
There’s been a lot of chatter this week about Jose Reyes having two meetings with the Marlins since he hit free agency. The Marlins executives were in New York last week for a meeting and Reyes was in Miami for lunch and a tour of the new stadium on Wednesday. But don’t expect a quick resolution to Reyes’ contract situation.
Reyes is one of the top free agent position players available this offseason along with Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols. As such, the top free agents will typically meet with several teams to gauge interest.
Although it seems like a long shot that Reyes will re-sign with the Mets, and it probably is a very long shot, don’t expect a quick resolution to a contract with the first team Reyes meets with. The Marlins have plenty of issues to deal with including how to handle the fact that they already have a shortstop that probably won’t want to leave that position. Hanley Ramirez’ value as a player is drastically reduced if he isn’t a shortstop anymore. It’s one of the premium defensive positions and even more so for a player that can really hit.