ReyesWatch Update

Apparently five Mets executives spoke to Joel Sherman and conveyed the impression that they don't think Jose Reyes is likely to sign with the team. The article in question mentions that the Marlins, Nationals, Braves, and Brewers might all be strong suitors for Reyes, diminishing the odds of the Mets' being able to keep up with the market offer. But I've separately heard reports that the Nationals are unlikely to bring in a big free-agent hitter like Reyes. Meanwhile Brewers shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt, of whom Brewers GM Doug Melvin recently said that he is "a better player than what his critics said," hit an insane .310/.326/.500 in the post-season, including 5 rather clutch RBI's in the six games of the NLCS, and the Brewers will have re-signing Prince Fielder as their first priority. As for the Braves, I continue to think that Jose Reyes is not going to want to sign with a team that has Michael Bourn, for the very simple reason that they couldn't promise him that he wouldn't start any games batting anything other than first this year. There is zero reason for him to agree to that; he hates batting other than leadoff. That just leaves the Marlins, a team with a fraction of the money the Mets have even amidst their difficulties, who already have a shortstop who in his peak (one to two years ago) people said was better than Reyes. Now sure, they could move Hanley to third, and maybe they will, but given Ramirez' somewhat apparently fragile mental state it might not be as great an idea as it sounds. The Tigers, another team I've heard mentioned, also have a very good shortstop. They could move Peralta to third, but what if they think (plausibly) that he's the better defender than Reyes? Could they promise Reyes that he would start every game at shortstop?

The point is, every other team out there has lots of good reasons not to go after Reyes, too, or for Reyes not to want to sign with them. Maybe we'll get lucky, the market for Jose will be weaker than expected, and the Mets can stay competitive after all.