Fate of Wright, Reyes on mind of Collins

ATLANTA -- Carlos Beltran wants him on the Giants. Ryan Braun wants him on the Brewers. But do the Mets really, truly want Jose Reyes?

That's a question that won't be answered until this season is over, when money will talk louder than any lip service paid to the free-agent shortstop. For manager Terry Collins, however, re-signing Reyes, as well as holding on to David Wright, is a no-brainer for this team.

Collins was asked before Saturday's 1-0 loss to the Braves if he could imagine the Mets without Reyes or Wright. His response was hardly surprising.

"No, I cannot imagine it," Collins said. "I mean, yeah, not just with their skill, but with the kind of people they are. You've got to have those guys. You've got to have your stars."

Collins could have dodged the combustible question. The easy way out would have been to say that he hoped losing either Reyes or Wright was not something he needed to worry about. But with the Mets under significant financial duress, you can bet general manager Sandy Alderson has imagined life without Reyes or Wright -- only because he's had to.

At this point, it's still about determining Reyes' value, and that process won't really begin until he starts fielding offers from other clubs. Beltran sounded eager to spend the Giants' money in his lobbying for Reyes with the comments he made Friday to the San Francisco Chronicle, but there's no guarantee Beltran will be wearing that uniform in 2012.

As for Reyes, he was amused -- if not totally surprised -- that Beltran pushed for him in the Bay Area media. He heard similar overtures in Phoenix during the All-Star Game from Braun, who is one of the top candidates for National League MVP.

"He said come over and play with me," Reyes said, laughing. As for his pending free-agent status, Reyes added: "We'll see what happens. We'll find out soon."

Relatively speaking, of course. In Reyes' case, which should involve a number of competing bids, it should come to a resolution at some point during or immediately after baseball's winter meetings, scheduled for Dec. 5-8 in Dallas. Jayson Werth (seven years, $126 million) and Carl Crawford (seven years, $142 million) both inked their deals at the meetings in Orlando last winter.

Collins was acutely aware of Beltran's recruiting speech by the time he was asked about it yesterday -- and the manager had a pained expression before answering. The stress of the regular season will soon be replaced by three more months of winter anxiety as Alderson tries again to piece together the roster on a tight budget.

Looking back, Collins remains haunted by thoughts of what might have been this year. What if Wright, Reyes and Ike Davis had stayed healthy for the entire season? Or if Johan Santana returned in June, as originally had been predicted? Would holding on to Beltran and Francisco Rodriguez have helped the Mets stay in contention?

"I allow myself the freedom once in a while to be disappointed that we didn't get to put this team on the field the way it came out of spring training," Collins said. "Had we been able to do that, I think you would have looked at a completely different package. I know every team says that they have injuries. But we have not put our team on the field one time, and this was a team that could have made some noise, no doubt."