Mets pick up 2017 option on Jose Reyes

The Mets will pick up the 2017 option on 33-year-old infielder Jose Reyes, Jon Heyman reports.

The move comes as little surprise given the negligible cost of Reyes’s option and his success in his three-month return to New York. With the Rockies on the hook for the final $22 million on the $106 million deal Reyes signed with the Marlins in 2011, the Mets will owe Reyes the league minimum salary, which is in the neighborhood of $500,000.

If the shortstop-turned-third-baseman can perform at the level he did this season, that will be a serious bargain. In 279 plate appearances, Reyes hit .267/.326/.443 with eight home runs and nine stolen bases.

It’s not clear what Reyes’s role on the 2017 team will be, but if David Wright is not healthy, Reyes will likely be the team’s starting third baseman. Otherwise, he is still a versatile option who could fill in around the infield, and may even see time in the outfield, as the Mets discussed when they first signed him in June.

Reyes will also be on the verge of several personal and Mets milestones. He is 12 stolen bases short of 500, and 42 extra-base hits short of tying Darryl Strawberry for second most in a Mets uniform.