Jose Reyes

Mets Rumors: Reyes, Wilpon, Hampson

By Mike Axisa | February 16, 2011 at 6:46pm CDT

Here's the latest from Flushing…

SI.com's Jon Heyman hears that Bud Selig will give the Wilpons time to work through their Madoff-related issues, but there is real concern that they will not be able to keep the team in the end (Twitter links).
Jose Reyes told ESPN New York's Adam Rubin that he prefers to wait until after the season to talk about a contract extension. "You know, this is my first time I'm going to be a free agent," said Reyes. "So I don't know what's going to happen, to be honest with you."
Reyes later joked with MLB.com's Anthony DiComo about having a hard deadline for contract talks, saying "I'm not Albert Pujols, man." (Twitter link) Yesterday we heard that the two sides were unlikely to talk about a contract before Opening Day.
Team owner Jeff Wilpon reiterated today that they are not going to sell controlling interest in the team, reports Andy Martino of The New York Daily News. "It's not on the table," said Wilpon.
Rays owner Stuart Sternberg is not interested in buying the Mets, tweets Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe. Sternberg has New York roots and has been speculated as a potential buyer.
Baseball America's Matt Eddy reports that the Mets have signed lefty reliever Justin Hampson (on Twitter). The 29-year-old last appeared in the big league with the Padres in 2008. He spent last season with the independent Long Island Ducks.

NL East Notes: Chipper, Zimmerman, Lee, Trump

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | February 15, 2011 at 5:23pm CDT

NL East teams have nearly finished their offseason shopping, but could make a move or two while Spring Training is underway. Here are the details…

Chipper Jones was thinking about retirement last year, but tells Scott Miller of CBSSports.com (Twitter link) that he wants to play until the end of his current contract, which is guaranteed through the 2012 season. The Braves hold a $7MM option on Jones for 2013 which can also vest if Jones plays a certain number of games over the next two seasons.
Ryan Zimmerman pushed the Nationals to re-sign his friend Adam Dunn, but Zimmerman said his disappointment over Dunn's depature shouldn't be interpreted as criticism of the the club, writes CSNWashington's Mark Zuckerman. "I was just expressing more frustrations of losing a teammate and a friend than anything," Zimmerman said. "I think a lot of people took it as I was taking a stab at [the Nats] or talking bad about them, which was completely the opposite."
Michael Weiner said the MLBPA was happy with Cliff Lee's decision to sign with the Phillies, rather than sign for larger contracts in Texas or New York, tweets Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan. "Not only were we not upset Cliff got to go to the Phillies, we applauded him," Weiner said.
Donald Trump told Alison Leigh Cowan and Ken Belson of the New York Times that he's interested in buying a majority stake in the Mets. Trump says he called Fred Wilpon about two weeks ago to set up a meeting.
Mets GM Sandy Alderson says it's "unlikely" that the Mets discuss an extension with Jose Reyes before Opening Day, according to ESPNNewYork's Adam Rubin. Reyes is set to hit free agency after the season and has said he's open to a long-term deal. The $1 billion lawsuit against the Mets owners won't prevent the Mets from signing Reyes to a multiyear deal, Alderson said.
Jason Isringhausen auditioned for the Mets today, according to Newsday's David Lennon (on Twitter). Alderson and two of his assistants, J.P. Ricciardi and Paul DePodesta, are familiar with the longtime closer from his time in Oakland. Isringhausen first appeared in the majors as a starter for the Mets in 1995.
ESPN.com's Buster Olney says the Phillies' starters would rather pitch than talk about their place in baseball history.

MLBTR's Mark Polishuk also contributed to this post

Quick Hits: Drese, Johnson, Delcarmen, Reyes

By Mike Axisa | February 10, 2011 at 10:42pm CDT

Eleven year ago today, the Ken Griffey Jr. era came to an end in Seattle. The Mariners traded their franchise player to the Reds for a four player package highlighted by Mike Cameron and Brett Tomko, and later that day Junior signed a nine-year, $116.5MM contract.

Here's a few links for the evening…

Remember Ryan Drese? He signed with the Orioles according to this week's edition of minor league transactions, courtesy of Matt Eddy of Baseball America. Drese, a 14-game winner with the Rangers in 2004, last pitched in the big leagues in 2006. He spent last year in the independent Atlantic League.
Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic hears that Kelly Johnson's arbitration hearing is scheduled for Tuesday in Phoenix. Our Arbitration Tracker shows that Johnson filed for $6.5MM, and the team countered with $4.7MM.
Diamondbacks president and CEO Derrick Hall chatted with fans at MLB.com today, and said he believes "the roster is set for the most part."
WEEI.com's Alex Speier spoke to Manny Delcarmen's agent, who confirmed that his client had a Major League contract offer from a NL club, but choose the Mariners because of opportunity.
MLB.com's Spencer Fordin spoke to Jose Reyes at a charity event today, and the shortstop said he's not thinking about his contract right now. Reyes can become a free agent for the first time after 2011.

