In perhaps the least surprising development of the young offseason, star outfielder Yoenis Cespedes officially opted out of the two years and $47.5MM remaining on his contract with the Mets and become a free agent Saturday. One reason Cespedes chose to re-sign with New York on a three-year, $75MM deal last offseason was its willingness to give him a three-day opt-out window after the 2016 World Series. Now, having taken advantage of that exit clause, Cespedes is back on the market as arguably the top player available.
In an underwhelming free agent class, the 31-year-old Cespedes likely stands the best chance of landing a nine-figure accord prior to next season. Cespedes reportedly could have inked a five-year, $110MM contract with the Nationals last winter, but their offer came with a decade of heavily deferred payments that would have reduced the present-day value of the deal to $77MM. Back then, Cespedes was part of a class that featured seven players who signed contracts ranging from $110MM to $217MM in total value. Two of those standouts, Jason Heyward and Justin Upton, were fellow outfielders.
Cespedes won’t encounter competition along the lines of Heyward and Upton this year, which should help his cause in securing the highest-paying deal of the winter after he slashed .280/.354/.530 with 31 home runs in 543 plate appearances in 2016. That was the third excellent offensive season in the five-year major league career of Cespedes, a lifetime .272/.325/.494 hitter who has accounted for 18.6 fWAR and 18.7 bWAR in a combined 2,978 PAs with the Athletics, Red Sox, Tigers and Mets.
Having already played for four teams in a half-decade, the Cuban emigree has been a nomad since signing with Oakland in 2012. If Cespedes receives the type of deal he desires in the next few months, his days of switching uniforms should be over – at least for a while. Of course, now the question is whether he’ll remain in Queens or head to his fifth major league destination. Cespedes hopes to stay with the Mets, who acquired him from the Tigers prior to the 2015 trade deadline, but New York hadn’t opened contract talks with him as of Wednesday and once again doesn’t want to exceed three years on a contract. We’ll find out soon enough whether that’s unrealistic on the part of the Mets. In the meantime, they’ll tender Cespedes a qualifying offer by Monday’s deadline in order to receive a first-round pick as compensation if he signs elsewhere.
Ideally for the Mets (and for the player, it seems), they’ll re-up Cespedes to continue serving as the nucleus of their lineup. But considering they’re wary of engaging in a bidding war, it’s possible we’ve seen the last of Cespedes in a Mets uniform. How do you expect free agency to play out for him?
(Poll link for Trade Rumors App users)
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
I can see him with cardinals
Cardinals have indicated they are going to trade for a CF – I think $20+ million per year is too rich for their blood for somebody over 30
Dexter fowler
Has a QO attached to him. The Cardinals will likely pass.
Cespedes is asking for 30+ a season. I wonder if the Cards deal for Cutch or sign Fowler away from Chi Town. I don’t know if the Bucs will trade Cutch interdivision though. Even though he will reach Free agency in 2017-2018 offseason
I don’t think the Cardinals ever had any interest in Cespedes, probably never will, and especially not for $30 million.
Fowler is a possibility, but a trade for Blackmon, Eaton or Ozuna is more likely.
Nah the obvious place, San Fran
I think that is the most sense is going to San Francisco. Maybe the Yankees or Nationals get involved?
The SF Giants make the most sense. If not, I think he is back with the Mets.
San Francisco got good hitting they need pitching
They need a power hitting outfielder as they now have a vacancy in left and were near the bottom in home runs hit last year
SF makes more sense than the Mets? They make sense, but they’d have to overpay like crazy…. which would make it a bad deal.
If the cash is fair, he’s staying in NY.. If the cash is crazy, someone made a mistake.
He feeds off the energy in NYC… kind of like Reyes. He wouldn’t be as good elsewhere.
Only because they have the financial resources to outbid the Mets.
How do you figure? The Mets have 50 million(ish) in payroll open after arbitration, so they are going to reach a decent number for Cespedes.
