In today’s sports landscape, professional franchises must often wage wars on two distinct fronts: on the field and in the court of public opinion. Last week, two of our local teams made high-profile signings that represent how tricky it can be to navigate the rocky terrain of winning ballgames while sating their fans’ desire to root for a likeable team.
The first of these moves came on June 23, when the New York Knicks made a big splash by pulling off a trade for former NBA MVP Derrick Rose. Although he is still just 27 years old, Rose has been hampered by injuries over the last four years and hasn’t been a viable NBA star since 2012. But with just one year left until he hits free agency, it would appear as though the Knicks’ newest acquisition may be less about what Rose can do on the court and more about the optics of the situation.
Rose may never be the player he once seemed destined to become, but he’s still a name. He’s the kind of player whose resume is sure to elicit a positive response in a fan base that has had little to cheer about over the last few seasons.
But more than that, it seems, the play for Rose might be a calculated move by Knicks’ President Phil Jackson to announce to other NBA stars that New York is ready to win now. Despite his diminished production, Rose is still the kind of player that carries a lot of cache within NBA circles. Will bringing him aboard make the Knicks a more viable landing spot for another big-name free agent, be it Kevin Durant, Dwight Howard or Joakim Noah? It’s certainly possible.
It remains to be seen what Rose has left in the tank, and he most likely won’t be a long-term solution at the point guard position. But if bringing him in can help reestablish a culture of winning in Madison Square Garden, at least in theory, then perhaps this could be considered a coup for Jackson and the Knicks.
On the other side of the spectrum, however, was the New York Mets’ decision to bring back Jose Reyes on June 25.
As far as pure baseball moves go, this one makes sense. Reyes—who was recently given his outright release by the Colorado Rockies after the emergence of potential Rookie of the Year candidate Trevor Story—is costing the Mets the league minimum, salarywise, and could potentially serve as a valuable fill-in at third base, with David Wright likely done for the season.
It’s a low-risk, high-reward move for a team that, right now, is in desperate need of an offensive spark.
But that, of course, is only half the story.
Reyes may have been one of the most popular Mets during his first go-around with the team, but is also coming off a two-month suspension after a domestic violence incident. To that end, all the statements released by both the Mets and Reyes since the signing have been carefully worded to address—and downplay—his scandal away from the field. The Mets’ organization seems to know that a large section of their fan base could be turned off by Reyes’ actions and are eager to mitigate the fallout over bringing him back.
Will Mets fans welcome his return with open arms? General Manager Sandy Alderson certainly seems to believe that if Reyes can inject some life into the lineup, the talented infielder’s past transgressions will simply seem like a blip on the radar.
So what’s more important: Winning the public relations battle, or winning on the field?
Nowadays, with the amount of scrutiny faced by those in front-office positions, it feels like the two are so intertwined. Will the goodwill engendered by the Rose move lead to big things on the court? Will Reyes lead to “bad karma” for the Metropolitans?
For better or worse, the one thing that the majority of fans care about is the final result. And while both the Rose and Reyes moves might make for interesting stories right now, it’s unlikely that we will know which direction the narrative will take until we see the teams’ final records.