Tag Archives: Marlins

Nov 14

Marlins Scuttle Ship: Deal Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson And Mark Buehrle

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If you think being a Mets’ fan is tough – and it is hard work – imagine waking up this morning a Miami Marlins fan and learning your team was gutted. The franchise that held firesales after winning the World Series in 1997 and 2003 reached a new low last night with the news of its pending trade of stars to the Toronto Blue Jays.

REYES: Will he stay in Toronto? (AP)

What was supposed to be a dream season for the Marlins continued its nightmare way with the news the team was sending ace Josh Johnson, shortstop Jose Reyes, left-hander Mark Buehrle, catcher John Buck and infielder Emilio Bonifacio to Toronto.

In return, the Blue Jays sent to the Marlins: shortstop Yunel Escobar, pitcher Henderson Alvarez, catcher Jeff Mathis, and prospect outfielder Jake Marisnick, shortsop Adeiny Hechavarria, lefthander Justin Nicolino and pitcher Anthony DeSclafani.

Because of the size of the contracts, MLB must first sign off on the deal.

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Oct 25

Reyes Campaigns For Wright

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Maybe it is revisionist history on Jose Reyes’ part, but last night at the Nets-Knicks game he said he always wanted to stay with the Mets. I remember him saying that initially, but as the season progressed he rarely expressed that sentiment. Maybe he knew he was gone.

I don’t know and I don’t care anymore about Reyes. He received a $106-million, six-year contract from the Marlins. Good for him. He’ll be run down by the end and everybody knows it. Maybe he does, too.

Any way, Reyes is on-board with David Wright coming to play with him in Miami, calling it an honor, but added he should stay in Queens. Not that he should have, but Wright.

“They should sign David (long term),” Reyes told ESPN. “He’s been the face of the franchise for a long time. `If they let him go, that’s gonna be difficult to see the New York Mets without David Wright. I can’t imagine that. You never know in this game what’s gonna happen, but I wish all the best to David. He’s a good friend of mine.”

Mets GM Sandy Alderson said extending Wright’s contract is a priority, and sooner rather than later. The Mets have a $16 million option on Wright for 2013. He’ll be back next year, but it will be harder to extend him when he’s on the open market as he said he doesn’t want to negotiate during the season. Reportedly, the Mets already have a $100-million offer on the table.

Reyes said the same thing and held to it, and the Mets never made him an offer. The perception was the team was just waiting for him to go as they had no intention of matching the Marlins in money or years.

Reyes expressed no regrets in leaving the Mets, and the franchise, despite taking considerable heat from the public early on, has no regrets, either. The Mets were pleased with what Ruben Tejada gave them offensively and defensively, and considering Reyes’ health issues and their financial concerns, they didn’t want to be saddled down with a contract for a player they projected would break down.

Reyes stayed healthy, but underperformed this year considering the contract. It was a disastrous year for the Marlins, who just fired manager Ozzie Guillen. We knew Guillen’s future in Miami was in doubt when he opened up politically and was suspended. Despite the boasting Reyes and Hanley Ramirez would get along, apparently Miami never consulted Ramirez about moving to third and their supposed friendship became strained.

Miami is a mess, even worse than the Mets and will even listen to offers for stud pitcher Josh Johnson.

 

Sep 24

Wright Hoping For Strong Finish To Salvage Season

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David Wright was in full salvage mode yesterday, both from a team and individual perspective, After a blazing first half in which he carried the Mets, he’s fallen off dramatically and with his fall so has his team.

There have been numerous times during the Mets’ dreadful second half when they could have turned things around, but failed.

WRIGHT: A frustrating second half. (AP)

Now mathematically eliminated and after being ripped publicly by their manager, the Mets now have one more opportunity to wash out the foul taste in their mouths created by going from eight games over .500 to 14 games below.

I’ve mentioned several times how the Mets have a chance to become next year’s Orioles, who won 11 of their last 16 games last season and rode that momentum into 2012.

