Cespedes soaks up NYC:
From small town, slugger has taken to metropolis
One year after he joined Mets in trade that turned around their season, outfielder still inspires.
Yoenis Cespedes never dreamed of living here. “I wouldn’t say I’m a city person,” he said, sitting in the home clubhouse of the New York Mets, in the biggest city in the baseball world. “I’m a country person.”
He has been here almost a year now, a year that began with one of the most stunning trades in Mets history and included a run to the World Series that turned him into a city star.
He’s here by choice now, returning last winter with a threeyear, $75 million contract with the team he didn’t want to leave. Cespedes might not be a city person, but he’s definitely a Mets person.
The contract includes an optout after this season, but when Cespedes signed it, agent Brodie Van Wagenen told reporters that the outfielder hoped “it’ll be the bridge to a longer-term partnership.”
They don’t talk about the future now, but Cespedes seems as happy to be a Met now as he was when he chose to return. The Mets seem as happy as ever to have him.
The marriage was improbable from the start, coming together only after the Mets nearly completed a deal for Carlos Gomez instead and also tried for Jay Bruce and Justin Upton. It was only at the very last minute before the 2015 non-waiver trade deadline that Cespedes and the Mets became a thing.
It’s hard to imagine the Mets without him now, because in a year he has become the one player they can least afford to be without.
“He’s just a great player,” manager Terry Collins said. “He continues to be a force in our lineup.”
It’s a lineup that often underperforms even with him, on a team that has found big obstacles on the road to another run at October. Collins speaks often about crunchtime, and when he does he’s thinking of the biggest difference-maker he has.
“He’s a guy that can not only carry you, but he makes all the other guys go, too,” Collins said. “I hate to put pressure on him, but he’s made a big impact.”
The Mets were 52-50 when they made the move for Cespedes, trading pitchers Michael Fulmer and Luis Cessa to the Detroit Tigers to get him. They went 38-22 from that point to the end of the season, with Cespedes contributing 17 home runs, 44 RBI and a .942 on-base-plus-
slugging percentage (OPS).
It was similar to what happened at his other stops since 2012, when he signed his first professional contract with the Oakland Athletics. He made enough of an impact that first year to finish 10th in MVP voting. He was an All-Star two years later, the star of the 2014 Home Run Derby at Citi Field.
And when the A’s traded him to the Boston Red Sox as part of the deal to get Jon Lester, their season seemed to fall apart.
Cespedes moved on to the Tigers and then to the Mets. There were good reasons for every trade, but the constant movement had some people wondering if something was wrong.
The Mets have found that the image from outside doesn’t match the player they’ve come to know. Cespedes can seem flashy, with the canary sleeve he sometimes wears to the big swings and the strut to the plate. Away from the field he’s quiet, even a little shy.
And while there was talk he had trouble with some coaches at previous stops, Cespedes has developed a close, trusting relationship with Mets hitting coach Kevin Long.
“We talk a lot in the cage,” Cespedes said through an interpreter.
Long saw what Cespedes did in his first two months with the Mets, but he also saw a hitter who could do even more. He persuaded a hitter who had more than 2,000 major league at-bats — and many more in Cuba — to significantly change his approach at the plate.
Long wanted Cespedes to improve his plate discipline, to avoid chasing pitches out of the strike zone with the goal of getting better pitches to hit.
The message wasn’t unusual, but the results were. The numbers show Cespedes cut his chase percentage by nearly two percentage points (from 37.5 to 34.9, according to Fangraphs.com). He had more walks in his first 354 plate appearances (34) than he did in 676 plate appearances last season (33).
“He’s really taken to it,” Long said. “And he believes in it. He’s as dangerous as any hitter in baseball when he swings at good pitches.”
The Mets need Cespedes to do damage, but he understands now he has a better chance to do it if he stays selective at the plate.
“Of course,” he said. “When I don’t chase after bad pitches, I have an opportunity to make better contact.”
He should be able to get better pitches after the Mets’ deal for Cincinnati Reds outfielder Jay Bruce, who is expected to bat after Cespedes.
Cespedes, who has missed about a week with a leg injury, was among the National League home run leaders in the first half of the season, with 21 at the All-Star break. He hit 39 in his first 148 games as a Met, a total that would rank fourth in franchise history if he’d done it in one season.
“Every time he comes to the plate, you anticipate you’re going to see something,” teammate Kelly Johnson said. “There’s a presence factor. Even when he goes 0-for-3 or 0-for-4, there’s a massive impact. Guys like that change a whole lineup.”
Johnson was Cespedes’ teammate for a month with the Red Sox, and he tells of Cespedes showing up and seeing other guys play the guitar. He decided he wanted to play, too, and learned right away.
“Doesn’t his nickname mean ‘talent?’ ” Johnson asked last year. “To me, that kind of says it all, because whatever he wants to do, he can do.”
Cespedes does have a nickname, El Talento, that means The Talent. He has another, La Po
tencia, that means The Power. They go along with the image he has on the field, that of a brash superstar.
“He’s actually a pretty humble guy,” Johnson said. “A quiet guy.”
He’s a country person, as he says himself. The entire population of his hometown of Campechuela could fit inside a large major league stadium. His team in the Cuban league, Granma, played in a small city of 200,000 people, 450 miles from the capital of Havana.
Now he stars in a metropolitan area of nearly 20 million.
After he was traded to the Mets last season, Cespedes decided to live in Manhattan, mainly because it would be easier. While he adjusted to the new team well, he admits he didn’t adjust to city life.
When he came back this year, he found a place to live on Long Island. He drives to Citi Field.
“I’m here (in the city) because I work here,” he said.
Don’t take that the wrong way. He chose the Mets this time, and he shows no signs of regretting it. He just wishes they were winning more games.
“The team hasn’t done quite as well as last year,” he said. “But we’re getting there.”
With the help of Cespedes, they might get there again.