Cespedes: No decision on opt-out
ST. LOUIS — Yoenis Cespedes loves the Mets, but says his future is very much undecided.
After a report surfaced Wednesday quoting Cespedes as saying he intended to fulfill his entire three-year contract and had no plans to opt out after the season, the Mets slugger attempted to clarify his position.
“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 said before the Mets faced the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
Does that mean Cespedes has reached a decision to stay?
“Nope,” he said through a translator. “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.”
Cespedes signed a three-year contract last January worth $75 million that contains an opt out after the season. The deal is front-loaded, paying Cespedes $27.5 million this year. With a weak free-agent market for outfielders ahead the Mets’ belief is Cespedes likely will opt out from the contract.
“If anything were to happen, I guess that would be something to deal with in the offseason,” Cespedes said. “My mind right now is on playing. There is nothing that is making me get away from my contract, but I just haven’t thought about it.”
Cespedes, who went 0-for-4 Wednesday, has 25 homers and 64 RBIs. After returning from a strained right quadriceps that kept him sidelined for two weeks, Cespedes hit three homers in two games over the weekend in San Francisco and has bolstered a resurgent lineup. Even before Cespedes’ return, the Mets had started to show life at the plate, but having their best player back has made the lineup appear solid.
“They pitch around him and that’s why you’ve got to have the right people behind him,” manager Terry Collins said. “He does lengthen the lineup. He takes those guys that at one time were hitting in his spot and put them down, that’s a run producing spot. When you can push those guys down a notch, they could be effective.”