5
2011
The Two Hours Before Midnight Massacre
An article by 
In case you fell asleep early last night and haven’t been reading any of the other countless posts on the topic here at MMO, I have some sad news to report.
A little over two hours before midnight, it was revealed that Jose Reyes decided to accept the Marlins’ latest contract offer of six years and $106 million to leave the only team he’d ever known. I’ll let that sink in before I continue…
Jose Reyes looks like the way we feel today...
…I know. It’ll never sink in. Soon he will take his physical, pass it and appear before the Miami media (which probably outnumber the true Marlins fans in South Florida – the ones who still proudly wear their Charlie Hough Marlins jerseys to games).
Gone will be the legs that produced 1,300 hits, 99 triples, 370 stolen bases and the only batting title in franchise history. Replacing him at shortstop will be Ruben Tejada, who shows promise defensively and is very good at working the count. That being said, this is the equivalent of replacing Tom Seaver in the rotation with Pat Zachry, who was also a promising young player in 1977 coming off a Rookie of the Year campaign with the Reds. Pat Zachry was no Tom Seaver. He was barely better than Nino Espinosa, but Nino rocked his afro better. Ruben Tejada might not be able to rock anything, other than an occasional double or two that might hit the moved-in walls at Citi Field on three hops.
None of this is Ruben Tejada’s fault and fans should not expect him to replace Jose Reyes’ production on the field. Similarly, no one should boo Angel Pagan if he’s not the leadoff hitter Reyes was. However, those two players will probably be heckled when they go through a slump, prompting the 7 Line to create “Bring Back Reyes” T-shirts and placards for display at an empty Citi Field. (Note to the 7 Line: If you do create “Bring Back Reyes” shirts, can I have one for free for giving you the idea?)
The Marlins are giving Jose Reyes $106 million for the next six years. That’s more than the Mets are willing to commit to every player on their roster in 2012. The average annual value of nearly $18 million is more than the $15 million the Marlins spent on their entire 25-man roster in 2006, which coincidentally was the last (and only) time Jose Reyes played in the postseason.
You might say that $106 million is too much to pay for a player who’d been on the disabled list in each of the last three seasons. You might also say that six years is too much for a player whose game depends on his legs, especially one who will still be earning $18 million annually when he’s in his mid-thirties.
But one thing is for sure. Jose Reyes was a dynamic player, one who could change a game like no other player on the Mets could. The Marlins noticed that and were willing to take a risk, one that might bite then in the end, but for now makes them a far better team than the one that finished in last place in the NL East in 2011.
After the Marlins’ offer swelled to six years and over $100 million, the Mets never had a chance. And the way things look now, they’re not going to have a chance in the NL East for years to come. Last night, the current generation of Mets fans lived through their version of the Midnight Massacre. If the Marlins ripped the fans’ hearts out in 2007 and 2008, then they took their souls last night when they acquired Jose Reyes.
It’s always been hard to be a Mets fan in this town. After the events of last night, it just became harder.
About the Author: Ed Leyro
Ed Leyro was hatched in the Bronx, but spent most of his youth in Queens at Shea Stadium. Apparently, all that time spent at Mets games paid off as Ed met his wife (The Coop) for the first time at Citi Field during its inaugural season. Guess the 2009 season was good for something after all. In addition to his work at Mets Merized Online, Ed also owns, operates and is head janitor at Studious Metsimus, where he shares blogging duties with Joey Beartran. For those not in the know, Joey is a teddy bear dressed in a Mets hoodie. Clearly, Studious Metsimus is not your typical Mets blog.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 23 | 18 | .561 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 19 | .548 | 0.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 22 | .476 | 3.5 |
| Mets | 16 | 23 | .410 | 6.0 |
| Marlins | 11 | 31 | .262 | 12.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
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It’s over. Now let’s move on ! Go Mets!
Ed, i was thinking the same thing.. i feel bad at this point for ruben tejada, he’s a young kid who has great baseball instinct imo, but now, he will feel the wrath of mets fans for not being reyes like, sandy set this kid to fail by assigning him to replace the greatest SS in franchise history, it will get ugly the first week of the year if this kid doesn’t hit over 300 or start making errors, at this point i would’ve been fine with signing jack wilson or any other veteran SS and leave tejada at 2b to polish himself even more.
with that being said, other than being media savvy, sandy has not proven to be as genius as some portraid him to be.
disagree Alex, the wrath will be on the fred and jeff wilPonzis and the liar GM Aldeson. Plus, there will be nobody in the field with the 40 million dollar fence to boo him. He’ll be ok. Plus next June Alderson and all the other ex gms on the role for too much money will proclaim that that 3rd round draft pick will save the franchise someday and two or three people will spread the gospel.
Alex
Short of dipping into whatever personal funds he has himself what more could Alderson do? The team is bleeding money and if they lose the Madoff clawback lawsuit it’s going to get worse, much worse. MLB should have forced a sale of the Mets the way they forced McCourt out in L.A. This sucks but to blame Alderson really implies he has more power than you think. He’s an employee of the Wilpons, period.
Exactly.
