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When you have an MVP candidate on your roster, it's pretty easy to take him off of the trading block.

Despite his impending free agency, Jose Reyes has proven himself a more than valuable commodity, and according to ESPN's Buster Olney, has been removed from the trading block.

Naturally, the Mets can't afford to lose him, but trading someone of Reyes' caliber would be foolish, to say the least.

Right now, Reyes is hitting a robust .355, way above his career average of .292, and has been the Mets' best player by a wide margin.

There is always a danger with getting nothing but draft pick compensation for a player who is having the best season of his career, but trading him away would be much, much worse in the grand scheme of things.

Despite the Mets' financial woes, they can afford to pursue Reyes with vigor and lock the shortstop up to a lucrative contract.

At this stage of the game, Reyes is the club's franchise player, as Beltran is on the trading block and Johan Santana is struggling to return from injury.

The Mets are not the Pittsburgh Pirates of old.

They are not a feeder club for other big organizations who have aspirations of winning a championship. New York is a proud franchise, and it has to fight to keep their star shortstop.

If they didn't, it would be a stunning failure from the upper echelons of the organization to conduct proper business.

It will cost a king's ransom to keep Reyes in Flushing, but you cannot risk losing him after a Beltran deal and being left with next to nothing in your lineup.

Keeping Reyes is a gamble, but it's a calculated one, and that's what important in this equation.

The Mets may be out of the playoff chase, but there are pieces there that be used to turn the downtrodden franchise into a serious contender in the National League.

Trading Reyes is a reactionary move, keeping him and hoping for the best in free agency is the only true solution to a long-term problem.

It may pay off, it may not, but in the end, it's the right move for the franchise. 

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If the Mets traded one of their top players to the hated New York Yankees, there would be absolute hell to pay.

Few things are as unforgivable as trading a top player to a team that has a tangible chance to win a World Series this fall. Carlos Beltran is on the trading block, and multiple teams have kicked the tires on Beltran.

According to ESPN's Buster Olney, one of those squads is the Yankees.

Per Olney's Twitter:

NYY are one of the teams that have had conversations with the Mets about Carlos Beltran,but unless pure salary dump,can't see it happening.

Exactly.

The Mets would rather bench Beltran for the rest of the year than trade him to the Yankees for anything less than the sum of his full salary.

Despite the heated rivalry, the New York is a team that could accomodate a deal for the high-priced player.

New York has financial issues, and the Yankees are certainly a club that could alleviate the blow of the outfielder's gaudy paycheck.

Despite that truth, the move would be a treasonous one for long-time fans of the underachieving club. 

Intentionally improving the Mets' hated cross-town rivals is a move that would send shockwaves through the city and the rage would be more than palpable.

New York has failed to live up to the promise it created when this team was formed, and despite it all, the fans have stuck by them, remaining loyal in the face of a bleak future.

If the team were to send a top player to the hated Yankees, it would be a slap in the face to the club's fanbase, and those vocal supporters would make their outrage known each and every time the Mets take the field.

There are plenty of suitors for Beltran, and some of them have deep coffers that can cushion the outfielder's salary. With those teams out there, the Yankees are an absolute final option for the Mets.

As the deadline nears, New York needs to get the ball rolling on talking about possible deals for Beltran in an effort to avoid a scenario where the Mets have to call the Yankees and hear what they have to say.I would hate to see how the tortured fans of the Mets would react to such a foolish move.

The good news for those fans is that despite these exploratory talks, the odds of such a trade going down are slim to none.

Beltran will likely head elsewhere, but he's going to have to take more than the Metro to do so.

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When Scott Boras is involved, things are bound to get messy.

Boras is notoriously hard to deal with, and with Carlos Beltran bandied about in trade rumors, the agent is going to push for the best fit for his client.

The outfielder has a no-trade clause, and with multiple teams kicking the tires on a move for Beltran, it's only a matter of time before the club comes to Boras and Beltran with a list of possible destinations.

Per Yahoo! Sports:

While the New York Mets have every intention of trading outfielder Carlos Beltran, and while the likes of the San Francisco Giants, Cleveland Indians, Pittsburgh Pirates,Milwaukee Brewers, Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Phillies,Cincinnati Reds and Boston Red Sox have every reason to pay attention, Sandy Alderson has yet to approach Beltran with a list of possible destinations.

Beltran has Scott Boras for an agent and a no-trade clause, which means Beltran will run this show. Typically in these situations, a general manager will run a handful of teams past a player, just so he doesn’t waste his – or the opposing GM’s – time. That hasn’t happened yet. It likely will, and soon, because Alderson isn’t just measuring the best deal, but how much of Beltran’s remaining salary he’d have to cover in the deal.

Obviously, Boras is going to push to send Beltran to a contender.

The outfielder came to Flushing as a free agent because the club was on the verge of building a team that was supposed to be a perennial force in the National League.

Beltran isn't going to go to a team that doesn't have a tangible chance of making a playoff run and can't give him the playing time that a player of his stature demands.

The name of Scott Boras sends chills up and down the spines of baseball executives, and as we get closer to the trade deadline, the agent is going to assert his and Beltran's will on the trade market.

In the next couple of days, the Mets have to give Beltran a list of teams, or risk leaving too small a window to get a deal done.

When a player of Beltran's stature and paygrade hits the trade market, it doesn't take much to complicate a potential deal.

The bigger a window the Mets have, the better, and the club has to be open with Beltran about what they're thinking.

It serves no good to proceed on a deal, only to have Boras put his foot on the brakes and scuttle the talks.

Boras is hard to deal with, and his gigantic shadow is looming over these proceedings like a menacing spectre.