Wright noticed, too.

“It’d be nice to finish on a strong note,’’ Wright said. “You look at, for example, what the Orioles did, they finished strong last year and it kind of carried over into this year. It’d be nice to do that. And I think there’s a lot of individuals that want to finish strong and we as a team and an organization would like to finish strong.’’

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Sep 22

Collins Should Be More Embarrassed Now

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If Terry Collins was embarrassed after his team’s performance Thursday, he should be even more after his comments after last night’s game, won 7-3 by the Mets over the even more inept Miami Marlins.

The Mets broke a nine-game home losing streak last night and a stretch on failing to score more than three runs in 16 straight games. In a word, they have been dreadful. Last night was just their fifth at home since the All-Star break.

Collins should have offered a sigh of relief, but said: “It felt like a playoff game — win. We got some big hits early, played hard, ran the bases hard.”

Hopefully, he was joking, but normally has a poker face. He even kept his composure Thursday, although you could tell be his tone he was angry when he implied the Mets had quit.

“There’s no explanation for what’s happened. None,” Collins said. “No excuses. We know this is what they can do.”

Then why don’t they do it all the time? Teams go into slumps and mental funks all the time, but there’s never a reason not to play hard. They didn’t all the time last night, either. When the Marlins misplayed Lucas Duda’s pop-up in short left field he jogged out of the box and stopped at first. Duda isn’t a sure thing and can’t afford not to hustle.

After Thursday, Collins said there were things he didn’t like, and presumably not hustling is one of them. Evidently, Duda didn’t get the message. Here’s hoping Collins ripped him privately last night. Maybe he should bench him for a couple of games.

I liked Collins getting on his team Thursday and wonder why he didn’t earlier. Last night he retracted his comments. Big mistake. He should stay angry and go to the whip the rest of the season. The message: If you don’t play hard, you don’t play.

Did the retraction spur last night’s breakout?

“I don’t think so. I really don’t,” Collins said. “Probably more today me going to them and making sure that they know I support them, that I respect them in every way. I’ve told you guys all year: They’re a tremendous bunch of guys. It’s a great clubhouse. They just came out today and played like they know they can. Maybe the fact that they got more support than the negative side that they got last night was probably a better way to go about it.”

I don’t think so. There’s a time for positive reinforcement and a time to come down hard, and right now it is the latter. Collins said playing hard is about perception, and the same goes for his comments. When he retracted his comments the perception is he didn’t mean them. His players can’t believe that to be true.

This afternoon they’ll try to make it two straight at home, and will send R.A. Dickey to the mound in search of his 19th victory. Dickey will get two more starts after today.

Sep 21

Current Mets’ State Illustrates Why They Didn’t Bring Back Reyes

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The Miami Marlins are in for the weekend, and with them comes Jose Reyes. Now that the season is dwindling down to a precious few games, I ask: Would the Mets season been significantly different had they re-signed Reyes?

I don’t see how that is possible after last night.

REYES: He wouldn't be smiling now.

With the way the Mets are heading, by the time they are competitive again Reyes will be on the downside of his career. The Mets had to have made that self-examination in their thought process. How could they not have?

On paper, the Marlins opened the season a better team than the Mets, with or without adding Reyes.

The teams have six games remaining to determine last place, which no looks like a foregone conclusion.

Reyes will finish with a superior career than Ruben Tejada, but the latter is a better fit for the Mets, and it is based on economics. The Mets couldn’t afford to give Reyes the deal the Marlins did and then expect to re-sign David Wright. Re-signing R.A. Dickey wasn’t even an issue then.

As it is, the Mets will be hard pressed to bring them back despite receiving a favorable court ruling in the Madoff scandal. The Mets won’t have to pay nearly the penalty they could have and get three years before they have to start paying anything. Outside of a clean verdict – which never would have happened – the Wilpons couldn’t have asked for a better deal.

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