If you would have told me in November that we would be refreshing out Twitter feeds on January 17th, praying to see a report indicating Yoenis Cespedes is heading back to Queens, I probably would of laughed myself into tears. Sure the Mets are still in the hunt for the slugging Cuban outfielder that brought magic to New York City’s largest borough. But the entire market for Cespedes is not what I, or most, expected.
It was back in December when Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News first reported that the Los Angeles Angels might make a run for Yoenis. Around the same time, Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors predicted the slugger to end up with the Angels, signing a deal in the $140 million dollar range. My initial instincts entering the offseason was that Cespedes would have a range of offers with an AAV of $20-$25 million, given his incredible second-half of 2015. Since then, he has been also linked to the Detroit Tigers as well as the Chicago White Sox.
The Baltimore Orioles were most recently linked to Cespedes, with reports that they had extended a five-year, $75-$90 million offer according to Jerry Crasnick. However, it appears talks are done between the two sides since the Orioles were able to ink slugger Chris Davis to a lucrative deal.
John Harper penned an eye-opening article yesterday in the Daily News, pointing to several reasons why the market for the 30-year old hasn’t shaped out like some may have predicted. One point in particular stood out to me, where he mentioned the fact that Buck Showalter, the manager of the Baltimore Orioles, insisted the team sign Justin Upton while being “dead-set against bringing in Cespedes.” Showalter is well respected around baseball and it potentially could be a replica of similar feelings by front office executives around the league. This might explain a weaker market for the versatile outfielder than expected. It seems that few predicted a bear market for Cespedes, but maybe the Mets are smarter than we think.
Harper went on to note something Sandy Alderson had mentioned to him. The general manager indicated that the team signed Alejandro De Aza, a budget-level outfielder, to a one-year deal to keep their payroll flexible in the case that the opportunity arises to bring back Cespedes.
There are two ways to look at this situation. Perhaps ownership still doesn’t want to increase the payroll, therefore forcing Alderson’s hand to bring in De Aza and the team is not actually serious about bringing back Cespedes. The optimistic fans in the depths of Mets Twitter will hold out hope that Alderson is smarter than we give him credit for, and the team is turning up the aggression now that the market is weaker than expected. Only time will tell. For now, keep refreshing.
