The rumors are swirling. According to Yahoo Sports Jose Reyes being acquired by the Miami Marlins is "almost a done deal". How close it is at this time is up for debate. After all, why would Reyes enter the free agency pool in order to test the market just to end up taking the first bid that comes along. The truth is that this is a good fit for him and the Mets.
First, from his perspective, there are three reasons why it is immediately a good thing to be in Miami. One, he gets to be with his best friend, Hanley Ramirez. That is important for players that are established in the league. They want to feel comfortable. They want their family to feel comfortable.
Ramirez and Reyes are Godfathers to one another's children. That speaks volumes to their relationship. It was Ramirez that did the courting in this case, though, the weather and an upstart Marlins lineup doesn't hurt either.
Two, as I just mentioned, the Marlins are young and talented. They have every chance to contend with one or two players added to their lineup. Another player mentioned on Yahoo Sports is Albert Pujols. I wrote an article a few weeks ago stating why that is a better fit for Pujols too.
The truth is it's a good fit for Reyes for many of the same reasons. The Marlins team needs experienced leaders to compliment their young talent. A careful blend of the right players in that clubhouse would make them an instant success.
Third, the cultural effect. It is a mistake the discount the cultural aspect in this case. As I mentioned previously, veteran players want to be comfortable. They want their families to feel comfortable. Part of that is being with people of like minds and backgrounds. The Marlins are managed by a Latino coach in Ozzie Guillen.
Miami has a tremendously large Latino culture, even more than New York. If Reyes were to uproot his family and replant them elsewhere, it would have to be a similar environment. Miami is such an opportunity for him. When a player is comfortable, they perform.
As for the Mets, it makes sense to let him go. There are three reasons for that too. One, the Mets have far too many needs and far too little money to tie their budget up on a handful of players.
Thanks to the efforts of Sandy Alderson, they finally freed themselves of crippling contracts like Francisco Rodriguez, Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez. The last thing they need to do is add another overblown deal for an oft-injured player.
They have Jason Bay tied up and he is not even close to be trade bait. The same is true for Johan Santana. All the talk has been of trading David Wright, but the front office likes him far too much for that to be a reality, unless, in the words of Michael Corleone, another team "makes them an offer they can't refuse".
The Mets need starting pitching, bullpen help and a closer. They need an outfielder, a catcher and bench players. How do they sign all of that with about $40-50 million to spare from their $110 million budget if they spend $15 million or more of that on one guy? It doesn't happen.
They would be much wiser to spread the finances out on multiple investments. Unlike the Marlins, the Mets are not one or two players away. They need a lot of development for their young players to finally contend. They will have to wait for that development to come to fruition.
Two, they need a healthy change in their "core". Since the Mets signed Carlos Delgado and Pedro Martinez in the Omar Minaya era, the Mets have had a core of players they counted on to win consistently. They haven't. Reyes and Wright are all that's left of that ineffective core. With the departure of Reyes, they have to face the cold truth that they need to rebuild.
Their "Los Mets" and "New Mets" plans were failures. The main reason they failed was due to injuries though. No one can really foresee that, but when a team signs older players it has to be on the collective minds of the front office.
It was a chance they were willing to take and it did not pay off. They have to tear down and build again. The Marlins have done it three times. They have two championships to show for it. They built on young talent. Perhaps the Mets need to take a lesson from that.
Three, the clubhouse will completely belong to Terry Collins. In 2006, the Mets were contending and making teams angry. They would over celebrate and therefore became a target. These same Marlins admitted to wanting to spoil the Mets playoff chances in 2007 due to the showboating. When the Mets acted like every hit they came through with won the World Series, it left a bad taste in the mouth of the opposition.
The major argument I hear about Reyes is his energy. That energy comes with the arrogance. Both spread through a clubhouse equally. Terry Collins is the last guy to want that in a clubhouse. With Reyes gone, there will be less of that example around. Each player has a better chance to conform to his style of play: hard, hustling and humble (in other words respectable).
Will the Mets miss Jose Reyes? Yes, absolutely! Will they struggle without him? Most likely, yes. I'm not saying they are immediately better off, but in the long-term, they can overcome this.
If the Marlins really are close to signing Jose Reyes, it makes sense all around. For Reyes, the Marlins and the Mets.
3 comments:
Nice post Frank. It will hurt to lose Jose but they can find a way to win without him. Jose Reyes came up in 2003 and every team that won the WS since then did so without him on its roster.
Great point Mike. Perhaps its best to part ways with any holdovers from the infamous calapses. Wouldn't mind if David remains the face of the franchise providing a healthy return to his old form.
I'm agnostic on Wright. I wouldn't cry if the Mets moved him but I'd be disappointed if he was traded for scraps.
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