Jose Reyes Is Not Enjoying His Time With The Rockies

Forgive Jose Reyes if he comes off as more than a little salty this Denver Post , because how else is a guy who was just traded from the most exciting team in the league to one of the most depressing supposed to feel?

Reyes and his $56 million contract were punted into Denver in the Troy Tulowitzki blockbuster, earning him a designation that no once-great player ever wants to find himself carrying around: Salary Dump. Reyes, naturally, doesn’t feel too good about the whole situation:

“You come from a ballclub that was competing for a spot in the playoffs. And you come to a club in last place. You think about that,” Reyes said of the trade that ripped him out of Toronto. The Blue Jays, with Tulowitzki, have surged into a battle with the New York Yankees for first place in the American League East.

“I’m at the point in my career that I want to win,” Reyes said. “I say it over and over. I want to win. I don’t want to spend the rest of my career on a last-place team. That’s not the kind of player I feel like I am.”

The good news for Reyes is that the Rockies want him gone just as badly as he wants out. The team is in an all-out rebuild, and needs to start developing prospects like middle infielder Trevor Story in a hurry if they want Nolan Arenado to stick around for the long haul. The bad news for Jose Reyes is that he’s not exactly a hot commodity right now. He cleared waivers last week, which means the Rockies can still trade him, but finding a playoff-bound team that’s in need of a slap-hitting shortstop who also happens to be a disaster on defense ain’t easy. Maybe the market will improve in the offseason, though Reyes’s chances at catching on with a championship contender are going to remain slim. That’s a raw deal for a guy who has already enjoyed his fair share of rotten luck, but baseball is very mean.

[ Denver Post]