Barry Bloom of MLB.com caught up with Terry Collins in Los Angeles on Sunday, where the Mets manager was being honored at the annual Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation Dinner and received the Tommy Lasorda Managerial Achievement Award.
Collins discussed a variety of issues with Bloom and didn’t conceal his strong desire for Sandy Alderson to bring free agent outfielder Yoenis Cespedes back for the 2016 season.
“I talked to Sandy today, and hopefully we’ll continue to move forward in those negotiations,” said Collins. “I don’t know where Cespedes is at contract-wise with anybody else, but I know he wants to come back to New York if he can. He’s a great player and we’d love to have him back.”
There are some real and legitimate reasons for the Mets to be wary of re-signing Cespedes as Sandy Alderson pointed out two weeks ago during a press conference in Manhattan. Advanced stats like UZR and DRS suggest he’s a poor defensive center fielder. Despite his hot streak with the Mets, he still only has a career .319 OBP.
Also, you can knock the Mets finances all you want, but most longterm deals to 30-year old free agents typically end badly. These are all pretty legitimate concerns for the front office.
But on Saturday, with Cespedes still unsigned and fans still clamoring for him, the Mets leaked out some more concerns about their former cleanup hitter, as reported by John Harper of the Daily News.
- He marches to his own drumbeat.
- He refuses to take batting practice.
- He doesn’t hustle.
- He smokes during games.
- He could become a headache if he receives a long-term deal.
I’m not going to say any of these reasons are incorrect. I’ve never seen Cespedes take batting practice. We saw him miss player introductions at Citi Field during the World Series. I’ve yet to see him go to first base when he strikes out on a ball in the dirt. He was lackadaisical running down a routine flyball leading to the infamous inside-the-park home run to open the World Series. Worse yet, he didn’t even run after the ball once it got by him. So yes, I believe the Mets on all of these fronts.
However, why are they telling all of this to us now? I never heard of the batting practice issue in August. Apparently, there was no issue with smoking in September. Why are the Mets somewhat smearing Cespedes now?
If it’s to change the public opinion of Mets fans on him, it’s misguided. If it’s to distract about how the Mets aren’t spending, it’s not working. If it’s to drive down his market to put him within their range, it’s not happening. So again, what did leaking all this information to the New York Daily News accomplish?
To me, all it accomplished was making the Mets seem small and petty. This guy was a good player for your team for three months. He was a fan favorite. He was a thrill a minute. For all of that, the Mets could have just let him ride off into the sunset if they had no real intentions of re-signing him. At the end of the day, there was no need for it.
Meanwhile, it appears Terry Collins wants desperately for the Mets to bring Cespedes back. However, with as many as 10 teams now reportedly in the hunt for Cespedes and a strong likelihood that he’ll get that five or six year deal he’s looking for, the chances look pretty slim that the Mets will re-sign him. But given all these recent leaks, it makes one wonder if the Mets were ever seriously interested in a reunion with Cespedes after all.
