wright every time when discussing Reyes?
to me these two players are joined at the hip.A PERSON CANNOT DISCUSS ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER..home grown talent, same generation, etc. these two players should have been coveted by the new breed. when an interloper like geniusalderson comes in, dumps reyes, and an oldtimer such as yourself says i don’t feel so bad because jose complained he didn’t get a call….. u are siding with a guy that was hired to just DUMP salary.sunday they came for reyes tomorrow they will come for wright. u will get your five year plan…..in spades! by the way how did geniusalderson’s other five year plans woik?
Regarding Reyes and Wright, fans on this site have individual views of them, despite the front office PR of the Mets.
Baby al, do what most of us do, and that’s pretty much 95% of MMO, ignore her man…..
Don’t you have to erroneously call someone a racist or make up lies about someone? Go ahead ignore me, like I care. Go salute someone while the rest of us talk baseball.
thanks,buddy.
WOW !!! the gospel according to a guy who is on the Wilpon’s payroll. I guess kay that anyone regardless of situation that agrees with the lousy moves of theis inhamn GM is correct. Reyes was bad for the Mets??? Reyes didn’t show enthusiasm while on the Mets? Reyes didn’t move to second base when the idiot owner’s son brought in Kaz Matsui, wiothout a complaint in public? Reyes didn’t give the Mets a big hometown discount on his contract when the great white over valued hope took every penny he could? That’s the kind of guy ypu aren’t sad to see leave? Because a guy on the roll criticized him? Wow!!!! And are you gonna turn on Wright when he leaves? Because he ain’t staying for a three or four year deal either.
Reyes was never going to sign back with the Mets. If he really wanted to stay in NY, then he could have taken a hometown discount and perhaps at least seriously listened to whatever “conceptual” offer there was. But instead, he took the money. I don’t fault him for that. You gotta make it while can, and truthfully, the Wilpons set the Mets back probably 10 years with their keen financial and business acumen. The Wilpons sure didn’t want to pony up money, because, well, look at how they conduct themselves and their business. But, c’mon, Jose, cry me river about not being wanted. You want to win, you’ve been a major part of a core group of guys that excelled only at choking, you see a team circling the toilet and committed to doing absolutely nothing while you are still in your prime. In other words, you outgrew the Mets. No shame in it, just don’t spin it falsely. The Wilpons do enough of that on their own. No help needed in that department.
I do not discredit what Jose is saying. There is a culture difference that was fairly well trversed under Omar. Sandy is a buisness man and he believed that money talks. I believe that given the right conditions Reyes would have taken a hoemteam discount. I am sure most will disagree with me but this has happened before with other latin palyers. If they feel dispespected (Delgado) or unwanted they will gladly sign somewhere else.
It has nothing to do about latin players. When Minaya and Bernazard flew to Puerto Rico to talk to Delgado about resigning he wanted to simply talk business and wound up signing with Florida.
I remember the whole Delgado fiasco pretty vividly. The point was that different people require differnet tacitics to facilitate cooperation. Reyes had been with this organization for over a decade. If the ownership had not recognized what he would expect or require then they are idiots. I cannot imagine that was the case so I am left with the conclusion that they didn’t want him back. I believe that is why Reyes is in a Marlin uniform next year.
The Marlins front office is populated with idiots, who will be remembered for a long time by the Cardinals and Mets front offices. Jeffrey Loria and his dopes in Miami’s FO were playing to their fans and they overextended themselves with promised financial commitments. I’m certain that the DeWitt’s in St. Louis have some heartburn over Miami’s tactics. It cost the Cardinals big time. But that doesn’t mean they were the only dopes. Reyes’ agent is another dope. When Jose made his claim to the press that he wanted $100 million (without knowing what the market for himself actually was) it was a silly ego demand and started his agent’s tactic of negotiating in the press. It didn’t work because it couldn’t work — it was beyond the normal marketplace value and the Mets right now don’t have the money. When Irving Picard’s suit is settled, the Mets may have the bucks but that is ‘then’ and now is now.
