"The Mets insist they want to retain Jose Reyes, but at their reasonable price and, well, they really should stop saying that.

It is akin to going into a Mercedes dealership, badly wanting a new model and telling a salesman you are willing to go as high as $5,000 to get one.

Free agency has begun and, thus, the fantasy that Reyes will fit into some bargain slot for the Mets is over. Whatever his injury history -- and it is concerning -- Reyes is one of the three or four most attractive players on the market and is going to have multiple bidders for his services. That combination will assure his payday soars well above the Mets' budget.

As a Mets official told me this week after the familiar mantra of we want him at our price, "I think he will be blown away by someone else."

Another Mets official said, "My instinct is no shot. I think if [GM] Sandy [Alderson] asked for it, ownership would follow his recommendations. But where the money is going to go it is not going to be the best way to spend the money, not on one player and not one player with this hamstring thing."

Translation: If Reyes were to take a discount of four years at somewhere between $15 million and $17 million annually, the Mets would tolerate the scar tissue building in those hamstrings and how his one contract could hurt their financial maneuverability in other areas. But that is as likely as getting that new Mercedes for $5,000. Reyes might leave some money on the table to stay in his Long Island home and Citi Field comfort zone -- but not the difference between what the Mets would propose and what he will be offered elsewhere."