New York Notes: Aceves, C.C., Emaus, Martin

By Dan Mennella | February 8, 2011 at 10:04pm CDT

Alfredo Aceves' signing seems like just the latest wrinkle in a long line of them in the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, but the Mets had a stake in that deal, too. Here's more on that and some other items of note coming out of the Big Apple on Tuesday …

The Mets, like the Red Sox, offered Aceves a Major League contract, tweets Jon Heyman of SI.com, but the right-hander preferred to play for Boston. The Mets were disappointed to miss out on Aceves, Heyman tweets, and understandably so, as Aceves would have been another decent addition for a team that entered the offseason on a tight budget. Interestingly, Aceves is reportedly throwing in bullpen sessions, which is further along than the Yankees anticipated he'd be at this juncture, tweets Marc Carig of the Star-Ledger. One has to wonder whether the new timetable would have influenced the Yanks' decision to non-tender Aceves in December.
Yankees ace C.C. Sabathia has shed 30 pounds this offseason in an effort to reduce the load on his surgically repaired right knee, according to Buster Olney of ESPN.com. Typically, we don't get too excited over this sort of Spring Training cliche, as we're bound to hear quite a bit about who's in shape and who's not over the next couple weeks, but 30 pounds is a lot of weight, and we're especially mindful of the opt-out clause in Sabathia's contract after the 2011 campaign. If he's healthy and has a big season, Sabathia could be in for another big payday next offseason.
Mets second baseman Brad Emaus, a Rule 5 draftee, has a good chance of making the Mets' Opening Day roster as either their starting second baseman or in a platoon/utility role with Daniel Murphy, writes Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com. To that end, Rubin notes it's now "widely expected" that Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo will both be "jettisoned" before Opening Day.
Yankees catcher Russell Martin is not 100 percent recovered from the right knee surgery he underwent in December, writes Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, but the Bombers' backstop expects to be ready by Opening Day. The Yankees are known to have exceptional depth at catcher with Jorge Posada, Francisco Cervelli, Jesus Montero and Austin Romine, so they probably won't have to range outside the organization in the event that Martin isn't fully healthy after Spring Training.
Mets shortstop Jose Reyes feels sorry for the Wilpons on account of their financial plight, tweets Peter Botte of the New York Daily News, but he's not concerned about his contract status and is ready to "play baseball and see what happens." Reyes, a free agent after this season, also said that he feels as good as he's felt in the past two years and is expecting a big season, tweets Botte.

The Madoff/Wilpon Mess: A Simple Guide

By Howard Megdal | February 7, 2011 at 10:22am CDT

Maybe you're wondering: why do I need to follow the lawsuit by Irving Picard, trustee for Bernie Madoff victims, against Fred Wilpon and his business partners, who own the New York Mets? Regardless of the outcome, will Luis Castillo hit any better? Will Oliver Perez pitch any better? Will Johan Santana heal any better?

The answer to all three questions is, sadly, no. But the ramifications of the suit, unsealed last Friday, will impact the way the Mets are run for years to come, whether Fred Wilpon is forced to take on a minority owner, sell the entire team, or spend the upcoming months (and possibly years) in litigation.

The Mets' ownership group is being sued for $300MM in fictitious profits, along with another $700MM in damages, for their connection to the Ponzi scheme operated by Bernie Madoff. The impact on the franchise is likely to be immense. Here's what you need to know about the current circumstances:

Fred and Jeff Wilpon said late last month that they would sell 20-25% of the team to guard against any potential Madoff settlement. Since then, settlement talks have broken down, leading to the unsealing of the lawsuit last week.
Picard is seeking $300MM in fictitious profits from Wilpon and his business partners. In addition, Picard seeks an unspecificied amount beyond that (the New York Times reports it "could reach beyond $1 billion") alleging that Wilpon should have known or suspected Madoff's scheme.
The standard by which Picard arrived at the $300MM is pretty common in these cases- fictitious profits are distributed to those who lost money in Ponzi schemes, scams where new backers are consistently recruited to pay off old investors. For the Wilpons to incur losses above $300MM, Picard's standard will be to prove that a "reasonable man" would have suspected something was amiss regarding Madoff's scheme, and alleges numerous instances of the Fred Wilpon and his partner/brother-in-law Saul Katz receiving warnings from both business partners and Katz's own son.
It isn't clear how Wilpon would raise anything approaching even the initial $300MM from a minority sale of the Mets. Forbes valued the team at $845MM in April 2010, but Wilpon has borrowed heavily against the team. Forbes reported this week that the combined book value of the Mets and Citi Field, including debt, is negative $225MM, though Adam Rubin of ESPN New York has cast doubt on that figure. That was before the Mets were named specifically in Picard's suit, giving the team even more potential liability.
Even if someone would pay a premium to own the Mets outright, it is far less clear that someone will pay that same premium for a minority stake and no authority. In other words, a 25 percent stake in the Mets is worth $211.25MM as per April 2010, absent any of the debt or other mitigating factors, and assuming that a 25 percent stake (minority) is actually worth one quarter of 100 percent stake (majority). (It isn't.) Obviously, with all the mitigating factors, 25 percent of the Mets isn't worth close to $211.25MM – which is, itself, far less than the $300MM Picard is likeliest to recover.
SNY is enormously profitable, and would earn a decent amount in a straight sale. However, Wilpon and his partners have borrowed against SNY as well, diluting the value. And far more ominously, the New York Post reported this week that any proceeds from a sale of SNY would be distributed to those lenders. In other words, when Jeff Wilpon described SNY as wholly separate from any sale of the Mets last Friday, he may not have been making a choice.
At the end of the day, no one knows what the maximum amount of money Fred Wilpon and his partners can raise without selling a majority stake in the New York Mets. But there is a number, X, and as long as Picard's settlement would be higher than X, Wilpon will face the choice between fighting in court and losing his team.
It may well be that there is a certain amount of money Wilpon needs to raise to avoid bankruptcy, even including a full sale of the team. If we call that Y, and Picard's settlement would be higher than Y, Wilpon has even greater reason to fight this in court, hoping a judge sees things his way.
Either way, the longer Wilpon doesn't settle, the likelier it is that one of these two scenarios has come to pass. The results would be disastrous for the New York Mets. With cases such as these often taking a year or more, Mets ownership could be in the midst of this battle next November, just as Albert Pujols and Jose Reyes are scheduled to hit free agency.

Mets Notes: Reyes, Alderson, Perez, Castillo

By Dan Mennella | February 3, 2011 at 6:09pm CDT

Here are a few Mets items of note, as the Wilpons' lawsuit drama continues to unfold …

The Mets plan to let Jose Reyes play out the entire 2011 season to see if he can stay healthy before deciding whether they should re-sign him, tweets Jon Heyman of SI.com. Reyes, 28 in June, is an All-Star caliber shortstop when healthy (career line of .286/.335/.434), but he played in just 36 games in 2009 and was limited to 133 games last season due to a variety of injuries. The Mets picked up Reyes' $11MM option for 2011 earlier this offseason.
GM Sandy Alderson is maintaining that the Mets' baseball operations have not been hamstrung by the Wilpons' murky financial standing, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post, but the true test of that will be in the following months, when the team navigates the draft and the non-waiver trade deadline in July. Sherman wonders, will the Mets spend big on the 13th pick and in the international free-agent pool? If they're in contention, will they have the financial flexibility to add a pricey player? If they're out of contention, will they try to offload the big contracts of Carlos Beltran and Francisco Rodriguez?
With the Mets mired in a cycle of bad publicity due to the Madoff scandal, Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez (particularly the latter) might be released in hopes of appeasing an angry fan base, writes Steve Popper of the Bergen Record. Alderson told Popper that new manager Terry Collins won't tolerate the "conduct that has existed in the past," and that the Mets and their players have a "responsibility to the fans."

Mets Notes: Alderson, Reyes, Dickey, Dessens

By Mark Polishuk | January 31, 2011 at 6:27pm CDT

The Mets have settled with all of their arbitration-eligible players but that isn't the only news out of Citi Field today. The latest…

ESPNNewYork.com's Adam Rubin has the transcript of GM Sandy Alderson's conference call with media today. The Mets' payroll will be between $140-$150MM next season, a total Alderson said "is significantly higher than we'd like to be on an annual basis."
Alderson said he isn't troubled about the recent news that the Wilpons want to sell a minority share of the club: "I'm not surprised by this development just because the Madoff situation was a backdrop to the Mets, and well-known backdrop. My enthusiasm and energy for this position and my confidence in the future of the Mets is undiminished."
Along those same lines, Alderson said "perhaps naively," he doesn't think the ownership situation will impact negotiations with Jose Reyes on a contract extension. Fangraphs' Paul Swydan figures the trade market for Reyes will be very busy this summer if the Mets decide to deal the shortstop rather than re-sign him.
R.A. Dickey will earn $2.25MM in 2011, $4.25MM in 2012 and received a $1MM signing bonus for his extension, reports Andy McCullough of the Star-Ledger (Twitter link). The contract also includes a club option for 2013 worth $5MM.
Elmer Dessens wants to pitch next season but it apparently won't be for the Mets, reports Adam Rubin. The Mets told Dessens they're "going in another direction." The right-hander told the team he was willing to sign a minor league deal to return, a reversal of his stance from earlier this winter when Dessens implied he would retire unless he got a Major League contract.
Jason Bay talks to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick about his disappointing 2010 season and how he's looking to rebound next year.

