Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Offseason Outlook: New York Mets

By | at

MLBTR is publishing Offseason Outlooks for all 30 teams. Click here for the other entries in this series.

Myriad injuries helped jeopardize the Mets’ postseason chances in 2016, but the team went on a tear over the final month and a half to secure its second straight playoff berth. Another World Series appearance wasn’t in the cards, though, as the Mets ran into October buzzsaw Madison Bumgarner and fell to the Giants in the National League wild-card game. Now, for the second offseason in a row, New York is in danger of losing lineup cornerstone Yoenis Cespedes.

Guaranteed Contracts

Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; projections via MLB Trade Rumors)

Free Agents

Mets Depth Chart; Mets Payroll Information

When the Mets acquired Cespedes from Detroit prior to the 2015 non-waiver trade deadline, they were three games above .500 and at risk of missing the playoffs for an eighth consecutive season. After his move to New York, Cespedes slashed an outstanding .287/.337/.604 to help lead the club to a 37-22 regular-season finish and an NL East title. Cespedes’ bat cooled off in the playoffs, particularly during the Mets’ five-game World Series loss to the Royals, but the outfielder was nonetheless instrumental in their return to relevance and would have been a significant loss had he signed elsewhere as a free agent. It appeared that would happen, but after he couldn’t find any offers to his liking on the market, Cespedes shockingly re-signed with the Mets on a three-year, $75MM deal in late January. That agreement came with a catch for the Mets, though: They had to give Cespedes a three-day opt-out window after this year’s World Series.

"<strong

Shortly after the Fall Classic between the Cubs and Indians concluded, Cespedes unsurprisingly voided what was left of his contract in order to take another shot at free agency. Having batted .280/.354./530 with 31 home runs in 534 plate appearances this past season, the 31-year-old likely has a better chance than any other impending free agent to land an accord worth upward of nine figures. Cespedes has expressed a desire to spend the rest of his career with the Mets, but it’s difficult to envision him falling into their laps again on a deal similar to the one he just vacated.

This winter’s class of free agents is far less enticing than the group from last year, when fellow outfielders Jason Heyward and Justin Upton were among seven players to secure pacts well in excess of $100MM. That should drive up the price to sign Cespedes, for whom the Mets reportedly aren’t willing to engage in a bidding war or go past the three-year mark on a new contract. Between Cespedes’ opt-out and his latest foray into free agency, the Mets will issue him a qualifying offer. If he signs elsewhere, they’ll receive a first-round draft pick as compensation.

Read more

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Cubs, Indians, Trades, Free Agency

By | at

This week in the baseball blogosphere:

Please send submissions to ZachBBWI @gmail.com.

Indians Name Co-Assistant General Managers

By | at

Indians president Chris Antonetti and general manager Mike Chernoff have decided it’s going to take two executives to replace former assistant GM Derek Falvey, who became the Twins’ chief baseball officer after the World Series. The American League champions promoted Carter Hawkins and Matt Forman to co-assistant GMs on Friday, Chernoff announced (via Jordan Bastian of MLB.com).

“I don’t expect we’ll fill [Falvey’s role] exactly the same way, but Carter Hawkins and Matt Forman will be promoted to assistant general managers. Carter, who had been director of player development, will continue to oversee our player development,” said Chernoff.

Hawkins, whom the Indians hired in 2008, became their player development director in 2014. He oversaw the Tribe’s farm system in that role, which will continue to be the case in his new position, per Bastian.

This is the second promotion in less than a year for Forman, who took over as the Indians’ director of baseball operations last Nov. 20 when Falvey moved up to assistant GM. Prior to joining the Indians in 2013, Forman worked for Baseball America.

“Matt, who had sort of come up through more of a scouting background, will oversee a lot of our scouting and acquisition processes — international, professional — and continue to be involved in the amateur stuff,” Chernoff stated. “And then, both guys will be part of our leadership team with all personnel, staff development and other initiatives.”

