The Mets are willing to wait on the Yoenis Cespedes market according to Buster Olney of ESPN Insider . One source told Buster that “there is no urgency” in coming to terms with Cespedes once he opts out of his current deal with the Mets.
Cespedes hit .280/.354/.530 with 25 doubles, 31 home runs and 86 RBI while posting the highest walk rate (9.4%) of his career. He was limited to 132 games because of a right quadriceps injury that placed on him on the disabled list in August. The injury also limited his range on defense in the second half.
Sandy Alderson was patient last year with Cespedes as they signed him in late January to what was essentially a one-year contract worth $27.5 million. The deal does include two more years at $23,750,000 million per, but it’s a forgone conclusion that Cespedes will opt out and test the open market for the second straight offseason.
It will be a strong market for power hitting options with Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista, Carlos Beltran, Mark Trumbo and Justin Turner all being free agents.
Thoughts from Joe D.
Clearly, it’s imperative that the Mets front office does everything in its power to re-sign Yoenis Cespedes and keeping from latching onto a potential rival as we saw with Daniel Murphy signing with Washington Nationals and carrying them to a first place NL East finish. And we already know the Nats tried once and failed to secure Cespedes mostly because their offer was heavily backloaded.
Cespedes, who turned 31 this month, is more than just a power bat they can replace with a healthy Lucas Duda or a better version of the Jay Bruce who fell flat on his face after being dealt to the Mets at the trade deadline. With David Wright reduced to a shell of his former self and Travis d’Arnaud failing to meet his lofty power expectations, I shudder to think how exposed the Mets lineup will be without the dynamic right-handed thunder that Cespedes adds to the middle of the order.
The best evidence for how significant an impact Cespedes has had with the Mets and why his loss could spell doom for the Mets offense is looking at the won-loss column. The Mets were 72-54 in games that Cespedes started this past season, and 34-20 in 2015. That adds up to a 106-74 record in his time with the Mets, good for a .589 winning percentage.
Ideally, it would behoove the Mets to get a deal done with Cespedes before that five day window after the World Series in which only them can negotiate with him. After that it’s off to the races as he becomes a free agent and can negotiate with any team. Still, if this comes down to a bidding war that drives his price to $100 million or more, I still say that it’s a bidding war the Mets can;t afford to lose. It’s time for the Mets to put on their big boy pants.
The Mets have a 2-4 year window to try and win a championship with their elite young pitching staff before they start hitting free agency and become too costly to keep the rotation together. To waste any portion of that window trying to find a right-handed power bat like Cespedes’ would make for an arduous task and it will probably lead to even more wasted stellar pitching performances than we’ve seen already.
Simply put, it’s time to make a Mike Piazza sized commitment for a player who has had a Mike Piazza sized impact on the New York Mets. If it takes a five-year deal that is beyond the comfort level for Sandy Alderson, he’ll have to grin and bear it – just as he did when Jeff Wilpon handed David Wright that mega deal. It’s no secret that Cespedes loves New York and New York loves him. He’s an incomparable and dynamic talent that thrives in the spotlight not shrink. Let’s get this done.
