By name alone, Memorial Day is designed as a moment to look back and honor those who gave their lives in the past on battlefields around the world.
The Mets did not use it that way. Monday was all about looking forward to a future that is both cloudy and coming into focus with every passing day.
Jose Reyes's grandmother died and the shortstop went to the Dominican Republic to be with his family. That means he is on the bereavement list for three to seven days and it means the Mets get a sneak preview at what life will look like if the shortstop is traded or allowed to leave as a free agent after the season.
Now, to be fair, a future lineup without Reyes will likely have Ike Davis and David Wright (even though we have no idea when either man might be back) so Monday night wasn't exactly fair as crystal ball prognostications go. It worked out well enough, though, as the Buffalo soldiers pounded 15 hits -- 13 singles -- en route to a 7-3 win over the Pirates.
So there you have it: Even in a cold, scary Reyes-less future, the Mets will be good enough to beat the Pirates. The Pirates, by the way, are now 0-8 at Citi Field which, given the last two years of Mets baseball, has to be about the saddest statistic in all of baseball.
That was only one part of the Mets future that was on display Monday, however. There was also a brief press conference with David Einhorn concerning the hedge fund honcho's investment in the team.
Einhorn played down reports that have him positioned to become majority owner within three years as well as reports that he's essentially a loan shark who can be paid back his entire $200 million while holding onto a sizable chunk of the team. But he didn't do anything to downplay the notion that the Wilpons are sinking financially under the weight of their losses as he made it clear doomsday might still be coming.
Local
"I can't make any such assurance," Einhorn said. "It'll be what it'll be. It's not that people aren't gonna try very hard to avoid that sort of a circumstance. The future is uncertain and there are a wide range of possible outcomes."
Assuming there is some mechanism that allows Einhorn to have the first crack at majority ownership, it would be silly to assume otherwise, his ultimate goal appears fairly obvious. He's not here to backstop the Wilpons nor is he looking to make any other minimal investment into the team.
That doesn't bode well for those still holding out hope that the Reyes-less future is just a dream sequence out of a movie. Wilpon's on record about Reyes's value and Einhorn's money isn't going to change anything on that front.
He's betting against the Wilpons in much the same way he bet against Lehman Brothers before they went bust. The thing that's hardest to figure out is just how much time it will take for this part of the dance to play itself out but we're finally able to hear the tune.
Sadly, it doesn't sound like one that has "Jose Jose Jose" as part of the chorus.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City. You can follow him on Twitter and he is also a contributor to Pro Football Talk.
