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…