It doesn’t appear the AL Central rival Twins will force Cleveland to undergo more front office changes during the offseason, as Antonetti said Friday that he doesn’t expect Falvey to hire away any Indians execs. Falvey already tabbed a GM earlier in the week in former Rangers assistant Thad Levine.

Giants, Red Sox, Rangers, Yankees Among Teams Set To Watch Greg Holland Showcase

By | at

SATURDAY: The Yankees will also send representatives to watch Holland on Monday, according to George A. King III of the New York Post.

FRIDAY: The Red Sox are also showing some interest and will attend the showcase, which is scheduled for Monday, per WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford. Likewise, the Rangers will be on hand, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan tweets.

THURSDAY: The Giants are “legitimately intrigued” by former Royals closer Greg Holland and will scout his upcoming showcase, Andrew Baggarly of the Bay Area News Group tweets. Holland’s agent, Scott Boras, recently said Holland was throwing in the low 90s and would hold a showcase within the next week.

Holland missed the 2016 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery near the end of the 2015 season. He understandably struggled somewhat that year while pitching through a UCL tear, posting a 3.83 ERA with 9.9 K/9 and a too-high 5.2 BB/9 while throwing his fastball an average of about two MPH slower than the mid-90s heater he’d thrown previously. Before that, though, he was dominant, posting a combined 1.86 ERA, 12.6 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 from 2011 through 2014.

If Holland is now mostly or fully healthy, it’s for the first time in awhile. But it’s easy to see why the Giants (and, surely, many other teams) would have significant interest. He has an extremely impressive track record, and he’ll be far enough removed from surgery by next March that it’s easy to imagine he could reemerge as an effective, or even terrific, reliever if everything goes well. The Royals have also been connected to Holland, and it seems likely other teams besides San Francisco and Kansas City will enter the fray too.

Quick Hits: Cespedes, Matheny, Lyons, Padres

By | at

This offseason’s Yoenis Cespedes sweepstakes could come down to the Mets, Nationals, Giants and Blue Jays, Mike Puma of the New York Post writes. A return to New York makes sense, but only if the Mets are willing to make a commitment long enough to lure Cespedes back, Puma writes. The Nats competed for Cespedes last year, but this winter, signing Cespedes would require them to move Bryce Harper back to center field. The Giants, meanwhile, have an outfield opening with Angel Pagan set to depart, and the Blue Jays have a number of key offensive free agents, although it’s unclear whether they’ll seek to add a new talent as expensive as Cespedes will likely be. Here’s more from around the game.

  • Extending Mike Matheny (which the Cardinals did on Thursday) was a logical choice, Benjamin Hochman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. The Cards have had five straight winning seasons to begin Matheny’s tenure, and his previous three-year deal would have made him a lame duck for the 2017 season. Many Cardinals fans aren’t sold on Matheny, but Hochman thinks Matheny could improve his reputation by being more open with the press, the way Joe Maddon or Terry Francona are.
  • Cardinals GM John Mozeliak says lefty Tyler Lyons’ knee injury is “not responding as quickly as we hoped,” via Hochman. Lyons spent the previous three seasons bouncing back and forth between the rotation and bullpen. He pitched 2016 entirely as a reliever was in the midst of a solid campaign (3.38 ERA, 8.6 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 in 48 innings) before he missed the last two months with a stress reaction. He is out of options in the spring.
  • The Padres have “some interest” in retaining Adam Rosales, Jon Jay, Clayton Richard and Edwin Jackson, but will not be extending qualifying offers to any of them, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets. That comes as no surprise, since none of them profile as the kinds of upper-echelon players who typically get qualifying offers. Nonetheless, several of them were useful for the Padres in 2016. Rosales and Jay were both solid complementary pieces — Rosales hit a surprising 13 home runs in 248 plate appearances while playing six positions, and Jay produced a fine .339 OBP, although he missed two months with a fractured forearm. Richard, too, helped after arriving as a free agent in August, posting a 2.52 ERA in 53 2/3 innings down the stretch, although with underwhelming peripherals. Of the four, only Jackson clearly struggled, with a 5.89 ERA, 6.6 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9 in 73 1/3 innings. Jackson has voiced interest in returning to the Padres next season.

