Mets History Rewritten: Jose Reyes re-signs after winning the 2011 batting title

What would the New York Mets and the rest of Major League Baseball look like if Jose Reyes stayed in Flushing after winning the 2011 National League batting title?

There weren’t many New York Mets players in the 21st Century as exciting to watch as Jose Reyes. His deadly speed made him a uniquely gifted player. In three consecutive seasons, he led the league with 60+ stolen bases. In many ways, he was one of the last great base thieves in MLB history.

Reyes was more than just a guy who could run. In 2011, his .337 batting average led the National League. It was the first and only time a player in a Mets uniform has won a batting crown.

Unfortunately, Reyes’ attempt at winning consecutive batting titles led him to Miami. He signed with the Marlins after the 2011 season as the Mets embarked on the first half of a miserable decade.

On another timeline, Reyes stayed in New York and played out the next few seasons with the Mets. How would this have changed the team? Let’s rewrite some Mets history.

Assuming Reyes would sign the same six-year deal he got from the Marlins, we can get a clearer picture of what things would look like with the Mets.

The massive deal included a total of $102 million plus a $22 million option for a seventh season. There was a buy-out for the seventh year at $4 million which was eventually paid by the Colorado Rockies.

Reyes’ days with the Mets were not over following the 2011 season as he did return in 2016 after his release from Colorado. Prior to a short stint in Denver, Reyes played two and a half seasons for the Toronto Blue Jays. This all came after one year with the Marlins who quickly realized their spending-spree ahead of the 2012 season was not a wise idea.

All four teams—the Mets, Marlins, Blue Jays, and Rockies—would have looked vastly different this decade if Reyes never left New York.

What would the Mets have looked like if Reyes stayed?

Back in New York, the Mets went through some major lows before experiencing the highs of 2015. All now minus Reyes, things would have shaped up a lot different if he was still at shortstop.

For one, the name Wilmer Flores may not mean nearly as much. Chase Utley might also not be as much of a villain depending on whether or not Reyes broke his leg in the 2015 NLDS like Ruben Tejada did.

Yet another consideration, the big contract Reyes would have received guarantees the Mets would have gone in different directions in free agency. Their commitment to him would have at least prevented a few additions along the way. We can only speculate about what some of those would have been.

Veterans like Curtis Granderson, Bartolo Colon, and Michael Cuddyer may have played somewhere else. The Yoenis Cespedes trade may have never happened which brings us down a completely different rabbit hole. For all we know, the 2015 season never amounted to anything with Reyes around for the next few seasons.

Back in 2012, one year removed from Reyes leaving, the team still had a lot of money committed to Johan Santana and Jason Bay. Their presence undoubtedly put a halt to any chance of the Mets actually retaining Reyes.

This was all post-Bernie Madoff, remember. Ownership was attempting to recover financially from a mistake that burned them for more than a full decade.

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Every decision has a cause and effect. Reyes’ departure from the club after 2011 would have changed plenty about the Mets and each team he played for. Dig deep enough and I’m sure we could find less than six degrees of how this altered the fortunes of each team in baseball.