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Jose Reyes makes complicated Mets return in Free Game of Day

Mike Oz


The second chapter of Jose Reyes’ career with the New York Mets certainly isn’t starting like the first. He’s not a youthful star-to-be anymore. He’s not going to be a be a mainstay in the Mets lineup for years. He’s a stopgap. He’s discarded goods that the Mets are buying cheap and hoping for the best.

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Reyes is joining the team Tuesday and is expected to be activated in time for first pitch at 7:10 p.m. when the Mets play the Miami Marlins. If Reyes is in the starting lineup, you can watch him live here on Yahoo Sports. The Marlins-Mets matchup is our MLB Free Game of the Day and you can stream the game for free on Yahoo’s Sports Home, MLB index, video home and this very post. You can also watch in the newly updated Yahoo Sports app on your smartphone or tablet. Local blackouts apply, per MLB rules.

In the case of Reyes, this isn’t just an ex-star returning to the city where he first found success. No, the issues at play are much more serious, much more divisive.

Reyes, 33, was arrested last Halloween for domestic violence. He was charged in a Hawaii court, but the charges were dropped before the case went to trial because his wife refused to cooperate with prosecutors. Still, Reyes was suspended by MLB, missed 51 games and lost about $7 million in salary. When he was activated, Reyes was released by the Colorado Rockies, who are in effect, now paying him about $40 million to play for someone else.

Jose Reyes signs autographs before a minor-league game with the Mets. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
Jose Reyes signs autographs before a minor-league game with the Mets. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

The Mets scooped him up, because they could use some help at third base with David Wright hurt and only have to pay Reyes a small amount compared to the $15 million he’s getting from the Rockies. And soon enough, he’ll be playing his first big-league game since the end of the 2015 season. In 20 minor leagues game this season, 11 of them in the Mets organization, he’s hitting .239 with four stolen bases and two homers.

For many Mets fans, it’s a welcome return for Reyes. They were more concerned with what number he’d wear than the social issues at play. For the record: Reyes got his No. 7 back from catcher Travis d’Arnaud, who is switching to No. 18.

Look across social media and you’re more likely to see Mets fans thinking about the good ol’ days when he was a base-stealing All-Star shortstop for the Mets. Since then, his skills have declined and a series of trades landed him in Colorado after stints with the Miami Marlins and Toronto Blue Jays.

Many of these Mets fans aren’t thinking about the player who hit .274 last season. They’re likely romanticizing the player who hit a league-best .337 the last time he played in Queens.

And they aren’t thinking about his wife Kathleen or what happened last Halloween either. Some fans just don’t want questions about domestic violence and morality entering their sports safe-spaces, but in 2016, that’s less and less of a reality. Social issues do matter — especially issues like domestic violence in a post-Ray Rice world.

That’s why one Mets fan started an anti-Reyes petition and why there’s an entire conversation happening around his return to the Mets. In a thoughtful piece at USA Today, Mike Vorkunov talked to MLB reps and anti-domestic violence advocates about the search for nuance in times like this.

Among the voices in the story is Erin Matson, a baseball fan and domestic violence survivor, who says of the Reyes case:

“It’s really concerning,” says Matson, co-director of a reproductive rights organization. “There’s a part of me that just feels incredibly sad that at the end of the day baseball is a business. And I get attached to players that come and go, but it’s business decisions that come and go who is on the roster. Period. So let’s talk about the fact that in 2016 there’s still highly paid people making a business decision that someone with this public track record on domestic violence is considered a profitable asset.

“It’s stunning to think about that. That’s just where we are.”

These aren’t the sports conversations we were having 25 years ago — heck, even 10 years ago. But these issues have been around much longer. Longer than Reyes and Rice and whoever comes next. Because, as unfortunate as it is to say, someone will come next.

For now, Mets fans will reconcile Jose Reyes the best way they see fit. Some will cringe, stay quiet when he comes up to bat and hope their favorite team parts ways with him again soon. Some will say that he’s served his time and welcome him back.

And others will remain willfully oblivious to all of it.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!