Fans of The New York Mets have voiced their opinion and displayed it as well to the front office, do not trade Jose Reyes. The Mets hosted The Atlanta Braves Sunday and the crowd of 21,000 sounded like 35,000. Every time Reyes stepped to the plate chants of “J-O-S-E-J-O-S-E-J-O-S-E” echoed throughout Citi Field. Some Met fans went as far to create posters showing their support for the shortstop. Everyone knows that the franchise is cash strapped after majority owner Fred Wilpon’s dealings with convicted ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff. Even with that, by hook or by crook The Mets need to find a way to keep Reyes in a Met uniform. The Mets are currently averaging 28,000 fans per game and that figure will dwindle if Reyes is gone.
In the business world you have to spend money to make money and it is time for The Mets to fork over the bread to Reyes. If Reyes is not in a Met uniform in 2012, Citi Field will resemble Shea Stadum during the late 1970’s after The Mets traded pitcher Tom Seaver to The Cincinnati Reds. At that point The Mets had to beg fans to come out to the park and they are flirting with disaster once more. The bottom is this team will not be better by not having Reyes.
Reyes will celebrate his 28th birthday this month and he is already the franchise leader in triples (93), stolen bases (350) runs scored (650) and is closing on most singles by a Met. That production cannot be swept under the rug. General manager Sandy Alderson wants to keep Reyes in a Met uniform but not at the expense of breaking the bank. Alderson wants to sell Reyes on “the hometown discount” which Reyes may not go for. Alderson will build a winner in New York and it needs to start with Reyes.
Hedge fund manager David Einhorn recently purchased 33 percent of The Mets for $200 million. Einhorn’s investment will immediately go to curbing some of the team’s debt. Met fans would love to see Einhorn and his $2.5 billion net worth take more of the reigns with this team, namely putting up the dough to keep Mr. Reyes in Flushing. It is a sad state of affairs when a sports franchise in New York City cannot afford to keep home-grown talent. The late George Steinbrenner would have mortgaged his home before allowing Derek Jeter to leave The New York Yankees. It is imperative for Reyes to remain a Met.
With the exception of Ed Kranepool, The Metropolitans have never had a player spend his entire career wearing the blue and orange. Due to this the franchise’s all-time stats are pedestrian like which will allow Reyes and third baseman David Wright to own most of the franchise marks before either ball player reaches the age of 30. The Yankees have had greats such as Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio that only wore The Yankee pinstripes. Mike Schmidt only wore a Philadelphia Phillies uniform for his career.
It took The Mets several years to recover once Seaver was traded, that was the same situation when negotiations broke down with Darryl Strawberry in 1990 before he bolted to become a Los Angeles Dodger. Neither player was shown the door because the team was broke, it was more a matter of front office stupidity. Front office stupidity has put The Mets in this current stew and it is time to fix it. The Mets are not in a position to compete with the rival Phillies for a division crown and this move would solidify a position in the top five for the draft for the forseeable future. If Wilpon has to panhandle of the 7 train to keep Reyes in New York, fans won’t care, but if Reyes leaves Wilpon’s problems with Madoff will seem like child’s play.
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