Here we go again: Yankees reportedly interested in Jose Reyes

Several baseball websites state that the Yankees have shown interest for shortstop Jose Reyes, who was recently acquired by the Rockies in the Troy Tulowitzky trade. The other day it was announced that Reyes cleared waivers, so he can be traded to any team. And when news like that is vented, any newspaper and new website immediately links a player to the Yankees.

First of all you can wonder if the Yankees really have shown interest in the 32-year old shortstop. Second of all, you can wonder if they should go after a, in my eyes, selfish player.

But suppose that the rumors are true, where should Reyes play?  The Yankees acquired Didi Gregorius who, after a rigid start, is finding his groove more and more. He is young, has a great reach and is hitting .314 in the months of July and August. So I cannot imagine that they will replace Gregorius with a player whose age is at the wrong side of 30.

Of course the Yankees can see a second baseman in Reyes. Even though his numbers have dropped dramatically in his last fifteen games, Reyes is still hitting a decent .273. And Drew? His batting average doesn’t even top .200, so Reyes would be a major upgrade over him hitting wise. Reyes’ defense isn’t much better, though he only played shortstop this season.

But do you want a player like Reyes on your team? Remember 2011 when he won the NL batting crown? In the final game of the season he laid down a bunt/basehit and was pulled at his own request. Rather selfish if you ask me. He should take Ted Williams as an example. The Splendid Splinter had a slim room for error as he entered the final day of the 1941 season with a .400 batting average. On that day the Red Sox played a double header vs the Athletics.and manager Joe Ronin offered Williams to sit out the day. But Williams had too much honor. “I want more than my toenails on the line.” Williams went 6-for-8 on the day, finishing the season at .406. So Williams had much more guts than Reyes.

And then the money. What will it cost the Yankees to put Reyes on their roster? Reyes signed a $106 million deal with the Marlins. After a disappointing season, owner Jeffrey Loria, held a fire sale that send Reyes, Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson, John Buck and Emilio Bonifacio to Toronto. For the remainder of his contract (2015,2016 and 2017) Reyes will earn $ 22 million per season. The Rockies are willing to get rid of that amount, be prepared that we can add another $66 mllion (or at least a big chunck of it) to the Yankees’ payroll if the Yankees really want to add him.

What will Reyes cost us prospect wise? Since the Yankees are reportedly losing their patience with Rob Refsnider, they may send him to Denver. But as soon as the Yankees are involved in a trade, the opponents always ask more than they will with other teams involved.

sources: jose reyes clear waivers (any chance yanks or someone else may fit better?) #rox #yanks http://t.co/WEEBI5eRPC

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) August 14, 2015

But I still wonder if this all is true. In the (recent) past, many players have been linked to the Yankees as free agents or when the trade deadline neared. And many of them were never signed by the Bronx Bombers. I think it is another made up story by some journalist to get a lot of extra readers, and soon enough other newspapers copy that “news”.

Personally I don’t want Reyes on the team even though he will be an upgrade over Drew hitting wise.