Minor MLB Transactions: 11/5/16

By | at

Here are today’s minor moves from around the game.

  • The Astros have announced that they’ve selected the contract of Dominican lefty Reymin Guduan, preventing him from hitting minor league free agency. The 24-year-old struggled at Triple-A Fresno in 2016 and has a long history of control problems, with an extremely high career 7.1 BB/9. He did, however, have a brilliant stretch at Double-A Corpus Christi last season (with 19 strikeouts and three walks over 13 innings), and he can apparently touch 100 MPH, a very rare quality in a lefty.
  • The Pirates have announced that they’ve added righty Dovydas Neverauskas and 1B/OF Jose Osuna to their 40-man roster, protecting them from the Rule 5 Draft. In 2009, the Bucs signed Neverauskas as a 16-year-old, and he made his way through their system slowly — perhaps unsurprisingly, given that his home country of Lithuania isn’t exactly a baseball hotbed. He transitioned from starting to relieving in 2015, and emerged as a hard-throwing relief prospect in a fine 2016 season in which he represented the Bucs in the Futures Game and posted a 3.10 ERA, 8.7 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in 58 innings split between Double-A and Triple-A. His year was sullied when he was arrested in a bar fight in Toledo in August, but the Pirates still appear to believe in his potential. The 23-year-old Osuna also spent the season at Double-A and Triple-A and held his own, hitting .279/.331/.457. He’s never had an exceptional minor league season and does not rate among the Bucs’ top prospects, but he’s been reliably productive and hit lefties very well last season.

Royals Decline Luke Hochevar’s Option

By | at

The Royals have announced they’ve declined Luke Hochevar’s $7MM 2017 mutual option. That means they’ll owe him a $500K buyout. He is now a free agent.

The move was expected. Hochevar underwent surgery to relieve thoracic outlet syndrome in August, and it’s unclear when he’ll be ready to return to game action. There have, however, been indications that the Royals could attempt to sign Hochevar to a cheaper deal for 2017.

Hochevar generally pitched well in 2016 when healthy, posting a 3.86 ERA, 9.2 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 over 37 1/3 innings. The 33-year-old former No. 1 overall pick struggled for years as a starter and missed the 2014 season after having Tommy John surgery, but he’s now had three relatively successful seasons as a hard-throwing reliever, including with the Royals’ 2015 World Series team.

Offseason Outlook: Chicago White Sox

By | at

MLBTR is publishing Offseason Outlooks for all 30 teams.  Click here for the other entries in this series.

After a fourth straight losing season, the White Sox have not revealed their organizational strategy.  Do they finally commit to a roster tear-down?  Or will the team spend another winter attempting to add the right veteran pieces to complement its talented core?

Guaranteed Contracts

  • James Shields, SP: $44MM through 2018.  Shields can opt out after 2016 World Series.  If Shields does not opt out, White Sox are responsible for $20MM for 2017-18.  Contract includes $16MM club option for 2019 with a $2MM buyout; White Sox would be responsible for buyout.
  • Melky Cabrera, LF: $15MM through 2017.
  • Jose Abreu, 1B: $34MM through 2019.  Can opt into arbitration system for 2017.
  • David Robertson, RP: $25MM through 2018.
  • Chris Sale, SP: $13MM through 2017.  Includes $12.5MM club option for 2018 with a $1MM buyout and $15MM club option for 2019 with a $1MM buyout.  2019 option increases to $16MM with Cy Young from 2016-18.
  • Jose Quintana, SP: $16.85MM through 2019.  Includes $10.5MM club option with a $1MM buyout for 2019 and $10.5MM club option for 2020 with a $1MM buyout.  2020 option can reach $13-14MM based on 2016-19 Cy Young voting.
  • Adam Eaton, RF/CF: $19.9MM through 2019.  Includes $9.5MM club option with a $1.5MM buyout for 2020 and $10.5MM club option for 2021 with a $1.5MM buyout.  2021 option can reach $13MM based on 2016-20 MVP voting.
  • Nate Jones, RP: $5.85MM through 2018.  Includes club options for 2019-21, with salaries depending on games finished and on whether Jones requires right elbow surgery by end of 2018 season.

