SWINGING FOR CESPEDE$
Mets must pony up if they hope to re-sign Citi Field idol. Question is for how long?
Now that the Yoenis Cespedes National League Most Valuable Player debate has been put to rest — we do agree 60 games does not an MVP make? — the next issue involving the Cuban super slugger is whether or not the Mets will resign him.
While there is absolutely no debate about Cespedes, with 16 homers, 41 RBI and 35 runs in 39 games, completely transforming the Mets, his value will only continue to skyrocket the deeper they go in the postseason. It’s almost like the A-Rod home run bonuses with the Yankees — the more legends he passes on the all-time list, the more the Yankees (supposedly) have to pay. In Cespedes’ case, however, it’s only if the Mets choose to pay, and right now it’s hard to determine exactly what his value is. When that question was posed to a Mets higher-up, the response was: “I’d have a better idea of that if you could tell me how old he actually is.”
What we do know is that the record says Cespedes will turn 30 next month, and he will be looking to, at the very least, double his present $10 million salary. After that, it comes down to the years, and since this will be Cespedes’ first and likely only free agent rodeo, his Roc Nation agents can be expected to start out by seeking a six- to seven-year deal. It doesn’t matter that not a single contract of that many years for a player of 30 or older has ever worked out. It must be assumed, as always, that some dumb owner will ignore that. At the same time, you know the Roc Nation agents will seek to play on Met fans’ emotions, just as they did with Yankee fans by painting the Bombers as cheapskates for being unwilling to pay more than $175 million over seven years to Robinson Cano.
But beyond the years and Cespedes’ age, there are other considerations for the Mets. You may recall Sandy
Alderson saying that the biggest key in making the trade for Cespedes was his willingness to play center field. When it comes to a free agent contract drive, players will do and say a lot of things, but it must be remembered that when Cespedes was with the Red Sox, he said he did not want to play center field and then refused to work with their coaches on right field drills. By eliminating the clause requiring the Mets to sign Cespedes within five days after the World Series or lose all rights to him until May, Roc Nation saw to it that the Mets would remain in the bidding, at least on the surface, until the Mets say they’re out. Much as the Mets may want to retain Cespedes, they would be foolish to commit themselves to anything more than four years and a vesting option for a player who, beyond that, will surely be in decline and no longer able to play center field (if he plays it at all after signing the contract).
It’s easy for Met fans to love him now, but would they love him six years from now, making $20 million to $25 million, putting up mediocre numbers and battling injuries as an untradeable corner outfielder?
That said, maybe the Cespedes market will surprise, and the owners will all look around at the Jacoby Ellsbury, Shin-Soo Choo, Ryan Howard, Matt Kemp, Jayson Werth, Josh Hamilton and Cano contracts — and even the doom-guaranteed Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera deals — and suddenly have a collective epiphany. At least none of the usual large market suspects — Yankees, Dodgers, Angels, Red Sox, Rangers, Cubs, Giants or Nationals — figure to be in the bidding.
Then again, as Scott
(Avenging Agent) Boras has shown us time and time again, all it takes is one.
NL LEAST
Regardless of what happens with Cespedes, the good news for the re-energized and resurgent Citi Field faithful is that the Mets are in position to dominate the NL East for the foreseeable future. The rest of the division is rife with longterm problems.
NATIONALS — Their window of opportunity all but vanished when Matt Williams removed Jordan Zimmermann after 100 pitches in the sixth inning last Tuesday against the Mets. Nats ownership would be fully justified in holding GM Mike Rizzo accountable for hiring Williams, with no managerial experience, and entrusting him with a team that was ready to win. After two straight laid-back managers in Williams and Davey
Johnson, Rizzo needs to hire a firebrand such as Wally Backman, but he probably won’t. Even if Williams is fired, the Nats figure to start going backward now. Zimmermann, Ian Desmond and Denard Span are all free agents and out the door. Max Scherzer proved to be a $210 million bust as a so-called topof-the-rotation, slump-preventing horse, and the bullpen needs a total overhaul. Werth, at $126 million through 2017, has been a complete waste of money. And where are the fans? For the last two games against the Mets last week there were 15,000 empty seats at Nationals Park, while many of the 34,210 at the first game were walking out after the seventh inning.
PHILLIES — Believe it or not, Philly might be the first team in the division to seriously challenge the Mets in the coming years. Just-fired GM Ruben Amaro did a good job of replenishing the farm system at the trading deadline. Two of the recent pickups, righthanders Jerad Eickhoff and Alec
Asher, have already begun settling into the rotation, along with promising system guys Aaron Nola and
Adam Morgan. Ken Giles has emerged as consistently effective closer, while third baseman Maikel Franco, second baseman Cesar Hernandez and outfielder Odubel Herrera all had very good first years. New president Andy
MacPhail has a track record for building winners, and a nice foundation has already been set for Amaro’s successor (a favorite is Royals assistant GM J.J. Picollo ,a Philly product with a strong player development resume with both the Braves and K.C.).
MARLINS — Six months after appearing to be one of the most improved teams in baseball with
offseason acquisitions Martin Prado, Dee Gordon, Dan Har
en, Mat Latos, Michael Morse and David Phelps, the Marlins are once again a mess. There is no depth on the majorleague roster, and the minorleague system is rated the secondworst in baseball — prompting owner Jeffrey Loria to bring back former player development director Marc DelPiano, a primary architect of their 2003 championship team, from the Pirates. He’s got a lot of work to do. In the meantime, the Marlins are another team that could use a manager with energy such as Backman’s, someone young players especially love to play for.
BRAVES — From the moment they hired John Hart as GM and gave him the go-ahead to blow up the team and stockpile young pitching, the Braves served notice that they wouldn’t be contending until they move into their new ballpark in 2017. It’s going to be a lot longer than that. With the fans crying out for manager Fredi Gonzalez to be fired, the Braves, who flat out quit these last two months, are headed for their worst season since 1988, and none of the top prospect pitchers Hart acquired in his trades — Tyrell Jenkins, Max
Fried (recovering from Tommy John surgery), Manny Banuelos — or their own (Lucas Sims and Touki Toussaint) has given any indication that he can be part of the same kind of dominant starters as the Mets’ group — at least not any time soon.