Even if they could outbid the Mets, why would the Giants go all Robbie Cano on him with other power hitters available?
They can trade with the Mets for Bruce and get a player that fits them better for a fraction of the price.
Hey, I agree, the Mets make a lot of sense – he seems to like it there, and his two best seasons were there.
But, I don’t think the Mets have as much financial room as you think – their arbitration eligible players are expected to cost $20 million more than last year. ESPN projects them to have an opening day payroll of $106 million WITHOUT Cespedes. That is $5 million more than last year.
Now, they can save $13 million and apply it towards Cespedes if they can move Jay Bruce in a trade, but they are still going to be up in the $120 million range for payroll then.
They were willing to pay him 27 million last year. I think it’s more about value and years than money for the Mets
I think they feel if they sign Fowler and maybe bring Walker back or sign Ramos because they were awful at catcher last year D’arnaud had a 0.,1 WAR. Sandy also doesn’t seem hip about giving out long contracts. The only Long term deal he gave was a 7 year to D-Wright.
I also think a possible trade for J.D Martinez(could be on the block), Ian Kinsler(if Walker goes elsewhere) or Andrew Mc Cutchen is not completley out of the realm of possibility
A McCutchen trade with spending the dollars elsewhere would make a lot of sense
That’s kind of dumb. He was an All star with Tigers and A’s and a HRD champion twice, both in American League.
Dodgers or Angels will
Sign this guy. You can go ahead and tell me I’m wrong but I am willing to put money on it.
Dodgers outfield is crowded enough as it is, no?
I agree and hope he does Dodgers could probably make the World Series if they sign this guy
Angels won’t. We have Maybin already and I think Billy knows better than to drop a big contract for one player.
Angels wouldn’t do that. I think right now the mind set is to slowly rebuild while trying to stay competitive. best way to undo all of that is to sign a one figure contract
How much? 🙂 You’d really put money on a player leaving a team when both he and the team want to reunite? I’m in.
He would fit really well in L.A though and give them a bonafide power bat in between Seager and A-Gon
The other place I can see him landing if not SF or NYM is the Seattle Mariners.
They need outfielders, only really have Leonys Martin returning, and he could probably put up monstrous HR totals in that park.
Safeco Field?
“accounted for 18.6 fWAR and 18.7 bWAR”
It is actually written “rWAR,” not “bWAR.”
Either is acceptable.
what does fWAR and rWAR mean?
fWAR is Fangraphs WAR, rWAR is for baseball reference WAR. They are two websites with two different ways of calculating the player values, so the same player would have different final WAR numbers depending on which website you look at. People include the website to make it easy to fact check or for context reasons.
bWAR is the same thing as rWAR, by the way.
Somewhere in California, Yoenis will play LF and rip the cover off the baseball for more than a few years.
Why has no one mentioned the Yankees? The guy likes the big stage of NY, Aaron Judge isn’t ready and even if he was, they could move Brett Gardner if need be… short porch and a DH possibility if Cespedes gets banged up as he has with the Mets. The Yankees have some cash room now and need proven power in the middle of their lineup.
He’s not going to the Yankees because they need pitching… lots of it. Ces can’t pitch.
They need offense just as much, if not more. I don’t know how much or how little you follow the Yankees, but they struggled last year because of Offense, not because of Pitching. Though they do need pitching too I will say, but they need offense more.
They were 22nd in runs scored and 13th in Earned Runs allowed (in other words, 13th Fewest). Cashman has already stated his plan is to go after pitching however. I still think they need to get a bat or 2. What stanthefan said makes complete sense. They could sign Cespdes and could trade Gardner for a SP (though certainly won’t get a #1/#2 pitcher in return unless they add big prospects)
Since they have the DH advantage, they have more options than NL teams do. Any of the Toronto guys make sense, as well as checking in on the Pirates for their MVP. If they sign a Toronto guy, they’re weakening a team in division. Extra plus.
Cespedes is not a perfect player; he fits the Mets really well for some reason, but I don’t see other teams going for him as hard as everyone seems to think.
