Fans’ hearts collectively skipped a beat on Tuesday afternoon as video of injured New York Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes taking batting practice pitches from former Mets outfielder and current Short Season-A Brooklyn Cyclones first base coach Endy Chavez began circulating on social media.
The video was deleted off of Chavez’s feed soon after being posted (Brodie’s kept all of his dealings tight to the chest; there’s no reason to expect him to act differently in this situation). But we all saw it with our own eyes – Yo’s back in the swing of things.
At manager Carlos Beltran‘s introductory press conference, Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen told reporters it was “too early to tell” if Cespedes, 34, would return to the team in 2020.
After missing all of last season following double heel decalcification surgery in 2018 then suffering a major ankle injury via a fall on his ranch last summer, Van Wagenen admitted he didn’t “have enough information to predict when [Cespedes is] going to be back”.
That scenario is likely unchanged, but seeing Cespedes with a bat in his hand is good news any way you slice it.
As of late Tuesday afternoon, the Mets have remained tight-lipped regarding the situation. That probably won’t last long, considering the excitement the video incited among the fan base.
Let’s hypothetically assume that Cespedes will indeed be ready to go for Opening Day next March. If that’s the case, the Mets’ offseason will likely play out a bit differently than anyone outside the organization anticipated.
Penciling Cespedes into left field, shifting Jeff McNeil to third base, Brandon Nimmo into center field, Michael Conforto into right, and J.D. Davis into a full-time bench role with a focus on backing up at all four corner positions provides a foundation of sorts.
Don’t misunderstand, adding a true centerfielder to shore up late-game defensive alignments is still a prudent course of action. Strike that, it’s a necessity. But with the stability Cespedes would bring back to the Mets’ outfield – offensively, at least – Van Wagenen won’t be pressured into moving valuable assets for a Starling Marte or ponying up unnecessary dollars for aging veteran options (looking at you, Jarrod Dyson).
Nimmo’s serviceable out there (-7 DRS over 719.1 center field innings) and, most importantly to this franchise, affordable. Plus, with Beltran at the helm, this writer is fully expecting a more defensively-capable outfield in Queens next season. But that doesn’t mean the Mets have to head into 2020 without a real defense-first option to go to up the middle.
Adding Japanese free agent Shogo Akiyama (looking for a deal in the three-year, $15 million range, as per Bruce Levine of 670 The Score in Chicago) or even bringing back Juan Lagares on a one-year, $2 million deal would reinforce a weak spot on this roster and give Van Wagenen a bit more flexibility to solidify other areas of need this winter.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, but the idea of Cespedes returning to Flushing to play out the final year of his four-year, $110 million deal — with this particular team around him — is simply too enticing to ignore.
Hopefully, Brodie’s got all the information he needs to move forward accordingly.
