This is a pointless hypothetical, but I’m just wondering:

If Jose Reyes were doing this for, I don’t know, the Brewers, and there was talk that the Mets wanted to pursue him as a free agent this offseason, how do you think you’d feel about it?

Because I’ll say this: If that were the case, knowing what I know about myself, how I often approach baseball and how I fixate on stuff, I fear I might be filling up this site with long, boring screeds about why the Mets shouldn’t be pursuing Reyes.

I’d point to the history of injuries, mishandled or not, and say how bad an idea it would be to get involved in a long-term deal with a player that has already demonstrated a shaky-at-best ability to stay on the field. And I’d argue that signing a guy to a huge contract coming off a batting average-fueled career year represented a potential buy-high mistake.

Of course, I’ve watched Reyes play this season, so I’m biased toward the man and can’t actually think that. Plus, even if Reyes comes back to Earth a bit — as he almost has to — he’s still an elite 28-year-old shortstop, not the type of free agent that hits the market very often.

Ultimately, I suppose, it comes down to how much money and how many years it will take to lock him up. Obviously.

Fun fact: I got kicked out of the National Honor Society in high school. Among other transgressions, I used to show up to the “mandatory,” rarely used free tutoring availability we provided younger students, tape a sign somewhere that said, “wake if you need tutoring,” then put my head down on the desk. It was a wise-assy thing to do; I can hardly sleep in my own bed, no less on some hard desk in a high-school math office. I just wanted to make some stupid point about my having to give up my one free period for a service no one ever took advantage of. Meanwhile I could have just not shown up at all, or not applied to the National Honor Society in the first place. Confusing time, high school.

Anyway, in the last few hours, the news cycle on Carlos Beltran trade rumors has turned over three times. He has been speculatively traded, then not traded, to the Braves, Giants, Phillies, Rangers and Red Sox. The Mets are getting back a top prospect, or not a top prospect, or a collection of mid-level prospects. The Mets could sweeten the deal with another player, or they will refuse to trade anyone but Beltran because this is by no means a fire sale.

The trade deadline is supposed to be good for traffic around these parts, but it sure hasn’t been here, so presumably you’ve caught on by now that I don’t get too worked up over all the rumors and speculation this time of year. Consider this the blogging equivalent of me putting my head down on the desk in the math office. I don’t care to continue keeping up with the Carlos Beltran trade rumors. We’ll see what the Mets get back in a trade for Beltran if and when the Mets trade Beltran.

Of course, again I’m full of it. I can’t sleep on desks and I can’t pull myself away from this nonsense every July. Just allow me to maintain some sense of ironic detachment, is all.