Mets shortstop Jose Reyes will be a free agent at the end of the 2011 season, but he and his agent, Peter Greenberg, want to discuss a contract extension during the middle of the season, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports.

The team has expressed that they will happily engage in negotiations during that stage of the season.

“I’m open to it, yeah,” general manager Sandy Alderson said on Tuesday.

According to DiComo that doesn’t mean Alderson would prefer to talk money during the season, when such discussions can become a distraction both to the player and the club. The Mets, who have already engaged mid-seasons discussions with Reyes and David Wright, don’t have an strict policy against it.

“It’s not something I’ve ever ruled out as a policy,” Alderson said. “To the extent that things get to be a distraction, I guess you might have to address that distraction. But as a policy, that’s not something I’ve ruled out. That’s not something I wouldn’t necessarily do.”

Back in January, we learned that the Mets have already thought about signing him to a long-term deal. The 28-year-old Reyes signed a four-year, $23.25 million contract that started in 2007, and the team exercised a team option in 2011 for $11 million in November.