I remember in the early ’40s, back there, when I was a kid working on the city desk in the Detroit Free Press. It was Sunday, four o’clock in the morning, somebody phoned in a story, and I had no way to check it out.
It was either print the biggest story of the century and beat every paper in the city by hours — or kill it. I was a gutsy kid, so I decided to print it.
You want to know what that story was? I’ll tell you what that story was. The Japanese had just bombed…San Diego.
—Lou Grant, “WJM Tries Harder,” The Mary Tyler Moore Show
If Jose Reyes becomes a Miami Marlin, we’ll know for sure. We’ll know because multiple reliable sources will report it and we’ll know because you’ll hear me yowling in agony.
But until then, take with a pound of salt any breathless bulletins that exclusively confirm “a done deal,” considering Jose’s only just begun to shop his services — no matter what protective headgear he may don when visiting construction sites.
Caution: Falling Rumor Zone.
Which doesn’t make this process and its array of unfavorable potential outcomes any less of a nightmare.
Thanks a lot, Wilpons.
As the sign in my longest-tenured newsroom put it:
“Never believe a rumor until it’s officially denied.”
I so wish this wasn’t a rumor but I think at best, the news is just a bit premature. As much as I don’t want to acknowledge it, Jose’s days in a Met uniform are over.
Jose Reyes is a former Met Time to move on In Sandy I Trust
I can’t blame Jose here. The Marlins really are treating him very nicely. The Mets? Not so much. What the hell is wrong with our leadership?
The trickle of Jose Reyes’ Met jerseys into retailers’ clearance racks has just turned into a flood.
Greg,
You wouldn’t be referring to that report in Mets Merized yesterday and then retracted less than 90 minutes after it broke about all that stood in the way of Jose wearing a Marlin jersey was a physical?
As you know, it had me convinced until 6:00 PM. I’ll heed your warning.
I know, I know don’t jump to any conclusions:
ESPN Insider Buster Olney expects the Miami Marlins to sign Jose Reyes.
Money quote: “There is an expectation they will work something out with Reyes for something in the range of five years, $18-20M a year. They are seen as the team that’s going to be most aggressive and he certainly fits the style that Ozzie Guillen loves to play. He loves to have a team that runs the bases aggressively, puts pressure on opposing defenses. Reyes would be a centerpiece for that with Hanley Ramirez moving to another position.”
The Phillies referred to this Lou Grant/MTM interaction instead in reference to Reyes:
Lou: You know what? You’ve got spunk.
Mary: Well, yes…
Lou: I hate spunk.
We asked for Sandy Alomar. We got him. We need to trust him. If we lose Jose, we lose him. (Not that it won’t hurt to see him go – and in a Marlin jersey too. I can’t forgive the Marlins for the final insult they issued us at Shea.)
Jose is young and talented. He should shop around. That said, we can’t necessarily build a team around one guy either. We need a team that syncs and has passion … both of which we’re currently lacking. Perhaps we can build a team that doesn’t have the ghost of ’07 hovering nearby.
Ack. Sandy Alderson! Not Alomar. // Relurks //
these numbers are considerably lower than the absurd 140/7 being floated before the end of the season. i hear 90/6, which should be well within the mets ability to pay; you saying reyes (and the mets bringing him back) isn’t worth $15 mill a year to the wilpons?
meanwhile, yes, as excruciating as it would be for reyes to leave, to have him sign within the division is just … unacceptable. seriously, it might be enough to become a free agent myself.
According to Alderson, Peter Greenberg, Reyes’ agent, is not even in the country right now and won’t be back any time soon, and therefore he doesn’t expect anything to happen that fast.
Also, I highly doubt Reyes takes the first offer he gets. Especially from frigging Miami. If he does, that means he doesn’t want to be a Met, period, and no amount of money we offered him would be sufficient.
In that vein, I have a general question for anyone reading this: How much (in money and years) is too much to give Reyes, for your personal taste? I know it’s tempting to say, “There’s no contract too big to offer him, we have to keep him no matter what,” but don’t you think the Twins and their fans thought likewise about Joe Mauer? That contract is going to kill them for the next eight years.
An ideal contract would be 4 years but I don’t believe there’s anyway it gets done for 4. I have no problem throwing in a 5th year as a ‘thank you’ year but with very low expectations for that last year. If anyone wants to guarantee more than 5 years then kiss that baby goodbye.
I keep hearing the Giants want to be involved, so no doubt Team Reyes is not in a rush. I just hope he gives us a shot at matching whatever offer comes down the pike.
I’m still resigned to the fact that he’ll be elsewhere in 2012 though. Sigh.