The Conundrum: what do the Mets do with Jose Reyes?

Will Jose Reyes be a New York Met for much longer? (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

The New York Mets have struggled this season, hurt by injuries and by inexperience, and because of their troubles on the field management has plenty of questions to answer before the July 31st Trade Deadline.

Entering Monday night’s game against a team that somehow has more problems on their hands, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Mets record stood at 42-42, 10 1/2 games behind division and baseball-leading Philadelphia.

They have plenty of trade chips, but, being in New York, a pressure-packed, win-now mindset always follows the organization. So what do they do? It all starts with their choosing to keep or trade Jose Reyes.

Reyes, 28 and in the prime of his career, was having a remarkable season until he pulled up slightly lame running down to first base during this past weekend’s Subway Series against the New York Yankees.

He is batting an astounding .354, with a .398 on-base percentage, the second-most stolen bases in baseball, 30, the third-most runs, 65, and by a wide margin the most triples, 15. He was cementing himself as the National League’s Most Valuable Player thus far, proving to be the most electrifying player in baseball.

He will take the necessary time to heal his mildly strained hamstring, learning from his mistake in 2009. He came back to early when he strained his hamstring early in that season, and only appeared in 36 games. “I don’t want to get on the field too soon, because I know what happened in 2009 when I tried to get on the field too soon,” he said, as documented by ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin. “Everybody knows what happened. … I have to make sure my leg is ready because I don’t want to go through what I’ve been through in ’09. I learned from that.”

The Mets hope he will be at full-strength before the end of this month so they can truly contemplate their future. If he misses the next couple of weeks the team will have a tough time gaining ground in the division. And with him being in the final year of his contract General Manager Sandy Alderson will have a decision to make. Do they trade Reyes and get a young crop of talent in return? Or do they play the season out with him at shortstop, with the belief that their wallet can outbid others on the open market?

All indications that they will do the latter. Helping the case for this side of the argument is the financial flexibility they will have, with the lucrative contracts of Carlos Beltran and Francisco Rodriguez coming off the books after this season. And it appears some in the front office are willing to take advantage of their upcoming financial situation and break the bank for him.

The New York Post reports the team will make him a “substantial” offer in the offseason, and sources tell the paper the yearly salary could be upwards of $20 million. Throwing this kind of money at a healthy Reyes would be appropriate. They can’t afford to lose him. He fills seats, and, as shown by his early success, he can be baseball’s best player. He is undoubtedly their present and future.

It is hard to tell what kind of package they could get in return for Reyes if they do decide to trade him. He would certainly help a contender down the stretch if his hamstring heals properly. But if he won’t negotiate in-season with the Mets he won’t for the team that acquires him. It is clear he wants to have teams aggressively bid for his services. And would a potential trade partner really want to give up prized prospects if there was the chance they would lose him in free-agency?

No matter if it’s at the deadline or just during the offseason, there is one team that would definitely be interested in him: the Boston Red Sox. Yes, they spent $142 million on Carl Crawford this offseason and another $154 million on Adrian Gonzalez, and have Jacoby Ellsbury and Kevin Youkilis, among others, to lock up soon enough, but they may have another big deal in them.

They might have the prospects to trade for him by the deadline if the Mets chose to go that route, with a hypothetical deal surrounding highly touted minor leaguers Jose Iglesias and Ryan Kalish, and, with the contract of shortstop Marco Scutaro coming off the books, they could fork over the cash necessary to win a bidding war. Reyes would be their answer at shortstop. The ninth player would be the charm at that position since the 2003 trading of Nomar Garciaparra.

By using logic, the Mets can keep the Red Sox and other potential suitors searching for the right fit. The ball is in their court. Their fan-base needs a prolonged reason to cheer, and a hope for the future. Whatever they chose to do with the speedy shortstop will be franchise-altering.

Majority Owner Fred Wilpon once said Reyes isn’t worth Crawford money. If healthy, he is. Contrary to Wilpon, Alderson does know how much he means to the franchise. The rest of the front office needs to. If they don’t, New York may make a huge mistake.