Sandy Warming Up To Jose In Port St. Lucie?

Today is the first day for Pitchers and Catchers to report to Mets camp in Port St. Lucie, and there was an Elvis Alderson sighting.

When the media caught up with the Mets GM, aside from his Capo JP Ricciardi watching Jason Isringhausen vying for a contract, the conversation turned to the Mets shortstop, Jose Reyes.

Questions were asked if either a deal or an extension were likely to be reached while in PSL, and Elvis quickly put those thoughts to rest by simply stating that any contract negotiations at this time are "unlikely."

Further interrogated as whether Reyes is retain-able due to the much covered financial disaster that surrounds Mets ownership, Elvis had this to offer:

“Now, I’m confident I can do anything with any one individual player. Anything we do is going to be viewed through the prism of what’s going on in New York. There’s no question about that. All I can do is try to make the best baseball judgments. And at this point I’m not facing any limitations. At this point I don’t expect to.”

Not bad. Less than six months into his tenure and he's sounding as much a mouth-piece as Dave Howard.

With trying to get an idea if Reyes is an "Elvis type" of player, being that Jose's game isn't one Saber-Geeks are enamored of, the GM tried his best to show how open minded he is when it comes to baseball personnel:

“I would disagree with that statement. I had a lot of different players on a lot of different teams, many of whom had very different profiles. That probably alludes to his reliance on speed and my sense that maybe speed is not as critical. But he brings so many different things to the table, as I’ve said earlier, that you can’t just focus on the speed element. The speed element is a plus. There’s no question about that, and well appreciated by me by the way.”

As a fan I hope Elvis is sincere in his assessment of our shortstop. Hopefully Jose will have the kind of year he usually has when not injured, and hit about .285, .375 OBP, 15 HR's, 85 RBI, and 60 SB's. If he does that, Alderson should be all warm and fuzzy about signing Reyes. I just hope Jose will still want to be part of this team if the GM decides to play the waiting game.

One thing is for sure, and if Elvis' statements are sincere, it does shine a light on potential dark situation for this team.

Source: Adam Rubin ESPN New York