(above : prior to representing Jose Reyes, Peter Greenberg toiled in a rather different sphere of the entertainment business. Also, at least one reader told me if I ever again ran the jpg of Jose and David Wright from the their GQ fashion spead, I was a dead man)
Whatever narrow window of opportunity the New York Mets might’ve had to retain their All-Universe shortstop might’ve closed for good earlier today, with the announcement from Jose Reyes that he’s done discussing a new contract. That is, if such discussions ever really began. From ESPN NY’s Adam Rubin :
“Right now I don’t want any distractions,” Reyes said. “I just want to continue to play. We’re going to have plenty of time in the offseason to make this happen.”
General manager Sandy Alderson, trying to gauge Reyes’ financial demands to make a more informed trading-deadline decision, called agent Peter Greenberg last week to initiate discussions. Greenberg was in Japan at the time, and met with Reyes on Monday for two hours at the shortstop’s Long Island home after returning to the United States. Reyes told his agent he did not want the distraction of speaking about a contract in-season, and that sentiment was relayed to the Mets.
Alderson said he made the contact public to prevent continued chatter about the topic.
Yes, I can’t imagine there’d be any further speculation after Alderson made certain everyone knew he’d done everything possible to reach out to a player his boss already buried.