Forgotten man Ces is MIA in Miami
MIAMI — This is crystal clear. These Mets are no longer Yo’s team. The Mets came to Marlins Park on Friday and Yoenis Cespedes, who is rehabbing two hours north up Interstate 95 in Port St. Lucie, was not a visitor.
“He is not going to join us here in Miami, we thought it would hinder his ability in his rehab to come here for a couple of days,’’ Mickey Callaway said before the Mets were hammered by Derek Jeter’s tear-it-down Marlins, 8-2, giving Miami more wins than the sad, sad Mets. “We’re going to keep him there in Port St. Lucie to continue what we’ve been doing.’’ Cespedes could have come down on his own to check in with his suffering teammates, of course, but that did not happen. When the Mets again will see Cespedes as a player is anyone’s guess, but he has not yet begun a running program. A message is being delivered to Cespedes: We’ll see you when you are ready to play. Cespedes appears in no hurry to return, especially to a team with a 3232-47 record. This situation could ccontinue all summer. From all appearances, the MMets are no longer going to bbend over backwards to keep Cespedes happy. He will be treated more like everyone else on the roster. The Mets are on the hook financially to Cespedes: $29 million this season, $29 millilion next season and $29.5 mmillion in 2020. Cespedes will get his mmoney. What will the Mets gget from Cespedes? Cespedes played 81 games in 2017 because of a variety of lleg injuries. He has been limitited to 37 games this season aand was put on the disabled lilist May 16 with a “mild strain” oof the right hip flexor. Cespedes has to find a way tto get himself back on the field. You don’t hear any comments from the Mets like: “When we get Ces back.’’ That was a constant refrain in the past. Now, it’s more like Ces Who? It will be fascinating to see how Cespedes responds to all this. Don’t forget Cespedes has a notrade clause, so this could get ugly. “You have to be careful who you give your money to,’’ said one scout at the game about Cespedes. The Mets will send Noah Syndergaard, who threw off a mound Friday, and David Wright, who took ground balls at third base and did light throwing from 90 feet, to Port St. Lucie after the series.
“We were talking through it and to pull [Cespedes] away from his rehab to do it here with all the other guys that we have in town would be tough to get the rehab he needs,’’ Callaway said. Asked if Cespedes wanted to come down, Callaway said, “We didn’t give him an option after we talked through it.’’
As for Cespedes’ mindset regarding the injury, Callaway said, “All along he has expressed frustration. He did everything he possibly could this winter to stay heathy and it didn’t happen for him.’’
Asked if Cespedes, 32, could be back before the All-Star break, Callaway said: “I can’t speculate. We’re just going day-to-day.’’ Don’t hold your breath. Surgery has not been discussed. Who knows when Cespedes will return?
“They’re doing some stretching type stuff with a [physical therapist],’’ Callaway said of Cespedes’ rehab.
The last time the Mets were at Marlins Park, they swept Miami to go to 10-1. Two days later at Citi Field, they beat the Brewers to move to 11-1, but that was all fool’s gold. Since that time, the Mets are 21-46.
In that first series at Marlins Park, Cespedes went 1-for-12. In his 31 games played this season, Cespedes has posted a slash line of .255/.316/.474, a far cry from 2015 when he s came over in a trade from the Tigers and played 57 games, posting a .287/.337/.604 slash line, as the Mets went to the World Series.
One of the Mets’ Three Tenors, Omar Minaya, is on the trip.
Asked if he will speak to Cespedes, Minaya told The Post: “If he’s here I will talk to him. If not, I won’t.’’
So it goes.