This morning, Andy Martino of the Daily News broke the stunning news that the Jose Reyes negotiations won’t be quick. A real shocker, huh? This startling revelation made big headlines across the Mets blogosphere and quickly spread like wildfire. Umm, yeah, okay, whatever…

While I was pondering the ridiculousness of this morning’s Mets news cycle, it did get me to thinking a little bit about this whole Jose Reyes situation. You already know my feelings on Reyes as I’ve been saying he won’t be a Met next season since the All Star break… Much to my dismay…

As I’ve repeatedly said, if they really wanted Jose Reyes back, they would have negotiated a deal back when Reyes was open to negotiating and practically begging for the Mets to try and get something done before Spring Training started. But instead they opted to simply pick up the team option, ramble off a few carefully chosen words about Reyes and his OBP, and then pop-off even more carefully chosen words about stolen bases being a footnote… And here we are now…

Let’s fast-forward to some random day in December, when we will all find out which team Jose Reyes will finally sign with. When that day comes, I imagine that many of you will be angry and upset. Who would you blame?

1. Fred Wilpon – For only giving Sandy Alderson a $110 million dollar payroll budget? For saying Jose Reyes wants, but will not get Carl Crawford money?

2. Sandy Alderson – For making little effort to negotiate an extension with Jose Reyes when he had the opportunity and the Reyes camp was ready to negotiate? For making disparaging comments about Jose Reyes’ game, which was only intended to soften the blow of his inevitable departure? For having a $110 million dollar budget, but being unwilling to expend any of it to keep Reyes?

3. Jose Reyes – For trying to get the best deal he can for himself and his family like most ballplayers?

4. Curt Flood – For helping to usher in free agency and because I wanted to add a fourth option to this list?

At whose feet will you lay the blame, when Jose Reyes officially becomes a former Met while in the prime of his career?

By the way, expect a week-long celebration of Jose Reyes whenever that day comes, similar to the Carlos Beltran Appreciation Week we had after he was traded which turned out to be an astounding success for the site.