The Colorado Rockies designated Jose Reyes for an assignment on Wednesday, and it appears the club is ready to move on altogether from the embattled shortstop.
“At the end of the day, we felt like it was best that we part ways,” Jeff Bridich, Rockies general manager, said after batting practice on Wednesday. “Best for the direction of the organization, best for what was going on in the clubhouse and best for Jose.”
Reyes, with a career batting average of .290, now has limited options, and none of them end with him in a Rockies uniform.
After being designated for assignment Reyes can be placed on waivers, where all MLB teams will have a chance to claim him, but they will also have to pick up the remaining balance of his contract. That would be an ideal, albeit unlikely, scenario considering his $15.868 million salary owed this year and $22 million next year.
The Rockies can also trade him, release him, or outright him to the minors within a ten day period. As a veteran with more than five years of service time, Reyes would have to give consent to return to the minors. With a waiver claim being unlikely, a trade might be a best-case scenario for the Rockies – even one that requires Colorado to assume a portion of his contract.
Reyes, 33, still has some life left – he hit .259 in 47 games with Colorado after arriving via trade from Toronto – and could be attractive (at the right price) to MLB teams like Cincinnati or Tampa Bay, who are struggling at the shortstop position. Bridich said Wednesday there was interest in Reyes over the past two weeks, but nothing that could be considered a concrete lead.
“There was a lot of things over the last week to two weeks that have kind of come and gone. Couple of team’s poking around,” Bridich said. “Nothing real serious ever truly materialized.”
The market for Reyes will be limited. In mid-May, ESPN.com’s Jim Bowden asked 12 MLB general managers if they’d have interest in Reyes; all 12 said no.
A worst-case scenario for Colorado is an outright release. Should the Rockies release him, they will be responsible for the remaining $41.868 million on his contract. That’s a big number to swallow for a team with a payroll just under $107 million.
The Rockies can afford to lose Reyes – on the field, at least – after Trevor Story burst onto the scene this season and has been performing well, batting .265 with 17 home runs in 61 games.
“We believed in this group, and that helped us make this decision,” Bridich said.
Although the team appears ready to move on, Bridich had positive things to say about how Reyes conducted himself both during his MLB-imposed suspension for a domestic violence incident (which did not result in charges), as well as during his time on the restricted list.
“He did his part, he came in ready to go, he kept himself in shape,” Bridich said. “He went down and reported to Phoenix and our extended program. He was a great citizen, a good teammate and he went to Albuquerque and was the same way.”
In nine games, Reyes hit .303 with the Isotopes while on the restricted list.
Colorado has 10 days to make a decision on Reyes, although it appears their mind is already made up. Really, the decision will be made for them by the rest of MLB and whether or not a team steps up to claim him or trade for him.
Austin Kopnitsky, Casey Light and Aniello Piro contributed to this report