Contract Options

Arbitration Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; link to MLBTR projections)

Free Agents

Chicago White Sox Depth Chart; Chicago White Sox Payroll Information

In early October, Robin Ventura announced he was stepping down as White Sox manager after five seasons.  Ventura’s contract was up anyway, and it’s not clear whether the Sox had any intention of offering him a new contract.  The team almost immediately promoted bench coach Rick Renteria to manage the club, on a term that has not yet been reported.  GM Rick Hahn chose not to interview other candidates, as Renteria was atop the team’s “living document” of potential future managers.  Renteria had a difficult experience with the Cubs, managing them in a 2014 rebuilding season, doing well enough to warrant a second year, and then getting fired when Joe Maddon became available.

Rick RenteriaI don’t know if the hiring of a less experienced manager like Renteria is an indication that he will preside over a 2017 rebuild for the White Sox, as Hahn has chosen not to tip his hand on the team’s offseason direction.  Hahn did posit in August that “by the time we make our first or second transaction, publicly it will be fairly clear as to our direction.”  As White Sox fans await this odd reveal, I’ll tackle this post from each direction.

In a rebuild scenario, the team could move a host of players that clearly won’t be part of the next good White Sox team: Todd Frazier, Melky Cabrera, Miguel Gonzalez, David Robertson, Brett Lawrie, Avisail Garcia, and James Shields.  Frazier, 31 in February, is coming off a career-best 40 home runs and a career-worst .225 batting average.  MLBTR projects a $13.5MM salary for 2017, after which he’ll reach free agency.  The White Sox could get something useful in return, but only a handful of contenders are seeking third basemen, and the free agent market features Justin Turner and Luis Valbuena.  Cabrera is also an above-average hitter, but his value is limited by his poor defense and $15MM salary.  Robertson struggled with his control and blew seven saves on the season, but his two year, $25MM commitment would appeal to teams not willing to pay full freight for Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen, or Mark Melancon.  Gonzalez bounced back as a solid back-end starter, which is hard to come by in the 2016-17 free agent market.  Lawrie, Garcia, and Shields have little to no trade value, but moving Cabrera and Robertson would clear $40MM in commitments, and trading Frazier and Gonzalez would free up $16MM+ that would have been spent on their arbitration salaries.  It seems likely that Avisail Garcia’s time with the White Sox will come to an end soon, as the 25-year-old has shown few signs of being a useful Major Leaguer after 409 career games, 356 of which came with the White Sox.

Trading players like Frazier, Cabrera, Robertson, and Gonzalez might return a handful of decent prospects and free up payroll space but would do little to change the long-term trajectory of the White Sox.  To truly reboot the franchise and try something different, Hahn and executive vice president Kenny Williams will have to entertain trades for any or all of Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, and Jose Abreu.  Sale and Quintana are immensely valuable assets.  Sale is among the ten best starters in baseball, and Quintana has to be in the top 20.  Both lefties will enter the 2017 season at just 28 years of age, with clean bills of health.  Both have extremely team-friendly contracts.  On the open market, Sale would be worth over $100MM for 2017-19 alone.  Instead, he’ll be paid $40.5MM at most.  Quintana will be paid at most $40.35MM over the next four seasons, which would also be valued over $100MM.  To top it off, there is no one remotely similar to Sale or Quintana in this year’s free agent market.

