A quote from ESPN’s Jason Stark in this week’s Rumblings & Grumblings:
The buzz coming out of Flushing is that the Mets have very little interest in waiting around this winter for Jose Reyes to decide whether to stay or bolt. One source who’s tight with the Mets brass tells Rumblings they’re “either going to be in or out real quick.”
The Mets’ baseball people haven’t met yet to lay out their offseason game plan. But if Reyes’ preference is to test the market, collect offers and then ask the Mets to counter, there are indications that the Mets don’t want to play by that script. And Reyes’ lackluster second half (.277/.316/.378, with only six stolen-base ATTEMPTS) only figures to reinforce their reluctance to do anything crazy right out of the chute to keep him from exploring the market.
The two DL stints and the fact he’s not going full throttle now certainly doesn’t help his chances of getting the payday everyone originally thought he would get.
Meanwhile out on the West Coast, Carlos Beltran is schmoozing the Giants on the virtues of going after Reyes this offseason.
“The first option for this team should be finding a guy who’s a leadoff batter,” Beltran said in the San Francisco Chronicle. “Then, if you want to add another bat, I could be the second option.
“I think that’s what I see from this year, the time that I’ve been here. We’ve had great pitching, a great bullpen. At the end of the day, the issue here has been, the team doesn’t score runs. The only way you can manufacture runs is to have a guy at the top of the lineup who gets on base, steals bases and makes the job easier for the guys behind.”
How do you like them apples?
