Jose Reyes said he won’t let the trade rumors get to him.
“I don’t care if you people talk about that a lot, but I’m still gonna concentrate on playing my game,” the Mets shortstop said yesterday before going 0-for-4 in a 2-0 loss to the Giants at Citi Field.
Reyes very possibly will be traded this season, and yesterday a report by CSN Bay Area said the Giants have talked about potentially pursuing him. However, the Mets are not engaged in talks with San Francisco or any other teams about Reyes because it’s early in the season, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Being that less than 20 percent of the season has been played, no decision has been made yet regarding moving Reyes, the source said, adding there is no reason to deal him at this point.
Giants general manager Brian Sabean echoed that yesterday, telling ESPN.com, “Honestly, I haven’t seen or talked to [Mets GM] Sandy Alderson since January. … I haven’t talked to anybody from the Mets, so I have no idea where the hell it came from.”
Sabean added, “So typical of today’s world, I guess we’re playing in New York and our shortstop isn’t playing too well and [Reyes] is a free agent to be. It’s connect-your-dots, so there’s nothing to talk about.”
It figures that any Reyes trade will come far later in the season, with the deadline not till July 31. In a sense, Reyes and the Mets are akin to the Nuggets and Carmelo Anthony — even with Francisco Rodriguez and Carlos Beltran, Reyes is the Mets’ biggest trade chip (unless David Wright were considered). The Mets likely will wait until later in the season to create a potential bidding war to maximize their trade return.
Also, if and when the Mets do trade Reyes, it will essentially be conceding the season. It’s hard to fathom the team doing that imminently, considering how few fans likely would attend the remainder of their games.
“I’m still a New York Met, so whatever happens, happens. I just want to play baseball,” Reyes said. “I just told my agent, ‘I just want to focus on playing baseball. I don’t want to think about anything else,’ because right now I’m still a New York Met.”
With Steve Serby