It's become par for the course lately, but we'll lead off again with shortstop Jose Reyes. We had heard that Reyes was set to kick off his free agent tour by meeting with the suddenly free spending Miami Marlins. In a typical doom and gloom piece he put out yesterday John Harper did mention an interesting tidbit:
Mets people on Tuesday privately downplayed the significance of the Marlins’ aggressiveness. One person said he heard they plan to offer Reyes only a three-year deal at a high annual average, presumably more than $20 million a year.
Who knows what his "Mets people" actually know of the Marlins plans, but if true I think we can knock one suitor quite a ways down the list. FanGraphs takes a look at whether Reyes would be smart to take the three year deal anyway, and the new and improved Fish Stripes also has a go at it. While I agree in theory with what these guys are saying, I just don't see how Reyes turns down 3-4 extra years at a premium salary to take a higher AAV for 3.
MLB.com took a look at the unique situation that Reyes is in on the free agent market this season. Largely due to that, I think we'll continue to see teams linked to Reyes that aren't your traditional big spenders. The Brewers also seem to be in the mix, unfortunately we don't have any Mets people telling us what their offer is going to be.
In the case that Reyes does move on, Toby Hyde took a look at what the Mets have to offer in the high minors at shortstop. I'm sure we're all fairly familiar with the guys listed here at AA, but seeing his take on them is certainly worth the time it takes to read the piece. Just in case you were wondering, here are the reverse standings from this season so you can have a look at what teams first rounders are protected.
The Marlins are also reportedly interested in former Met Carlos Beltran. While he'd seem more likely to sign one of the short term contracts the Marlins seem to prefer than Reyes, they seem to be looking at Beltran as a center field candidate given the presence of Logan Morrison and Mike Stanton on the corners.
It seemed yesterday that the PhiLOLies had a ridiculous deal in place for closer Ryan Madson. That seems to have been put on hold by ownership, so signing Papelbon to an even more ridiculous contract may still be in play. Here's hoping...
Jorge Posada claims he's not returning to the Yankees. While I'd have very minimal interest at this point, he'd certainly be a name that could help curb some of the anti-Met chatter in the MSM and possibly put the average WFAN caller in Citi Field for an early game or two if the acostalyptic scenario of traiding Wrongz and letting Reyes walk did occur.
The new CBA seems to be getting very close. While that likely won't affect the Mets offseason this year, going forward it could have a huge impact. Slotting the draft seems to be a hot topic, so FanGraphs takes a look at why that would be bad for baseball.
Finally, the worst news of the day easily came from Venezuela. Promising Nats catcher Wilson Ramos was kidnapped from his home and at this point is still missing. Hopefully this gets resolved asap, as nobody wants to see this type of thing occur.