If they really lost 70 MIL last year, just what exactly is likely to change in 2012? The revenues aren’t going to be any better – more likely worse. Not unless 2012 turns out to be some type of perfect storm season. If that’s what the Wilpons are crossing their fingers on, they’re really delusional.
IMO, in the end they’ll be forced to sell. And I agree about MLB/Selig: they obviously cut a deal with Selig to remain as owners. Selig doesn’t want his legacy in his last year including the sale of a NY team. He’s made special concessions for the Wilpons and they jumped on it. In the end though, don’t think it’s gonna save their sinking ship.
and Alderson is also partly responsible for that 70 million dollar loss because of the AWFUL off season he had last year. Let’s not forget that.
Spend a couple million more and giving an honest attempt to compete could have resulted in the Mets being in the hunt longer and into September = more fans = more tix = more money.
I always believed that Aldersons off season last year was practically a just a token attempt to compete and not an honest one. I can’t PROVE that I’m right about that but nobody can prove me wrong either and with the way Alderson is being exposed as a flat out liar signs point more to me being right – that Alderson is also largely responsible for that 70 million dollar loss.
SO STOP GIVING HIM A PASS!!!!!
Spector, my point is alderson is the one giving us the speech about franchise players and whatnot, the man is savvy, that is why i am amazed at how he handles the media, he’s been given a pass for his awful offseason so far, is like people forget this man acquire hu, eamus, amongst other crap just because he got capuano and wheeler.. people have claimed him to be some sort of genius, yet 3 gm’s can’t even come up with a smart trade to help this ballclub, i do agree as i have said many times that the wilpons should be forced to sell, but that won’t happen since they’re buddies with selig, alderson played his cards right, he waited until reyes was gone to pull out the “when a team loses $70 million” speech to avoid the questions as to why he didn’t even attent to sign reyes.
then sell the team, don’t run it like a cheap johns, will never work when your competition is the yankees, phils, etc. we are going to see cob webs at citi for decades if this philosophy of lets sit on our hands and do nothing to improve the franchise continues in the off seasaon. mets are bleeding fans faster than they are bleeding money and your hero hot air sandy is the main problem
Here it is…do as I did. I said that I wouldn’t give the Mets any of my hard earned cash for the inferior product that they were putting on the field. I have not been to a Met game for about 3 years. The Wilponzi’s are low rent owners and deserve to see empty seats this year. Show them that we deserve better. Show them that you can’t operate like the KC Royals in New York. Beg them to SELL THIS TEAM to someone who cares about winning and not worrying about how Madoff made off with their cash. Don’t buy their “new” old jersey’s. Don’t pay top dollar to park your car to see a bottom feeder team. Don’t buy $10 beer and $6.00 hot dogs (I assume they’re that cheap since I haven’t been there in a while). Don’t call WFAN and complain and still give the Wilponzi’s your cash. Draw a line in the sand. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Mets and alway’s will, I just can’t stand the owners anymore. BRING BACK DOUBLEDAY. Look at how badly things have changed since he sold his stake to Wilpon. The Mets only got Piazza because Doubleday put his foot down despite Wilpons objection.
I agree with you on this. I will not go see a game next year. I feel like when Tom Seaver was traded and Darryl Strawberry left for Dodgers. If we can’t afford to keep our best player, WIlpons need to sell. Occupy Wall Street should be NOT Occupy Citifield.
Precisely, couldn’t have said it better.
Oh Yeah…almost forgot. How long until someone brings up how we can get by with a middle infield of Ruben Tejada and Daniel (“Golden Boy”)? Stellar defense Met style! LOL.
More than a little bit of racism in your comment. It’s sad you’re so filled with animosity.
Only an idiot like you can read racism in that comment. Point is people like you, who wear rose colored glasses are probably giddy that Murphy may get another chance to show us how badly he sucks at everything. My guess is that he’s a goner very soon anyway. Don’t cry when that happens.
Los Mets is dead. Once Johan proves he’s healthy he’ll be traded for a couple of PTBNLs. Los Mets is dead. No more Latino free agents in the $5mil+ range will ever be a Met with this GM. Watch how differently they handle David Wright’s extension next season.
Are you saying that is good or bad?
I’m saying that there’s an agenda in this front office to wipe away any remaining hint of Los Mets. I’m saying that David Wright will get treated much differently than Reyes was. That’s what I’m saying.
I know this is WAY too soon, but I’ll be the very first one here to say that the Mets will be better off moving forward without Reyes. Yes, you read that right! I’ve said all along he wasn’t worth $100+ million, and anything more than 4 years is very risky & too rich for the Mets blood. Regardless of Reyes being gone, I’m still gonna remain a Mets fan. Good luck to him in Miami, but I won’t be surprised if he suffers a reverse Mets FA effect (Big time FA signs with team, gets plagued with injuries).
“It’s always been hard to be a Mets fan in this town. After the events of last night, it just became harder.”
True. Nice read Ed.
Midnight Massacre #2 I would call this debacle, rating the trading of Seaver by M. Donald Grant as the THE MASSACRE in Mets history and he at least got back some serviceable players, what did SA get back for letting Jose go? Nada!
Too early to know until they draft the players as well as how the money is ultimately spent.