Quick Hits: Weeks, Dodgers, Cuddyer, Mets

By Luke Adams 2 | January 30, 2011 at 4:45pm CDT

On this day 20 years ago, the Atlanta Braves signed Falcons cornerback Deion Sanders as a free agent. Though he struggled in his first year as a Brave, 'Prime Time' was a key contributor for the National League champs in 1992; he hit .304/.346/.495 with 26 stolen bases in 325 regular season plate appearances and added eight hits and five steals in four World Series games. Sanders ended up leaving both Atlanta franchises in 1994, but not before he racked up 75 stolen bases and ten touchdowns for the Braves and Falcons respectively. Here are Sunday's links:

The Brewers are comfortable with Rickie Weeks' deadline for an extension, writes Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. He relays a quote from assistant GM Gord Ash praising Weeks for focusing on the right area once the season starts — baseball.
Steve Dilbeck of the Los Angeles Times looks at the possibility of Tony Gwynn Jr. hitting well enough to play every day and how that would impact the Dodgers' roster.
Michael Cuddyer and agent Casey Close have yet to discuss a long-term extension with the Twins, writes MLB.com's Kelly Thesier. While Cuddyer is open to talking about a contract during Spring Training, he'd prefer to table the topic during the regular season.
Martin Luther King III, son of the civil rights leader, is leading a group that's interested in buying at least 50% of the Mets, reports Kevin Kernan of the New York Post. The Wilpons were said to be willing to sell up to 25% of the team.
Given the Mets' financial situation, some rival executives think Jose Reyes is likely to be moved before this year's trade deadline, according to ESPN.com's Buster Olney (Insider-only).
In a tweet, Olney adds that, despite considering it, the Diamondbacks are "probably not" going to implement a humidor at Chase Field this year.
Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer wonders why expectations for Phillies' prospect Domonic Brown seem to have diminished since last summer.
Within an Indians mailbag, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer says he can see the Tribe signing a couple more players before Spring Training, though the team would likely only do minor league deals.

Mets Notes: Reyes, Dickey, Beimel

By Mark Polishuk | January 19, 2011 at 5:58pm CDT

Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com has the latest on the Amazins…

Jose Reyes doesn't want to discuss his impending free agent status during the season. It may be a moot point, since Sandy Alderson wasn't planning to pursue extension talks with players before Spring Training, though the Mets GM recently hinted he could be open to negotiating with Reyes during the season. Reyes will earn $11MM in 2011 after the Mets picked up the option year on the four-year, $23.25MM contract signed by the shortstop in 2006.
R.A. Dickey and the Mets have exchanged arbitration figures, but the knuckleballer still hopes the two sides can work out a multi-year contract. Both Dickey and the club were interested in the prospect of a long-term deal back in October.
The Mets have had "discussions" with free agent reliever Joe Beimel, but a source tells Rubin that these talks aren't "active." (Twitter link) It's possible the Mets were one of several teams that made Beimel an offer last month, though we haven't heard much news about Beimel since. Rubin reported earlier today that the Mets are still looking to add another left-handed reliever to their bullpen before Spring Training.

Mets Notes: Dickey, Capuano, Young, Reyes

By Zachary Links | January 11, 2011 at 5:43pm CDT

Mets GM Sandy Alderson spoke with ESPNNewYork.com's Adam Rubin yesterday to address a number of questions concerning the club. Here are some highlights..

The Mets are scheduled to exchange arbitration figures with Angel Pagan, Mike Pelfrey, and R.A. Dickey next Tuesday. Alderson wants to maintain financial flexibility going forward but still won't rule out giving multiyear deals to any of the aforementioned arb-eligible players.
The Chris Capuano signing does not preclude the Mets from getting another starting pitcher. In fact, Alderson says that he would like to sign another starter for a deal similar to Capuano's. The left-hander is set to make a base salary of $1.5MM but could earn more than $4.5MM through incentives in 2011.
Rubin asks about reports in recent weeks that say the Mets have made offers to free agent pitchers Chris Young and Jeff Francis. Alderson says that the club has talked with agents for other pitchers before and after the Capuano signing but wouldn't characterize anything as being "beyond the discussion stage."
Alderson seems open to the idea of talking about an extension with Jose Reyes during the season. The recently-crowned GM says that he doesn't have a firm policy when it comes to in-season negotiations. Earlier this month, Alderson said that he wouldn't talk about a new deal with Reyes during Spring Training.
No surprise here, but the Mets are looking for out-of-house options when it comes to left-handed relief. Alderson summed it all up by saying that the club is looking for starting pitching, a lefty reliever, and fourth and fifth outfielder possibilities, in that order of priority.
There's likely a position available for Omar Minaya if the former GM wants to pursue it.

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