Jose is fortunate the Marlins are taking a risky venture to sell tickets in their new stadium. So too is Mark Buehrle. If the Miami fan base doesn’t come out in droves, the Marlins will have a player auction and these same guys may be available for pennies on the dollar as the Marlins unload their expensive contracts. Fire sales have happened before in Miami, so this is nothing new down there. In 1998, Wayne Huizenga sold the club and four years later John Henry did the same. Both sales were preceded by lousy attendance by Miami fans.
P.S.: If Albert Pujols had signed with the Marlins, it might have eventually bankrupted them, but the straw that broke the camel’s back was averted by Albert’s indecisiveness.
Actually Des the idiot front office and ownership is in New York. The Marlins didn’t make their money to buy their team with ponzi money. The Marlins didn’t have to worry about not being able to support their team when the scheme collpsed. The Marlins owner is being sued for hundreds of millions of dollars. the Marlins owner is capable of paying back secret loans provided by MLB, ans the GM of the Marlins just like the GM of the Mets knew the story of the team when he took the job.
You have a very interesting point of view. I need to make a couple of points. This is not a zero sum game. There can be an untold number of idiots. Also, there is a possibility that the Marlins won’t be able to pay their players. Their opening day salaries have gone up dramatically over the past few years (rounded):
2008 $22 Mil
2009 $37 Mil
2010 $47 MIl
2011 $58 Mil
2012 $?????
In part the Miami situation is a mess because politicians haven’t given the public a referendum to approve all the state, county and municipal money that went into building their new ballpark. Law suits are being threatened from all quarters. If hordes of fans aren’t going to the ballpark, there will be problems. The owner Jeffrey Loria leveraged his bets. He’s playing high stakes poker. Time will tell if he winds up like Warren Buffett or Jon Corzine.
Sad. He simply deserved better. SA’s comment is insulting. He is a snot and someday will get his comeuppance which he sorely deserves. If you treat someone decently and because of that they reduce their salary request, who wins? The employer wins of course because because the contract gets signed at a reduced price. But this Almighty Brain is too conceited to do that! He is not a brain, the reality is that he is an A-hole! He’d rather talk about the value of chocolates instead of practicing some humility and treating a human being with respect. He’s a moron and will never succeed. Everything this man does will end in failure. Jose, on the other hand, will one day be in the HOF.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/sportsmoney/2011/12/07/rougher-waters-ahead-for-the-marlins-than-the-mets/
Very interesting article. Should be must reading.
funny, people are already thinking 5 years ahead because they all know we’ll be irrelevant up until then.. we have the worst GM in the history of the franchise and there are people who still defend this guy and wanna defend his moves and actions at all cost. is pathetic and embarassing. but hey, for those who had the debate. there it is. wright is the sole “leader” of the team, that is why the over under for wins this season starts at 69.5 games….
There is only one descriptor for this GM. It is a 5 letter word beginning with P and ending with k.
Maybe if THIS organization looked 5 years ahead we wouldn’t be in the mess we are today!!!
Don’t worry man…the pr machine for the awesome prospect Torres is gearing up. Agreat guy who had a pretty good year once and is only 34. He’ll bring in lots of fans…kay, donal and any.
Oh, please. They didn’t show him they wanted him? Load of crap.
He showed he was all about chasing the big contract when he played the second half like he was scared. And he was. He was protecting thos legs so he could chase the big dollars.
He could have easily said that he had his goals and they didn’t line up with the Mets at this time. No, he had to take a shot and make himself look like a victim.
. Waa waaa waa. when mr donal will you ever post any substance to your undying support to Alderson? All you do is mock ex players and fans who don’t bow down and pray to your flase god. Your schtick is pathetic. Plus Donal, any person wh bad mouths anyone for taking more money for a job is a total fraud. Prove you turned down extra money for a job. And if you can’t take your bad mouthing baloney away.
Joel Sherman’s column in today’s Post shows how dazzled Reyes was by Loria and the new idiot-looking jersey that they made for Reyes in November.
As a die-hard, I loved Reyes, but I always loved the Mets first and foremost…always will.
Now that Reyes is with the Marlins, I wish him nothing but the worst. Got to be honest here. Hope he proves one of the biggest busts of all time.
I want the Mets to succeed. No other team, and no other player who opposes us.
Thanks for the meories, Jose, now please go FAIL yourself.
Enjoy playing before the hundreds of poseurs and really other teams’ fans when you play in Miami.