Nearly every team in baseball would have interest in Sale and Quintana.  Teams with a strong need for starting pitching this winter, like the Marlins, Braves, Astros, and Angels, would obviously be interested.  Others, who may add on the “only if it’s an ace” condition, like the Cubs, Dodgers, Red Sox, and Yankees, would be in as well. According to an August report from Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago, the Red Sox were unwilling to part with center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. for one of the White Sox aces at the trade deadline.  That gives you an idea of a potential headliner, though – an established, five-win under-30 player who is under control for four more years.  Other centerpiece examples could include Starling Marte, George Springer, or Christian Yelich.  The White Sox could also try for less-established, but extremely valuable young players like Yoan Moncada, Lucas Giolito, or Andrew Benintendi.  The question is whether Hahn would enter the offseason hellbent on trading one or both of his aces to kick off a true rebuild, or if he’d set a price and only make the trade if that price is met.  The latter approach makes more sense, since both pitchers will still be very valuable at the July trade deadline as well as next offseason (and beyond).

In the event of a rebuild, the White Sox must also consider trading first baseman Jose Abreu, who might earn $40-45MM through arbitration over the next three seasons.  While Abreu’s power has slipped since his rookie season, he’ll turn 30 in January and has a good $20MM of surplus value in comparison to market prices for power hitters.  Teams such as the Red Sox, Orioles, Rangers, Rockies, Astros, Yankees, and Blue Jays are a few possible matches.  Right fielder Adam Eaton would have immense trade value, with five years of potential control remaining.  However, I see Eaton as a potential source of stability, someone who can anchor the roster even if the front office starts shipping out other top players.

We haven’t even mentioned Carlos Rodon, Tim Anderson, and Nate Jones yet.  Plainly, the White Sox have too many good or great players to sell most of them off in a rebuild.  Owner Jerry Reinsdorf is 80 years old.  Shouldn’t this team be going for it?  Let’s look at what that might require.

The White Sox have had Opening Day payrolls in the $115-120MM range in three of the past four seasons.  They peaked at about $128MM in 2011, so that might be the ceiling.  The Sox have about $74MM committed to eight players under contract for 2017.  Add another $19MM for Frazier, Gonzalez, Jennings, Petricka, and Putnam, and we’re at $93MM for 13 players.

First and foremost on the agenda should be a catcher.  The White Sox pretty much have to go outside the organization for a backstop.  They could sign one of Matt Wieters or Jason Castro in free agency, or trade for the Yankees’ Brian McCann.  Signing Castro to a two-year deal in the $15MM range would be a measured way to fill the void.

At second base, the White Sox must decide whether they would like to bring the perennially disappointing or injured Lawrie back for $5MM or so through arbitration.  I’d vote no, because payroll will be tight and they can plug in Tyler Saladino for a much cheaper solution while possibly getting similar production.  It seems likely that Lawrie can bring back some kind of spare part in trade prior to the non-tender deadline.  Free agent options at second base include Neil Walker, Chase Utley, and Sean Rodriguez, if the White Sox want to go that route.

Center field is one of the more obvious areas of upgrade for the White Sox.  Adam Eaton had an excellent season as the team’s primary right fielder and should probably stay there.  Dexter Fowler, a player to whom the Sox made an offer last winter, is a free agent again and remains a strong fit.  One big concern is that Fowler will come with a qualifying offer attached, meaning the Sox would have to surrender the #12 pick in the 2017 draft if they sign him.  Unless Fowler comes at a serious discount from our projected lucrative four-year contract, he’s not an ideal addition.  Ian Desmond comes with a similar concern.  Instead, the White Sox could roll the dice on Carlos Gomez, who struggled mightily for parts of the last two seasons but showed promise in about a month’s worth of time with the Rangers at the end of the season.  Gomez could sign a one-year deal for around $13MM in an attempt to rebuild value in Chicago, assuming they’re willing to tangle with agent Scott Boras.  The relationship between Boras and the White Sox has had contentious moments dating back to the 90s.  While it has softened in recent years, I don’t know if they would be able to get together on a free agent deal for players like Gomez, Wieters, or Kendrys Morales.

