So it has come to this: Jose Reyes's days as a New York Met are over. According to multiple sources and corroborated locally in Miami by Juan C. Rodriguez of the Sun-Sentinel, Jose Reyes and the Marlins have come to terms on a six-year, $106 million deal pending the results of a physical. The Marlins have been in heavy pursuit of Reyes for weeks now while the Mets sat back and hoped they'd get a last-minute opportunity to bring their shortstop back on a team-friendly deal. That apparently hasn't happened, and the Miami Marlins continue to add premier free agent talent on risky long-term deals. Nevertheless, they're adding the talent in the short-term and the Mets and their fans are now without one of the organization's most popular players ever.
Given the way things have unfolded, and that the Mets will apparently receive just a sandwich pick after the first round as well as the Marlins' third-round pick, if you could rewind the tape and trade Reyes at the deadline last year maybe you do it, but that's revisionist history and I still contend that the Mets made the defensible decision to hang onto Reyes given the circumstances that existed at the time.
Sandy Alderson confessed tonight that the Mets lost $70 million this year, a proposition which would clearly have made a six-year, $100 million contract offer to Reyes impossible. I miss Reyes already. He wasn't my favorite player but he was certainly in the conversation, and I know he was a favorite among many in the community here. I don't fault the Mets for balking at the deal Reyes appears to have received from Miami, but I'm still very sad to see him go.