I feel like fans are split. Some of them hate Jose Reyes now and want to blame him for the Mets’ financial shortcomings. Others want to blame Sandy Alderson for not putting a concrete offer on the table. Others want to blame the Wilpons, and it goes on and on.
So, today I’ll discuss the order of who we should blame for Reyes’ departure:
1. The Wilpon Family: The Wilpons own a team in New York and do not have enough money to re-sign a home grown player and a fan favorite. A big market team should not lose their stars in free agency. The Wilpons did not supply the Mets will enough money for 2012 and beyond, causing it to be almost impossible to sign Jose Reyes, while being able to fill out the rest of their roster
2. Bernie Madoff: No one really knows what happened with the Wilpons and Madoff. Whether they knew what what going on or not, they lost/will lose money because of him. His schemes directly influenced the Wilpons’ ability to spend money on the New York Mets (regardless of what anyone says). If the Mets had $120 million to spend per season, they would have probably matched the Marlins’ deal with Jose Reyes
3. Bud Selig: Selig got rid of Dodgers Owner Frank McQuart. But Selig and the Wilpons are friends, so he hasn’t made them sell the team just yet. If Bud Selig made the Wilpons sell the team, the Mets would probably have enough money to re-sign Reyes. Let’s not forget that Bud Selig decided to add the extra wild card team this year. If he added it before 2007, the Mets would have made the playoffs in ’07 and ’08, and who knows what could have happened thereafter. World Series champs? Probably not, but maybe.
4. Jeffrey Loria, David Samson, Ozzie Guillen, and the Marlins: The Marlins pushed hard for Jose Reyes. They basically spent all of their money in one offseason and risked a lot. They will be a good team, but they won’t be one for long–given the way they’ve been spending money. Think about it, t’s not like millions of people are going to start showing up to Marlins games. Right now there are literally zero Marlins fans out there.
5. Omar Minaya: Minaya made the bad decisions that Sandy Alderson inherited. About 57% of the Mets’ 2012 payroll commitments come from three players who Minaya signed: Jason Bay ($18 million), David Wright ($15 million), and Johan Santana ($24 million). All three players have underperformed in recent years, and that is a fact.
6. Sandy Alderson: The amount of money the Mets were willing to spend on Reyes was just not enough. BUT, if Mr. Alderson offered a real contract to Reyes, at least more of the blame would be in Reyes’ hands and not his. Yes, Alderson knew what Reyes wanted and he told Reyes’ agent the ballpark around how much they would spend, but submitting a real contract would look better for PR and put the blame on Jose.
7. Jose Reyes: Look, say what you want to say, but history shows that players go to the team that offers the most money. Reyes could have at least spoken with the Mets during the season when they wanted to discuss contract extensions or he could have realized how much fans wanted him to stay in New York, but at the end of the day, it’s all about the money–that’s life.
What do you think? Am I blaming the right people? Would you put my list in a different order? Should we just #BlameBeltran?
Comment and let us know.
