Jeff Reardon Arrested

A sad story about a former Mets player leads off on a slow post-holiday news day.

AP: Reardon arrested in Florida
In a truly bizarre story, former Mets reliever Jeff Reardon was arrested in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, after robbing a Jewelry store with a note claiming he had a gun. He was found in a nearby restaurant and arrested without incident. Apparently this was due to some interaction between medications:

Reardon made a brief appearance in court Tuesday and was to be released on $5,000 bail, said his attorney, Mitchell Beers.

He said Reardon had a 20-year-old son who died of a drug overdose in February 2004, which "has been very difficult for him and his family," and has been on medication for depression. Reardon, who is married and has two other children, also underwent a heart angioplasty last week and has been taking medication for that.

"He asked me to apologize to his fans and friends," Beers said. "This bizarre incident is completely uncharacteristic of Jeff Reardon."

He said Reardon, who made more than $11.5 million in his career, according to baseball-reference.com, was not having financial problems.

Jeff Reardon didn't pitch for the Mets very long, being traded for Ellis Valentine in one of Frank Cashen's worst moves before 1986. His best years were spent with Montreal, Minnesota and Boston. I hope things work out for him and his family.

Daily News: Mets one of top 10 sports stories of 2005
The Mets off-season acquisitions were picked by the Daily News as number 8 of the top 10 sports stories of 2005. According to Adam Rubin:

Omar Minaya landed Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran during his first winter as Mets' GM. This year, Minaya rivaled that extreme winter makeover, bringing first baseman Carlos Delgado, closer Billy Wagner and catcher Paul Lo Duca to Flushing.

In the process, the GM weakened the rival Marlins and Phillies by swiping marquee players from both NL East clubs. And he made the eighth spot on the Daily News' Top 10 list of New York sports stories of the year.

It would be nice if the Mets can become one of the top stories of 2006 by what they do on the field.