To balance out the lineup, the White Sox could use a left-handed designated hitter.  Call it the Justin Morneau/Adam LaRoche role.  This could be filled by a switch-hitter as well, with free agents such as Carlos Beltran and Kendrys Morales fitting the bill.  If the goal is more to find a bat that can hit right-handed pitching well, then certainly Edwin Encarnacion is worth considering.  However, a contract for Encarnacion would annihilate Abreu’s franchise record of $68MM and bust the payroll.  Even the $12-14MM types like Beltran and Morales could be excessive for this bat-only role.  Free agents who have been solid against righties over the past three years and would come with palatable price tags include Adam Lind, Luis Valbuena, Pedro Alvarez, Chris Coghlan, and Brandon Moss.  None of those acquisitions would excite White Sox fans, but a high-priced designated hitter is a poor allocation of limited payroll space.  One could argue that the White Sox are already paying good money for a pair of DH-types who are dragging down the defense, in Melky Cabrera and Jose Abreu.  Another possibility would be to pencil Cabrera in for most of the DH at-bats, plugging the hole in left field with a defensively superior addition like trade candidate Brett Gardner.

So far we’ve added three players (or player types) to fill position player holes, and it would require about $27MM in salary for 2017.  This conservative offseason approach already requires $120MM for 16 players.  Accounting for minimum salary players, it’s difficult to see room for more significant additions.  Payroll will be tight, making the $10MM owed to James Shields in 2017 all the more painful.  Attempting to dump some of Cabrera’s salary is worth considering.  Given his subpar left field defense, he’s not providing good value to the White Sox on a $15MM salary.   Still, he was an above average hitter in two of the last three seasons, so the Sox might be able to find a team to take $8MM or so of the commitment.  The problem is that the savings might have to be reallocated to a new left fielder.  Eric Thames, coming off three huge years in Korea, could be a cheap roll of the dice for a team that would need some things to break their way to reach the playoffs.

I think the White Sox would find a taker for the majority of the $25MM owed to Robertson over the next two years, though his loss would create a hole in the bullpen.  Robertson just had minor knee surgery, while Putnam had elbow surgery in August and Petricka had hip surgery in June.  A good case can be made for adding to this bullpen rather than subtracting from it.  A late-inning lefty would be a good fit, with Brett Cecil, Travis Wood, Boone Logan, Mike Dunn, and Jerry Blevins looking like the better free agents.

The White Sox look very strong in the first four rotation spots, with Sale, Quintana, Rodon, and Gonzalez.  Shields, 35 in December, was brutal in 22 starts for the White Sox after being acquired in December, and his contract presents a real problem.  If not for the $22MM the Sox owe Shields over the next two years, he’d be a release candidate.  The contract might force the club to give him a look as their fifth starter heading into 2017, though cutting Shields now might be better for the team’s record.  It seems unlikely that the White Sox could bite the bullet and release Shields and also pour additional money into the rotation opening.

Most of the proposed roster solutions here have come from free agency.  In reality, Hahn will certainly look at the trade market.  The White Sox remain light on prospects, and would have to consider trading top names like Carson Fulmer, Zack Collins, Spencer Adams, or Zack Burdi to bring in Major League talent.  Trading from this group seems like digging a deeper long-term hole.

Whichever path Reinsdorf, Williams, and Hahn choose, I don’t expect a major organizational shift from the White Sox this offseason.  I can’t picture a $150MM+ payroll and a free agent megadeal or two, nor do I expect the team to clean house by trading Sale, Quintana, Abreu, and others.  This front office has taken the middle road before; perhaps there is enough talent on the roster to try it one last time.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Red Sox To Look For Setup Man, Designated Hitter

By | at

Last offseason, the Red Sox made big moves to acquire Craig Kimbrel and David Price. This year, Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski says the team doesn’t necessarily expect those sorts of blockbusters, Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald reports. Dombrowski does, however, have some positions in mind that the team will target.

