The Future Of Jose Reyes

One of the few bits of good news to come out of Mets camp this spring has been the consistent play and more importantly health of SS Jose Reyes. Reyes is healthier than he has been in the last 3 or 4 years and that should have a dramatic impact on his play in the upcoming year. Reyes has been the spark plug that ignites the team and since 2006 they have only been successful when he has been successful. In the past this would be a great thing for the Mets but 2011 will be different. Reyes in entering the final year of his contract and will test Free Agency next season.

The problem facing the Mets front office is that the better Jose performs this year the more expensive it will be for the team to re-sign him. Reyes is an immense talent and barring an Andruw Jones-like collapse in his contract year will likely command a contract in excess of $100 Million this winter. The Mets have a gloomy outlook for this upcoming season thanks to the financial woes of their Ownership with the Wilpon family on the hook for multiple hundreds of millions of dollars. They also have to deal with the $20 Million owed to Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo who are longshots to even make the team this year and had no flexibility in bringing in talent to improve last offseason because the team had no money to spend (the Wilpons had to borrow a reported $25 Million for the MLB just to cover current operating expenses).

The fact that the team isn't expected to contend in any real way this season has lead to speculation that they will try to trade Reyes during the summer if they feel they will be unable to pay him big money. Along with 3B David Wright, Reyes has been a cornerstone of the organization since 2003 and I'll reiterate how crucial he has been to any success the team has had over the past 6-7 years. The only way I can see Jose staying New York (or maybe just Queens as the Yankees might look to him to replace Derek Jeter at SS if they move him to DH next year) would be for the Mets to surprise everyone this year and be in contention until September. Regardless it will prove to be an interesting 2011.

At least if he leaves I can live this picture down