Sandy Alderson said “it’s unlikely” contract extension talks with shortstop Jose Reyes would take place during spring training.

Alderson added that he did not expect the $1 billion lawsuit against Mets ownership would impact his ability to sign Reyes to an extension if the GM wanted to pursue it. Reyes will earn $11 million this season and is eligible for free agency next winter.

“Now, I’m confident I can do anything with any one individual player,” Alderson said. “Anything we do is going to be viewed through the prism of what’s going on in New York. There’s no question about that. All I can do is try to make the best baseball judgments. And at this point I’m not facing any limitations. At this point I don’t expect to.”

Alderson also disputed any suggestion Reyes is not his type of player. The GM comes from the sabermetric philosophy that does not place a high value on stolen bases.

“I would disagree with that statement,” Alderson said about Reyes not being his type of player. “I had a lot of different players on a lot of different teams, many of whom had very different profiles. That probably alludes to his reliance on speed and my sense that maybe speed is not as critical. But he brings so many different things to the table, as I’ve said earlier, that you can’t just focus on the speed element. The speed element is a plus. There’s no question about that, and well appreciated by me by the way.”

Read the full story here.