The most critical hour of the 2016 Mets’ season just might have taken place on Manhattan’s Upper East Side … while the team was in Atlanta.
It involved one man in workout clothes, another in characteristically comfortable shorts and a third wearing “a polo shirt and designer jeans,” Jose Reyes, the best-dressed of the trio, recalled Tuesday with a smile.
It brought closure to a thorough process that incorporated both baseball evaluation and public relations, making it the industry’s most controversial acquisition of the season and reconciling a player and team that once were as synonymous as, well, David Wright and the Mets.
And if the Mets had not come away from that meeting convinced they should sign Reyes, they might not be hosting the Giants on Wednesday night in the National League Wild Card Game.
“Wow,” said Reyes, sitting in the Citi Field home dugout and wearing a Mets ski cap. “This is unreal. … It feels good to be back here. I know it’s going to be crazy [Wednesday].”
Here’s the story of how Reyes and the Mets went from 4,900 miles apart last October — and much further apart than that, spiritually — to playoff partners.
1. On the radar
Last Oct. 31, the Mets suffered a heartbreaking World Series Game 4 loss to the Royals, 5-3, in which Daniel Murphy committed a critical eighth-inning error. Just a few hours earlier, Reyes, who finished his 2015 season with the lowly Rockies, had been taken away by law enforcement officials in Maui for allegedly assaulting his wife, Katherine Ramirez, in their hotel room. Ramirez told police that she had suffered injuries to her thigh, neck and wrist.
On May 13, Reyes, who spent all of spring training and the first six weeks of the season on paid administrative leave, agreed to a 52-game suspension from Major League Baseball. Rockies rookie shortstop Trevor Story already had 11 home runs by that point, and it looked likely the Rockies would just release Reyes rather than return him to their roster.
That’s when the Mets began holding internal discussions about bringing back Reyes. COO Jeff Wilpon, general manager Sandy Alderson and vice president/assistant GM John Ricco brainstormed about whether a reunion with Reyes, who left for the Marlins as a free agent following the 2011 season, would make sense. The Mets’ brain trust was intrigued by Reyes’ speed and clubhouse presence. It just wasn’t clear where on the field Reyes would play.
2. Job opening and due diligence
Wright started at third base for the Mets on May 27 and played the full game, a 6-5 win over the Dodgers. It turned out to be the last game of his season, if not his career, as he went down with a herniated disk in his neck. Suddenly, the Mets had an opening for Reyes as long as he was willing to try the move from shortstop to the hot corner.
Four days later, Reyes, having completed his suspension, began a minor league rehabilitation stint with the Rockies’ Triple-A Albuquerque affiliate. He played just nine games for the Isotopes. The last four, though, came against the Mets’ Triple-A Las Vegas affiliate. Reyes, seeing a familiar face in 51s manager Wally Backman, told Backman what he told many others: He was ready to return to the team that signed him as an amateur and developed him into an All-Star.
The Mets checked in with Major League Baseball to ensure Reyes was complying with the terms of his agreement, which included counseling. MLB assured the Mets that Reyes had been doing everything right.
Furthermore, the Mets reached out to groups specializing in domestic violence prevention — the people who spoke out against the Yankees’ acquisition of Aroldis Chapman — to gauge their reactions to a Reyes signing. They came away with the sense that as long as Reyes owned his transgressions, he would receive a bona fide chance to pursue his career again with minimal protest. The Mets saw how Chapman drew more flak by contesting the notion he did anything wrong. They wanted no part of such noise with Reyes.
Then there existed the other part of this decision: Could Reyes still help a team? He had put together a .274/.310/.378 slash line while playing poor defense in 2015 with the Blue Jays and Rockies.
“He had been a good player for many years,” Alderson said Tuesday. “… So I think we were all fairly optimistic that he would be a good addition on the field.”
To make sure a Reyes return would be welcomed in the clubhouse, Terry Collins went to Wright, his captain.
“I thought he would have the heartbeat of the team,” Collins said of Wright, who blessed the acquisition.
3. Quickest courtship ever
On June 23, eight days after designating Reyes for assignment, the Rockies requested release waivers on the shortstop. Once he cleared waivers, “Jose made it clear to me: Call the Mets,” Reyes’ agent, Peter Greenberg, recalled. The representative did as asked, and when he reached Alderson, the GM responded, “You beat me to it.”
Greenberg lives in downtown Manhattan, Alderson on the Upper East Side and Reyes in Old Brookville, far east into Nassau County — about an hour-and-15-minute drive from the city. Alderson offered to drive out to Reyes’ place on the morning of June 25, a Saturday. Reyes wouldn’t hear of it. He insisted on coming to Alderson’s place. Greenberg took the New York City subway dressed in his workout gear. When he greeted a snazzy Reyes in the lobby of Alderson’s building, Reyes laughed and shook his head.
“What did I get all dressed up for?” Reyes asked.
As part of the get-together, Alderson put Reyes on the phone with Wilpon, who emphasized to Reyes the importance of going above and beyond the counseling mandated by MLB as well as continuing to apologize for his wrongdoing. Reyes’ $100,000 donation to a charity focused on domestic violence also carried meaning to the Mets.
Alderson proposed one more wrinkle: He wanted a 2017 team option on Reyes for the major-league minimum of $507,500 in order to give the Mets a benefit in case this worked out well. While Greenberg had reservations, Reyes — who will make $22 million from the Rockies next year — told his agent to agree to it.
That big salary comes from the six-year, $106 million deal Reyes accepted from the Marlins back in 2011, making him a former Met. While that departure led to some hard feelings at the time — the Mets never made a hard offer and weren’t willing to go as high in informal discussion — those were long gone by this year, Greenberg said.
The air had long ago been cleared. A good hour on June 25 turned into a terrific half-season from Reyes, who slashed .267/.326/.443 and played a capable third base. And now, with that 2017 team option a slam dunk to be exercised, there’s new history to make together.