With Yoenis Cespedes officially opting out of his contract on Friday, the danger of losing him in free agency will begin to be fully realized.
The Mets have had over a month to negotiate a deal with Cespedes. Over this time period, the Mets were the only team that could negotiate with Cespedes, and yet the front office has had no contract discussions with him. Instead, the Mets have let everyone know they are pessimistic about re-signing him because he wants a five year deal. They also put out some signals that they are concerned about his effort if he gets the longterm deal he is looking for.
Is this the beginning of another smear campaign the Mets launched against Cespedes last offseason? Last offseason, the Mets quickly moved on from Cespedes by signing Alejandro De Aza to platoon with Juan Lagares in center, with Sandy Alderson referring to Cespedes as a square peg in a round hole to justify why the team decided against him. It was only after Cespedes didn’t get the deal he was expecting in free agency that he and the Mets were able to negotiate the current deal Cespedes is opting out of.
There will be no signings similar to De Aza this offseason. The Mets already have a glut of outfielders with Curtis Granderson, Jay Bruce, Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo, and Lagares. The Mets will likely piece together their outfield configuration from among their internal options for the 2017 season. There’s a good chance that Cespedes is as good as gone this time.
And if he does move on and signs with a new team, just let him go and not disparage or tarnish him on the way out. He was an amazing impact player for the Mets over the past year and a half. Not only did he energize and electrify the fans, but he was a huge difference maker in the lineup. If the Mets believe they can build a competitive offense without Cespedes, that’s fine and more power to them.
However, no matter what your decision, please don’t smear the guy on the way out. No matter how hard you try, you are never going to change our positive opinion of him. Please don’t taint all the great memories and thrilling moments that Cespedes had with the Mets. He gave us hope and we might have never snapped our six year losing streak without him. He exceeded all of our expectations with the Mets, helped us make back to back postseason appearances, and he shouldn’t be derided for wanting to find a better deal for himself. So I urge Mets ownership and the front office, please… no smear campaigns.
