Just Mets

Late Monday, the Rockies and Blue Jays made a deal which sent Troy Tulowitzki and LaTroy Hawkins to Toronto for Jose Reyes and a package of prospects (read).

It’s a very good deal for Colorado. They cut their financial commitment to the shortstop position by roughly half, freed up future years/money quicker thanks to only being committed to Reyes for two more seasons beyond 2015. Not to mention the fact they got some prospects out of the deal which promotes a necessary rebuild of the organization. In a way, they take a bad contract (for still a good player) in exchange for an even worse contract. It’s sensible, and perhaps was the only realistic way they could get Tulowitzki out of Denver, considering his contract, age, injury concern, and certain reduction of value when he declines and is forced to move out from shortstop.

Now, it would be very logical to conclude the Rockies might flip Reyes ahead of Friday’s 4 PM non-waiver trade deadline for another package of prospects to complete what would be a very impressive haul for Tulowitzki.

But don’t expect the Mets to entertain such a possibility.

According to multiple reports, the Mets are still uninterested in re-acquiring their former star shortstop, which they let walk in November, 2011 to the Marlins.

Andy Martino of the Daily News said the Blue Jays had been shopping Reyes for a while, and even floated him to the Mets before ultimately dealing him to Colorado.

Reyes has produced a .708 OPS with concerning defense in a league that averages a .711 OPS, and he’s moving to a league which is averaging a .705 OPS. So, he’s produced slightly below league average for a $22 million salary, suggesting he’s good but not justifying the money.

Sure, that could be attributed to playing the bulk of his games on turf in Toronto, but his defense just hasn’t been that good.

What’s more, Reyes’ OPS has steeply declined in the last two years. It’s not totally unexpected given his age and what his primary skill set is, but he’s guaranteed about $58 million through his age-35 season. That’s a lot of coin for any player who is more likely to continue to decline than find a rebirth.

In the end, if the Mets really wanted Reyes, they would never have let him go to the Marlins four years ago. Heck, they could’ve listened to Toronto when they dangled their former shortstop in their faces before shipping him the Colorado.

A team still desperate to find a replacement to Reyes at shortstop declined the offer to get him back, another  indication on their stance with Reyes.

It’s fun to dream of the gold old days at Shea and bringing Reyes back home to complete this puzzle. And they know their customer base would be on cloud nine if they reacquired him.

But there are the reasons they clearly don’t want him coupled with the baseball reasons it might be unwise to acquire him which will have to keep this a dream.