7:55pm: Cespedes has already walked back his comments somewhat, as Mike Puma of the New York Post writes. Asked about his earlier comments, Cespedes replied (through a translator): “I’ve said it before: My intentions, of course, are to be here for three years and if I can spend the rest of my career with the Mets I would.” Cespedes, though, said he hasn’t made a final decision as to whether he’ll opt out. “My focus is just to play baseball and help the team win, hopefully make it to the playoffs. I let my agents worry about all that.”
Certainly, it’d be fairly stunning if Cespedes passed up the opportunity to hit the open market, though the possibility of course remains that his agents could work out an extension or that he could simply opt out and re-sign for a considerably larger sum than the $47.5MM he’d be guaranteed through 2018 under his current contract.
1:33pm: Mets star outfielder Yoenis Cespedes says that he still intends to stay for the final two years of his contract with the Mets, as Bob Klapisch and Matt Ehalt of the Bergen Record report. Of course, there’s still time to go before he has to decide on his opt-out clause, which still looks like the better financial decision from his perspective.
Cespedes landed in New York via trade, but seemingly prioritized a return when he hit the open market last winter. He spurned larger guarantees from other organizations to stick with the Mets for a three-year, $75MM commitment with the opt-out opportunity coming after just one season. (It’s important to note that the other reported contracts on the table had lower average annual values and lacked the opportunity to re-enter the market.)
Though he has long maintained that he was signing on for the full three years that the contract could cover, Cespedes has done nothing but improve his market thus far in 2016. While he has missed a bit of time due to injury, the 30-year-old has compiled a robust .295/.365/.570 batting line that nearly matches the overall output he gave the Mets last year down the stretch.
That could spell big dollars if Cespedes does end up changing his mind and declining what amounts to a two-year, $47.5MM player option. Though he’ll surely come with a qualifying offer attached this time around, and is obviously a year older, the Cuban star also now has two consecutive years of stellar play to support his case. There other other top power bats and other outfielders available, but Cespedes currently holds the top spot in the free agent power rankings of MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes.
Whether or not New York would make another push to retain Cespedes remain unclear. It’s theoretically possible the club could weigh an extension offer, or pursue the veteran slugger if he triggers the clause. But it’s largely beyond question that the organization would be overjoyed if he decides to stay. Even with both Curtis Granderson and Jay Bruce under contract for another year (the former via guarantee, the latter an option), Juan Lagares set to return from injury, and younger players like Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo on hand, the remaining commitment to Cespedes represents a reasonably-priced route to top-line production that would be hard to count on from other sources.
Wouldn’t it be nice if Cespedes stays true to his contract (or even opens up to reworking his contract in order to stay a few more years)?
Hopefully it all works out for the Mets. I’m confident that they can rebound next year with a healthy rotation and Cespedes leading their lineup.
How would opting out not be staying true to his contract? It was a an agreed upon clause by both sides. I fail to see how him opting out wouldn’t be staying true to the contract.
He would be an idiot if he did not opt out
Because staying true to his contract means doing what gives the fans a warm fuzzy feeling! Agents and players are in a business and sometimes that business includes things that make them more money!
I’m not a Mets fan, but it would simply be nice if players did what was best for their team and not just for themselves.
If the Mets wanted Cespedes to do what’s “best for the team” they should have never agreed to the opt out and gave him whatever money they got discounted because of the opt out. Mets are a New York based team let’s not pretend that they need to get players on Pirates/Rays/As prices to do what’s “best for the team”.
That’s like saying you should stay on with your current employer when a competitor is willing to pay you significantly more. Are you telling me you’d turn that down?
This is going to be an abysmal free agent class.
Yup
Scott Boras is shaking his head over this free agent class. Cannot wait to hear what he has to say about it all.
A pissed off Boras is almost as good as Ces staying with the Mets!
Haha. True that. I just cannot wait how Boras spins this all. It’s always masterful regardless if you agree with him or not.
I’ll believe it when I hear it from his agent.
If you clicked the link, you will note the article states Cespedes was speaking through an interpreter. So this clearly was some sort of “lost in translation” issue ….lol j/k. The only way that Cespedes does not opt out is if the Mets sign him to a k extension before the opt out or if he has fired his agent and is now representing himself. An extension is possible, but I think he is more likely to opt out.
What? He has to opt out! He could easily get double the guaranteed money that he has left on that contract, even if he stays with the Mets.
Cespedes was also asked later if he’d made a decision on whether or not he was going to opt out, which he said he hadn’t made that decision.