Here’s a quick update on Yoenis Cespedes, who told Maria Guardado of NJ Advance Media that he didn’t run on the play because he disagreed with the umpire’s call.
“I didn’t run because I was upset with the umpire,” Cespedes said in Spanish. “I didn’t think that I swung the bat in that moment.”
When asked if he was surprised by the fans’ reaction, Cespedes said, “Honestly, I didn’t hear anything.”
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Outfielder Yoenis Cespedes has heard plenty of cheers from appreciative Mets fans in the seven weeks since he joined the team and changed their fortunes with his explosive bat.
However, when he struck out in the fourth inning on Tuesday and failed to break for first base after the ball skipped past catcher A.J. Pierzynski, the fans at Citi Field loudly booed Cespedes as he headed back to the dugout.
According to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, manager Terry Collins approached Cespedes wanting to know his reason for the lack of hustle.
“He didn’t think he went [around],” Collins said, explaining that Cespedes believed he never swung. Still, Collins would have preferred he ran anyway. Cespedes declined to comment on it.
Cespedes finished 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts, after a big three-hit, two doubles game on Monday. He is now 4-for-his-last 27 with nine strikeouts.
As Kevin Kernan of the NY Post pointed out, besides not running to first base on the strikeout in the fourth, he also allowed a single by starting pitcher Matt Wisler to fall in on a ball that appeared catchable, and there have been many instances where Cespedes half-heartedly jogs to first base on ground balls.
Obviously, Cespedes has been huge offensively for the Mets, no doubt about it. But when you consider the significant contract demands that he will have this winter, does his occasional lack of hustle in the field and on the basepaths give you some pause?
Or is the offensive side of his game so tremendous and overwhelmingly better than most sluggers, that it basically reduces his lackadaisical play to a non issue?
It’s certainly one of the big questions Sandy Alderson will have to tackle when he weighs the pros and cons of tendering his big trade deadline acquisition a multi-year offer after the season.
