Jose Reyes’ batting title is a thing of the past, just like the pleas from fans at Citi Field, begging the shortstop to stay in New York and for the Mets to pay him.
Now, reality sets in.
After deciding not to talk contract any further during the season in June, the Mets’ five-day exclusive window to negotiate with the talented but fragile Reyes begins today, with all free agents set to hit the open market Thursday.
The Mets aren’t going to blow away the 28-year-old before he tests the waters, and they have to decide if they want to break the bank on one of the game’s most dynamic players or if his injury problems — Reyes spent two stints on the DL in 2011 with left hamstring strains and has missed decent chunks of time each of the past three years — are too much to risk.
How the Mets handle Reyes — or how he handles them — will in large part dictate the rest of the team’s offseason. General manager Sandy Alderson has stated repeatedly next year’s payroll will be down considerably from a season ago, settling around $100 million to $110 million.
And with Johan Santana ($24 million), Jason Bay ($16 million) and David Wright ($15 million), in addition to smaller price tags like R.A. Dickey, the Mets will have very little room to maneuver if they manage to keep Reyes around.
Given the Mets’ monetary constraints, even though those have lessened with recent rulings in their favor in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme, there is a greater chance Reyes finds a higher-paying suitor elsewhere — perhaps Washington, Philadelphia or San Francisco, among others.
If the Mets are able to hang onto Reyes, they could pursue trading Wright, who can void his 2013 team option if he is moved.
Should Reyes leave, Ruben Tejada would be at least a temporary fix at shortstop, with Daniel Murphy sliding back into second base after recovering from another season-ending knee injury.
But if the Mets keep the left side of their infield together, they will have little room to do anything else, since they intend to hang on to Mike Pelfrey, who could get in the $6 million range in arbitration. Pelfrey, Santana and Dickey would be joined in the rotation by Jon Niese and Dillon Gee, which could make Chris Capuano expendable.