Yankees would be foolish to do that with all of their old guy contracts of late. I’m betting they’re holding out for Trout, Machado, or Harper
Yankees do not have the cash room to sign him. They are staying under the luxury tax this season to reset the clock.
So the player wants to resign, the team wants him back and 75% of the voters (at this point) think he’s not going back to the Mets. Sounds logical. lol
He’s not definitely going back to the Mets, but it’s probable.
I doubt the Mets would pay him what he’s going to get. Why resign if you’re the best free agent on the market this year? It’s almost guaranteed that a team panics and over pays him
I don’t think it’s a guarantee at all. Other GMs know what style of player he is and there are comparable hitters available that carry less volatility. He’s more valuable to the Mets than anywhere else because it’s the only place his talent has ever been stable. He’s only been “that guy” with them. Both sides have incentive to get it done because otherwise you’re betting a ton of cash (for no reason) in a random replacement bat being able to adjust to NYC.
Where was the mega-deal last year? Even Upton got paid…
My money is on the Dodgers or Jays. Mostly Dodgers. While they have several outfielders, none come close to Cespedes ability. I’m not so sure the Dodgers keep rolling with Puig and don’t trade him. Offensively, I don’t see a lot to like on that team apart from Seager.
Jays could work considering Bautista and EE might both be gone.
It doesn’t look like Cespedes will sign with the Mets there are some contenders with deep pockets that are looking for outfielders. The Cards and Giants come to mind, or a team like the Phillies might want to make a big splash. Cespedes gets 5/120 to 6/150. The only that helps the Mets is the Heyward contract of last year, that might knock the price down to around 100 million for 4 years. Other than money the weather and park factor may come into place.
I think Cespedes will get more than 5/120. Rumors having it he wants 30+ Million over 5 years making it 5 for 180
I just have a feeling it’s not the mets. I can’t see them coughing up the money.
I don’t think SF will spend the money. Like someone said they will have to overpay… because of CA taxes and the fact that hitters just don’t want to hit at AT
Hey, I’m a Mets fan and don’t see Cespedes returning unless like this year, Cespedes doesn’t get the offer he’s seeking. I just think the Yankees make a lot of sense here.
I don’t see Toronto (sorry Toronto), but I can’t see if you’re the top FA on the market that you’re choosing to play on turf half your games.
I don’t see the Cards doing it either, nor SF. Maybe the Nationals if they ever get the tv rights issues resolved, so they don’t have to keep deferring money.
But still I’m going Yankees. Hope it’s the Mets, but I’m not seeing it.
Why do the Yankees make sense? Other than being traumatized by the Mets fetish the Boss used to have, there’s little logic to it. They need two starters, an entire bullpen, plus they’re leaving room for Harper. Other than to tweak the Mets, it’s a bad move for them.
If the only other team you can think of is the Yankees, then I wouldn’t give away the Cespedes jersey quite yet.
I don’t either. It’s not because of the money either because I don’t think that is what is holding them back. I think the years because any team is going to be leary to offer him 6 years or 5 years and the fact that he will be limited to left field and his bit of laziness.
I can see him fitting well with the Nationals(watch them),Marlins(watch them too) but I doubt because of the Stanton contract not exactly working out,Dodgers and possibly the Giants for NL Clubs. Other than that maybe the Indians, Astros(wild pick) and Yankees take a shot in the AL.
One other thing to note Cespedes has a QO attached to him so a team like Cleveland could get a bit driven away by that(still think they are a strong contender to sign him), but also other small market teams who rely on farm depth building might back off there.
I think his market is
Dodgers,Nationals,Giants,Yankees,Mets,Indians,Mariners and maybe White Sox.
Teams I am a little unsure of: Miami, and Houston.
This is the reason they traded for Jay Bruce, they knew that Cespedes was gonna opt out. I think he’s gonna go to the Giants
Or the Yankees they would be the least affected by the loss of draft pick after they got all of those prospects this year