The trash speak began weeks in the past.
José Reyes has been listening to it from a few of his fellow former Mets forward of subsequent weekend’s first-ever Alumni Basic baseball recreation at Citi Discipline — and he’s been dishing it out, too.
Certainly, bragging rights are on the road when the retired gamers from two completely different generations face one another for 3 innings on Sept. 13 earlier than the Mets’ actual recreation that afternoon in opposition to the Texas Rangers.
Reyes is a part of Group Shea Stadium, which is made up of gamers who suited up for the Mets within the late Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s, together with many from the 2000 group that received the Nationwide League pennant.
Among the many others are Mike Piazza, Pedro Martinez, Al Leiter, Carlos Beltrán, Carlos Delgado, Edgardo Alfonzo, Robin Ventura, Todd Zeile and Mike Hampton. Willie Randolph and Bobby Valentine are set to function Group Shea Stadium’s managers.
They may face Group Citi Discipline, which options lots of the gamers who led the Mets to the World Sequence in 2015.
That roster contains Harvey, Johan Santana, Noah Syndergaard, Bartolo Colón, Curtis Granderson, R.A. Dickey, Ike Davis, Rubén Tejada and Juan Lagares. Terry Collins and Jerry Manuel are managing Group Citi Discipline.
The Mets hosted a standard Previous-Timers’ Day in 2022, inviting again gamers from each period of their six-decade historical past, together with members of the 1969 and 1986 World Sequence groups.
However lots of the gamers on this yr’s Alumni Basic are nonetheless of their 30s, 40s or early 50s.
“It’s gonna be exciting because it’s gonna be a lot of young guys there,” Reyes, 42, mentioned. “I’m telling you, everybody is prepared for this game. Not only me. I’m telling you, not only me. I’ve been talking with a few guys when I was with David Wright [for his number retirement in July]. I saw like 10 guys, and they said they’re getting ready.”
Reyes’ ramp-up began earlier in the summertime, earlier than he went on a month-long journey to his native Dominican Republic. Upon returning to New York final month, Reyes resumed his exercises.
“I’m taking this seriously, because the last one that I played in, I didn’t feel too happy about my performance,” mentioned Reyes, who participated within the 2022 Previous-Timers’ Day. “I feel like I have to do better, so that’s why I’m getting ready earlier.”
The reminiscence of a lazy fly out in opposition to John Franco in that Previous-Timers’ Day recreation serves as a motivator for Reyes.
And though he’s upset he received’t get one other likelihood to face Franco, who’s recovering from a shoulder substitute, Reyes says he feels good about his swing.
“One step at a time,” Reyes mentioned. “I’m not 20 no more. I’m 42, so I don’t want to get hurt before the game, but it’s coming along good. It’s coming along very good.”
Reyes enters the Alumni Basic in a novel place, contemplating his stints with the Mets from 2003-11 and 2016-18 overlapped with each generations.
The speedy, switch-hitting shortstop ranks first in Mets historical past with 408 stolen bases, second with 1,534 hits and third with 1,365 video games performed over 12 seasons.
The four-time All-Star led the NL in stolen bases in three consecutive seasons from 2005-07, swiping a career-high 78 baggage within the final of these years to set the Mets’ single-season document.
Jose Reyes, pictured in 2017, is the Mets’ all-time stolen bases chief. (Photograph by John Amis/Getty Pictures)
Reyes left the Mets earlier than the 2012 season for a six-year, $106 million contract with the Miami Marlins, and he additionally performed for the Toronto Blue Jays and Colorado Rockies.
“The Mets were the first team to give me an opportunity when I was 16 years old,” Reyes mentioned. “To get from the place I lived within the Dominican, how poor I used to be, they usually put me in an incredible place. They put me and my household — my dad and my mom and my little sister — in an incredible place to reside.
“I know in 2012 I signed in Miami, but I never, ever wanted to leave New York. I waited until the last moment so they could offer something, and I’d be a Met for my whole career. I know it’s a business, but my heart, my blood, it’s always gonna be for the New York Mets.”
That’s why Reyes, who lives on Lengthy Island, has remained related to the Mets since retiring.
Today, he commonly attends video games to greet suite holders, however he’s occupied with turning his partnership into one thing extra like that of Beltrán, who holds a job within the Mets’ entrance workplace.
“I’d love to,” Reyes mentioned. “We’re talking about it.”
Reyes has approached retirement with an open thoughts, from his partnerships with Chamelo Eyewear and San Giuseppe Cigars to his continued work as a musician below his nickname, “La Melaza.”
His newest challenge is a real-estate funding in Vista Cana, a high-end house group in Punta Cana, D.R., that’s at present below improvement.
And this season, Reyes turned a contributor on SNY, making appearances on exhibits together with “Baseball Night in America.”
“In the beginning, it was kind of weird for me,” Reyes mentioned of his TV work. “I by no means thought I might be speaking on TV as a result of my English shouldn’t be excellent, however individuals like once I go on SNY, and I prefer it, too. … I performed the sport for a very long time. I’ve to talk from what I believe. I’ve to be sincere with individuals. “
However even with all of these ventures, Reyes was in the beginning a baseball participant.
He’ll develop into one once more on the Alumni Basic, the place he hopes to show he can nonetheless hit a house run.
“I’m trying to,” Reyes mentioned. “And I’ll try to steal a base, too.”
