DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Shortstop Jose Reyes made one thing clear Friday: He isn't the president of the Jeffrey Loria Fan Club.
Three months after what he called a "shocking" trade that sent him from Loria's team, the Marlins, to the Toronto Blue Jays, Reyes said that just days before he was traded, the club's owner still was encouraging him to buy a house in Miami.
"I was shocked, because Jeffrey Loria, he always told me he's never going to trade me," Reyes said on his first day as a Blue Jay. "He always called my agent and said, 'Tell Jose to get a good place here to live,' and stuff like that."
In fact, Reyes said he and Loria attended a dinner together only a couple of days before the trade, and "he was talking still about 'get a nice house in Miami.'"
"That was kind of crazy," the 29-year-old Reyes said. "I mean, how can you want me to spend some money in Miami, when I have my house in New York, and you're going to trade me in two days?"
In December 2011, Reyes signed a six-year, $106 million contract with the Marlins and thought he would spend those six years in South Beach. Instead, he found himself getting traded north of the border less than a year later. And afterward, he said, it took him a while to get over the shock and anger of the move.
"For a couple of days, a couple of weeks, you know, I still couldn't believe what was going on," he said. "But by now, I'm here in spring training, looking forward to getting on the field with my new team. It is what it is."
Reyes said he still hasn't spoken to Loria or any member of the Marlins organization since the trade -- because he doesn't want to.
"After the trade, I don't talk to those guys," he said. "After the trade, everything's done. So I don't need to talk to them because they traded me. So why do I need to talk to them? If they trade me, that means they don't want me there. So I don't need to approach them and say, 'Why'd you trade me?' and stuff like that. Like I said, I was with [Loria] a couple days before the trade and he no say anything. So that caught everybody by surprise."
Asked if he would like to see Loria and get an explanation for why he wasn't warned about the deal, Reyes said: "I don't need to see him. And he don't want to see me, because he traded me."
Reyes said he understood that trades are "part of the business." But if any future free agents ask him about the Marlins, they shouldn't expect rave reviews.
"I don't need to say anything," he said. "They see what happened. I signed there for like six years. I played there one year. So I don't have to explain anything.
"But I feel sorry for the fan base there in Miami because they had a great fan base there. To let them down like that, I mean, that's going to be tough for them."
Reyes said he also feels sorry for Giancarlo Stanton and the other Marlins players who remain on a team that has cut more than $70 million in payroll since last year.
"Stanton, he's an unbelievable great player. Great guy. Great teammate," Reyes said. "But like I say, it is what it is. I feel sorry for him. But that's the way it is."