Seaver weighs in on possible Reyes trade
From left, Bobby Kennedy Jr., Tom Seaver, John Franco Glenn Close, and Rusty Staub, right, pose for a photographs before an interleague baseball game between the Los Angeles Angels and the New York Mets at Citi Field in New York. (June 18, 2011) Credit: AP
Thirty-four years ago, Tom Seaver was Jose Reyes.
Best player on the team. Pending free agent. Uncertain future in New York.
Seaver wound up being traded to the Reds -- the anniversary of the ground-shaking deal passed just this week, on June 15 -- and he cautioned the Mets Saturday night that if they deal their shortstop the way they did their former ace, they'd better know what they're doing.
"If you're trading a franchise player . . . then you are in a regroup mode," Seaver said before the game against the Angels at Citi Field. "I'm not saying a rebuild mode, but in a regroup mode.
"You've got to have a Plan A. It becomes Plan A. You'd better have a Plan A, not a Plan B. Boom, now we're at Plan A and this is the way we're going to go."
Seaver noted that there are differences between his situation in the Summer of '77 and Reyes. For one, Seaver's relationship with owner M. Donald Grant had become fractured beyond repair. And, Seaver said, the Mets were not prepared for life after he left, as demonstrated by the near decade of bad baseball he left in his wake.
"I think the most important thing is it is not a singular event," Seaver said of any decisions the Mets make regarding Reyes. "If it's a singular event, then it's wrong . . . The game plan is maybe the mirror image of potentially what they should be doing. Potentially -- and I'm just thinking out loud and I'm sure they are, too -- potentially you build around that individual. Can you do it financially? Do you have the financial wherewithal to be able to do that?"
Seaver called Reyes "a spectacularly beautiful player." He spoke about facing the Big Red Machine in the '70s and having to face Joe Morgan and Johnny Bench. "He's that level of player," Seaver said, comparing Reyes to the Hall of Famers.
Seaver also had advice for Reyes during this uncertain time.
"If he's doing it correctly, he's getting that totally off his mind," Seaver said.
Though Seaver was best known as a Mets pitcher, one of the iconic moments of his career came across the city at Yankee Stadium. It was there that he earned his 300th career victory as a White Sox pitcher.
Later this month, that kind of geographical coincidence could occur again when Derek Jeter approaches his 3,000th hit, with the possibility of the milestone occurring at Citi Field.
Seaver, who recalled the ovations he received on that day in the Bronx, said Mets fans should "absolutely, absolutely" cheer for Jeter if he does reach the milestone in Queens.
"You're talking about the history of the game, not an opposing player," Seaver said. "It's a historical moment in the game of baseball. There's a point in time that it becomes more than your team or their team. It's a piece of history and respect for a guy who has earned it and earned it with class."
