Adios, Professor Reyes
I'll miss the triples.
Well, the speed in general.
That was always the most exciting thing about watching Jose Reyes in a Mets uniform - just how fast he could run around the bases.
Something tells me it won't be as exciting to see him do it wearing another uniform.
And I'm disappointed "what could have been" between the Mets and Reyes never came to fruition.
But I wouldn't call myself devastated that Reyes is leaving the Mets for the Marlins.
Once the season ended I never realistically expected Reyes to be back.
I guess mostly I'm just looking at Reyes' departure as the end of another era with the Mets - an era that I felt particularly attached to.
The Jose Reyes era, if this is what we'll refer to the 2003-2011 seasons as, came at an interesting time.
For Mets fans, Reyes represented the hope the future could bring - some down years by the Mets were beefed up by Reyes' arrival. And though younger than David Wright, Reyes beat his fellow prospect to the majors by a season.
Mets fans watched Reyes grow from an injury-prone teenager to a, well, injury-prone adult. He went from a quiet young player in the clubhouse to something of a team leader, a fan favorite whose gradual coming-out-of-his-shell was highlighted by video Spanish lessons on the scoreboard featuring "Professor Reyes". (For more on Reyes' career, I couldn't capture it much better than Real Clear Sports' Jeff Neuman did.)
On a personal note, Reyes' time with the Mets was an important time in my life. Reyes has been a member of the Mets longer than I've been married. I taught my oldest two daughters the "Jose" chant. He was one of the first baseball players my oldest daughter recognized. When she was less than a month old, we sat together watching Reyes and the rest of the 2006 Mets in that season's heartbreaking NLCS.
I was so excited about Jose Reyes early in his career that I (half-jokingly, I think) dubbed him THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED. (Even now I think I'll maintain that he is one of the most exciting.) But he was also super-frustrating, with the injuries and the occasional immaturity. I called for him to be traded on more than one occasion...and I guess part of my measured approach to his signing elsewhere as a free agent is that I truly thought the Mets would deal him before he hit the open market.
In 2007 and 2008, the Florida Marlins beat the Mets on the season's final day, helping to break the hearts of Mets fans hoping for a championship after 2006's shortcoming.
I'm sure there are Mets fans heartbroken again at the expense of the Marlins.
Not me. Sure, I'll hate seeing Reyes tearing up the basepaths against the Mets with a division rival over the next few years (or however much he's healthy).
But one other thing happened to me during Reyes' time with the Mets - I've also grown up as a baseball fan. I understand the business end of the game more than I ever did. I don't blame Reyes for taking $106 million over 6 years. I'm just not so sure it was a sound investment for the Marlins in a player that might be battling injury for most of those six years.
Now I just need to find a way to explain all of that to my 5-year-old daughter.
