Marlins Introduce Jose Reyes, Their New Shortstop

By Rob Neyer - National Baseball Editor

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Dec 7, 2011 - DALLAS -- Wednesday at Major League Baseball's Winter Meetings, the Miami Marlins made it official: They've signed free-agent shortstop Jose Reyes for six years and $106 million. Reyes joins Heath Bell among the Marlins' big acquisition as the franchise dons its new uniforms and moves into its new ballpark in 2012.

Marlins president Larry Beinfest began the press conference by preempting questions about Hanley Ramirez.

"Hanley is a key to our team," Beinfest said. "We have dealt with him respectfully and timely. We expect him to be our third baseman. Within 30 seconds of bringing in Jose we communicated with Hanley and let him know what was going on.”

Respectfulness and timelyfulness are great things, but it remains to be seen whether Ramirez, so recently one of the game's great shortstops, will happily skip over to third base.

Upon taking the floor, Reyes was honest enough to acknowledge that baseball's a business.

"They showed that they really want me. [This is] a good opportunity to win, and I like to win. I don't like to lose."

They showed they wanted him with $106 million, which was probably more than any other team showed. We'll check back in six years and see whether the Mets or the Marlins lost more games.

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