TORONTO — As he crossed the t’s and dotted the i’s on a transformative, unexpected, middle-of-the-night trade that could come to define his tenure as Blue Jays general manager, Alex Anthopoulos made a call to his former shortstop, Jose Reyes.
He’d just traded the 32-year-old to the Colorado Rockies, and he wanted Reyes to come to the Rogers Centre to hear the news in person. Manager John Gibbons was summoned as well. Blue Jays management wanted Reyes to learn the developments from them first-hand, before the trade took the Internet by storm.
“He was sad. He enjoyed it here. I don’t think anybody wants to get traded, especially when you’re happy in a certain place,” Anthopoulos said of how Reyes reacted. “He was a pro about it—but I think he was sad.”
From there, Reyes went home, where his close friends, countrymen and suddenly-former teammates, Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista, joined to keep the four-time all-star company and help him work through his emotions.
“I went to his house and stayed for a couple hours talking. He’s one of my best friends. I wanted to go there and give him support,” Encarnacion said. “ I know the way he’s feeling. I tried to tell him, like, ‘keep going, keep working, keep doing your thing.’ He was very sad.”
By all accounts, the trade caught Reyes completely off guard, which shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering it did the same to the entire baseball world. What makes matters more difficult is the likelihood that Reyes could be on the move again.
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“It doesn’t seem, with the fate of that organization, that there’s a place long-term for him there,” Bautista said. “It just doesn’t seem like a fit.”
Colorado is seemingly entering a rebuilding phase, which generally doesn’t include room for a veteran shortstop making $22 million a season. Reyes could be flipped to another club as soon as the end of the week. Or he could be a Rockie for a couple months before changing addresses again during the off-season. Only time will tell.
“It’s different when you’re waiting for something like this and you prepare your mind,” Encarnacion said. “But it hit him by surprise. It’s going to be difficult. But he’ll just have to adjust.”
The Blue Jays as a team will seemingly have to adjust as well. Reyes was one of the strongest personalities in the Blue Jays clubhouse, constantly at the centre of any banter, antics or escapades. His presence and constant energy was impossible to miss, and he was undeniably a fundamental part of Toronto’s identity.
“He was more than just a part of it. I think he might have been the centerpiece of it. So, hopefully him leaving doesn’t affect us negatively when it comes to the chemistry and the energy here,” Bautista said. “It’s tough. I mean, what can I say? It’s baseball. It happens quickly. He’s already gone. That’s the only good part about the whole thing—that he doesn’t get to linger.”
Reyes was clearly closest with his fellow Dominicans in the clubhouse and the team’s position players, who he spent the majority of his time with. But the pitching staff felt his loss as well.
“We lose a guy that brought a lot of energy, was very special on the basepaths, was a really good friend and brought a lot of chemistry to the clubhouse,” Blue Jays starter R.A. Dickey said. “You are losing something. You are. Looking back, you’ll be able to tell if it was worth it, what you’re losing. Wherever Jose goes he’s going to make that team better.”
Even the coaching staff paid their respects on a strange, bittersweet day for the club at Rogers Centre.
“We’re going to miss Jose. I’m going to miss him, personally. I loved the guy. He brought a lot of energy. He showed up to play everyday. He had that big personality,” Gibbons said. “He really liked it here and these are his guys. It’s never easy to be traded because now you’re uprooted again and you’re going to a new place. He’d settled in here. I think he really loved playing in Toronto.”
Reyes’ tenure with the Blue Jays was an interesting one. He came to the club in the blockbuster Marlins trade of 2013—just a year after he’d signed a six-year, $106 million contract with Miami—with a gushing Anthopoulos calling him “probably my favourite player in the league to watch.”
Over his two-and-a-half years in a Blue Jays uniform, he provided perhaps exactly what should have been expected: above average offensive production for a shortstop, exceptional base-running, occasional injury trouble and declining defensive ability.
He clearly wasn’t going to be the devastating speed and contact player that he was in his younger days with the New York Mets, but he was going to be a solid, dependable, veteran piece on a team with post-season aspirations.
Patience for Reyes began to wear thin later in his Blue Jays tenure, however, as his defensive miscues became ever more glaring and a stubborn refusal to take days off or even rest his legs as the team’s designated hitter began to shift public perception of the one-time fan favourite. Debate raged about whether it was time to consider a position change for the lifetime shortstop and if the final years of his lucrative contract would turn into an albatross for the club.
But while that criticism and conjecture swirled outside the Blue Jays clubhouse, within its blue walls Reyes was undeniably one of the most—if not the most—popular players on the team.
The Blue Jays are beginning an intriguing new era with a core of Tulowitzki, Josh Donaldson, Russell Martin, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion—an embarrassing wealth of talent—surrounded by exciting young players such as Devon Travis, Aaron Sanchez and Roberto Osuna. It’s a thrilling time to be a Blue Jay.
But at Rogers Centre on Tuesday, there was no hiding the melancholy among the players, and even management, at the departure of one of the team’s most admired, eccentric and joyful individuals.
“He was very well-liked and respected in the clubhouse. His work ethic is off the charts. He’s a great teammate. He loves to play. I couldn’t have higher praise for him,” Anthopoulos said. “He’s left a great mark in terms of the impact he’s had and how he’s dealt with everybody across the board. I can’t thank him enough. He’s a class act. He’s going to be missed.”
