According Jon Heyman of Todays Knuckleball, Yoenis Cespedes plans on exercising his opt-out clause as expected. He states that the Mets have kept “open dialogue” with Cespedes but doesn’t get the sense they are making a push for a deal prior to the opt-out.
Two GMs that Heyman talked to said they could see Cespedes getting in the range of at least four years and $100 million. Multiple reports say that Cespedes will seek a five-year deal after opting out of the two years, $47.5 million he has left with the Mets.
Original Report – Oct 26
According to Adam Rubin of ESPN, not only do the New York Mets anticipate Yoenis Cespedes will opt out of the remaining two years of his contract, they are skeptical he will re-sign with them, although they believed the same thing a year ago.
Last year, the Mets had put contingency plans for Cespedes leaving in place when Alejandro De Aza was signed to platoon with Juan Lagares in center field.
When Cespedes did not receive the contract offer he wanted on the free agent market both he and the Mets agreed to a three year $75 million contract that included an opt out after the first year. Cespedes has until three days after the World Series has ended to exercise that option.
Rubin says that Mets officials expect Cespedes will seek a five-year deal as a free agent and are pessimistic about their chances of re-signing him.
“In fact, one reason for acquiring outfielder Jay Bruce from the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 1 was to serve as a hedge in case Cespedes bolted this offseason”, he adds.
In Cespedes’ time with the Mets, he has played in 189 games hitting .282/.348/.554 with 48 homers and 130 RBI. While Cespedes began his Mets career predominantly playing center field, leg injuries limited him to left field in the second half of 2016.
Should Cespedes depart, the Mets need to assess whether internal options like Jay Bruce and Michael Conforto can replicate that type of production or if they need to go on the free agent market and sign a player like Jose Bautista.
