Jose Reyes: Mets “Didn’t Want Me”
The day that all Mets fans feared came today — Jose Reyes was introduced as a member of the Miami Marlins. And it turns out Sandy Alderson may have botched the negotiations (or lack thereof) big-time.
At his news conference in Dallas, Reyes recounted the Marlins’ pursuit of him, saying it began exactly one minute after the free agency period started.
“12:01. Those guys are crazy,” Reyes said of the meeting with Marlins brass at a Manhattan hotel. “They showed me a lot of love.”
It was love the Mets never showed him. The Mets famously never made a formal offer to Reyes, and to him, that was very telling.
“They didn’t make me an offer,” Reyes said. “They didn’t want me.”
When asked about the lack of an offer, Alderson smugly replied, “If you’re asking if I should have sent him a box of chocolates, um, perhaps I should have done that. But on the other hand, the box of chocolates wouldn’t have cost $106 million either.”
Perhaps it was a smart business decision not to make an offer and to allow the market to set itself. But Alderson must know that players have egos that need to be stroked. Reyes apparently needed to feel wanted, and he never got that feeling from Alderson. It is logical to make the assumption that the Mets never really wanted Reyes back. You just don’t act the way Alderson acted if you really want someone to stay.
Here is a clip from Reyes’s news conference. But a word of warning — it contains graphic images of Reyes in a Marlins uniform:
Date: December 7, 2011
