Jose Reyes
At one point New York City had embraced shortstop Jose Reyes as if he was one of their own. Reyes was signed as an amateur free agent by the New York Mets out of his native Dominican Republic at the age of 16. Reyes quickly worked his way through the Mets minor league system and in 2003 at the age of 19, he was ready for the big club. Reyes spent the first nine years of his Major League Baseball career with the Mets and there he was a spark plug. Reyes was the most prolific base stealer in Mets franchise history and he brought an infectious energy to the ball park on every single day. When Reyes was at the plate, chants of “Jose-Jose-Jose” would reign down from the fans at Shea Stadium and then at Citi Field. The fans in New York City loved Reyes and the feeling was mutual, but things changed.
Beginning in late 2008, Mets team owners Fred and Jeff Wilpon found themselves in the cross hairs of a ponzi scheme that was orchestrated by Bernie Madoff which severely crippled the franchise’s funds. The Mets found themselves dumping salary and when Reyes became a free agent after the 2011 MLB season, you got the feeling that he wouldn’t be coming back to Queens to play for the Mets. That off-season Reyes signed a six-year, $106 million contract with the Miami Marlins which ended his tenure in New York. And when Reyes returned the following season to face the Mets, he received a mixed reaction from the Citi Field crowd. After one season with the Marlins, Reyes was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays which has been his team ever since. Injuries have taken away from the speed that made Reyes a four-time National League All-Star with the Mets, but he is still an igniter at the top of the Blue Jays lineup as he is batting .300 this season along with a .329 on-base percentage in 34 games played this season.
Being that the Blue Jays play in the American League and the Mets in the National League, this week will mark just Reyes’ second return to face him former team. This time around the welcome by the fans in Queens should be a little bit more receptive to Reyes due to the fact that the Mets have yet to find a player as energetic as him since he left. And in the grand scheme of things, you cannot be mad at Reyes for leaving New York. Reyes was one of the Mets core players during his tenure with the club and he should have never been allowed to hit free agency. Even when the Marlins offered Reyes a contract, he and his representatives gave the Mets every opportunity to come up with a deal to keep him New York, and like any smart and reasonable businessman, he took the best offer available.
To this day Reyes owns several Mets club records that won’t be broken anytime soon. Reyes is the Mets franchise all-time leader in triples (99) and stolen bases (370). And it will be a very long time before someone breaks his Mets single-season record of 78 stolen bases that he set in 2007.
When Reyes was with the Mets, you never knew what you were going to get from him as he was pure excitement with his speed and energy. Reyes didn’t need a hit to score s run as he could draw a walk while stealing both second and third base while scoring on a sacrifice fly, ground out, wild pitch, or even forcing an opposing pitcher to commit a balk.
Citi Field
For the majority of Reyes’ time with the Mets, his running mate on the left side of the infield was third baseman David Wright. And with the speed of Reyes, and the power of Wright, they were the perfect combination for a franchise that sorely needed it. Together Reyes and Wright helped the Mets win the National East in 2006 and although they failed to win the World Series, the future was still bright for these two. Together Reyes and Wright would become regulars as far as representing the Mets at the MLB All-Star Game and they seemed inseparable. But with the contracts of Reyes and Wright set to expire about a year apart, the Wilpons and Mets general manager Sandy Alderson were forced to make a decision for their cash strapped team. And the powers to be decided to roll with Wright and allow Reyes to leave. Now injuries are beginning to get the best of Wright and even at the age of 32, there is a possibility that he may never be the same player for the Mets due to his spinal stenosis. Wright and Reyes were supposed to be the guys that were going to lead the Mets to multiple World Series Titles while taking some of the spotlight away from the New York Yankees in the Big Apple. But it didn’t work out that way.
For the next two days the folks in New York will have a chance to see what they are missing with Reyes when he takes the field for the Blue Jays and he brings his typical energy. Reyes is set to become a free agent in 2018 when he will be 34-years old and it’s not far fetched that the Blue Jays could at some point trade Reyes and you never know if he’ll once again end up wearing the blue and orange of the Mets. Stranger things have happened, but the Mets haven’t been the same team since Reyes left town.
Source: Baseball-reference.com
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