“Last year, I thought all along that we really needed two big moves, which was a No. 1 starting pitcher and a closer,” says Dombrowski. “Those are two, I guess, what you’d consider headline moves. This winter I wouldn’t say that you put the same thought process on it. But again, you start talking to clubs, you never could tell what happens. But I would say philosophically, that’s probably the case.”

The Red Sox will have a big hole to fill at DH, given David Ortiz’s retirement, and they’ve been widely connected to Edwin Encarnacion. But Dombrowski says he remains open to the possibility that the Sox could fill the position with talent already in the organization.

“[W]e’ll just kind of wait to see what happens in David’s situation as far as filling that is concerned. Can deal with that internally, externally (too) I think,” Dombrowski says.

Signing someone like Encarnacion would be costly, of course. Red Sox president Sam Kennedy, meanwhile, says he doesn’t know what the team’s 2017 payroll will be, Drellich reports. Kennedy adds that the Red Sox will have to be “prepared” to adjust after Ortiz’s departure.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen with payroll, truthfully,” says Kennedy. “I think the consistent theme of the John Henry, Tom Werner ownership group, going all the way back to 2002, has been to not sort of set a hard and fast payroll each and every year.”

Dombrowski does say the Red Sox will look for a setup man. WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford writes that the team is planning to attend former Royals closer Greg Holland’s upcoming showcase. He would potentially fit the bill, although it appears there will be considerable interest from other teams as well. Bradford also suggests re-signing 41-year-old free agent Koji Uehara could be a possibility.

Yoenis Cespedes To Opt Out Of Contract With Mets

By | at

NOVEMBER 5: Cespedes has officially opted out of his contract, ESPN’s Adam Rubin writes. The Mets will extend him a qualifying offer on Monday.

OCTOBER 26: Outfielder Yoenis Cespedes plans to opt out of the two remaining years on his contract with the Mets, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag. His deal gave him a choice between returning to the free agent market and taking $47.5MM for two more years in New York.

The decision to opt out has been expected for quite some time — if not from the dramatic moment the contract was signed in late January, then since Cespedes completed a mostly healthy and entirely productive campaign. Certainly, it has been apparent to the team that Cespedes would test the market, of course, so his decision won’t come as a surprise when it’s made official after the World Series.

Giving Cespedes an opt-out opportunity was a critical element of the Mets’ pitch to him last winter, when he took a smaller total contract (three years, $75MM) than some other teams offered. While the desire to return to New York certainly seemed to play a role, there was plenty of financial sense in the move as well.

Taking the Mets’ offer gave Cespedes the chance to take home $27.5MM for 2016 and then re-enter the market — which, it seems, is exactly what he’ll do. Alternative arrangements would have reportedly promised him as much as $110MM, but would’ve included deferrals, covered five years, and come without an opt-out opportunity.

That gambit seems likely to pay off, as the 31-year-old posted another huge season and now looks to be the biggest free agent target in a much weaker overall group of talent than was available last year. Cespedes followed up on his monster second half run with the Mets in 2015 with a .280/.354/.530 slash and 31 home runs over 543 plate appearances.

Best of all, perhaps, Cespedes showed increased plate discipline — he posted a career-high 9.4% walk rate — without letting the selectivity sap his power. While he didn’t repeat his stellar defensive metrics, that was due in part to the fact that Cespedes was pressed into duty in center (where he has never rated well) and perhaps also to a nagging quad injury.

Importantly, New York will still be able to slap a qualifying offer on Cespedes. He’ll obviously turn that one-year, $17.2MM contract down, but in doing so will enable the Mets to pick up a draft pick if he signs with another team. A second reunion certainly can’t be ruled out after the team surprised with the first, but it seems the Mets will either need to promise more than they’d probably like to or (perhaps more likely) sit back and wait to see whether Cespedes again fails to find a suitable payday from another organization.

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top