Jose Was Like My Son Applesauce: And When He Died a Part of Me Died, But You're the One Now, Ruben

If you happen to have just woken up after going to bed early last night, and, like me, make Amazin Avenue your first stop on the internet in the morning, I am sorry to have to be the one to tell you this: Jose Reyes is gone. The Mets couldn't match the 6 year, 111 million offer from the fish, and while we can joke about how he won't see year 3 of this deal in Miami, or how Loria will need some of that cash for bail money. It still hurts. It hurts bad.

If you want to get all misty eyed with some lovely Reyes retrospectives, you can go here:

Greg Prince of Fear and Faith in Flushing

Patrick Flood

If you want some cold hard analytics about the deal, there's these:

Dave Cameron of Fangraphs

Rob Neyer of Baseball Nation

Toby Hyde at MMLB

And if you prefer New York beat reporters being jerks:

Joel Sherman of the Post

John Harper of the Daily News

The Daily News also has a photo montage of Jose Reyes' Met career. You will have to provide your own copy of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" to play while it runs.

Josh Thole is taking it okay, putting a brave face on it. As for me, I am going to curl up after work with a bottle of chardonnay, a pint of Cherry Garcia, and Adele's "Someone Like You" on repeat. At least we still have R.A. Dickey.

Here's Sandy Alderson's thoughts on the whole thing.

Hey, we'll probably get outbid for Octavio Dotel, too. Not going to cry about this one, since Dotel is basically a ROOGY. Not liking this whole Matt Capps things, though. He's just not that good. Also not good, Luis Ayala. Seriously, he's a bad idea.

Ted Berg remembers Pedro Martinez, who in case you didn't know, was awesome at baseball.

I'm sure the Mets are just doing their due diligence on K-Rod, like they are on all potential closers. I don't see this really amounting too much. Have to imagine Rodriguez and Boras want at least Heath Bell money.

And finally, I'll have words for the Wilpon's after the jump. (text will be NSFW)

Okay, look Fred. Just sell the fucking team already. We all know this is going to happen. Probably in 2014. But you are just going to keep kicking the goddamn can down the road, aren't you? I've had to sit through you throwing bags of money at Jeremy Burnitz and Mo Vaughn and Jason Bay, but when a homegrown star and one of the five best players in franchise history hits free agency, you cry poverty. You have a huge share of the biggest and wealthiest market in America, but you managed to either be an idiot or a fraud with regards to your finances. Yes, the six year deal is a risk. Yes, it might be an overpay. Yes, winner's curse and all that. But if you are going to own a team in New York City, act like it. This would never happen in the Bronx. Sell the fucking team you asshole.

Now that I have squandered what little journalistic integrity I could claim. Let's continue with the news.

The winter meetings kick off today, so we can expect the usual flurry of trades, free agent signings (well, other free agent signings) and the always exciting Rule 5 draft. It's especially exciting now that the Mets could really use a second baseman. Hey, maybe Brad Emaus is eligible again! The Rangers are looking for a frontline starter. As are the Yankees. And even MLB.com doesn't want to try and guess what those Phillies are going to do. Hint: They are going to give two years to a guy with a career .288 OBP.

Manny Ramirez is staging a comeback. This seems like it will be a great idea for whoever signs him. NOT!

Those jerkface Marlins might not be done yet, as now they are targeting Albert Pujols. They do realize they are still like the third best team in the division, right? And that no one is coming to their horrible new stadium? But it's nice to know that you can tank for years, collect revenue sharing money, possibly commit bribery to get a publicly funded stadium, and then spend like a drunken sailor on shore leave.

For all your cool graphs about bunts, ( or, if you prefer, BUNTZ!) take a look at Beyond the Box Score's Traditional Managing Index.