Cespedes wants to retire a Met after signing $110 mil. deal
NEW YORK (AP) — Having finalized a $110 million, four-year contract with the New York Mets, Yoenis Cespedes declared: “God willing, I will finish out my career with this team.”
Mets general manager Sandy Alderson quickly interjected: “God willing, and a no-trade clause, by the way.”
Acquired by the Mets at the July 31 trade deadline in 2015, Cespedes helped the team reach the World Series, became a free agent and signed a $75 million, three-year contract that allowed him to opt out after one season and $27.5 million. The slugger hit the open market again, then agreed to a deal that calls for a $22.5 million salary next year, $29 million in each of the following two seasons and $29.5 million in 2020.
“This is the third time that we have acquired Yoenis in the last 17 months, and it appears that two legal separations have only strengthened the marriage,” Alderson said at a Citi Field news conference Wednesday evening.
Cespedes was the second free-agent regular retained by the Mets this offseason. Second baseman Neil Walker accepted a $17.2 million qualifying offer.
The video board on the wall in the interview room featured a photo of the Cuban outfielder and the hashtag “YOGotHim,” a variation of last winter’s “GotYoBack.”
New York was 52-50 when it acquired Cespedes in 2015, finished 90-72 and reached the World Series for the first time since 2000.
This year, the Mets were 47-38 when he injured his right quadriceps on July 8, then went 13-23 as he hobbled and spent time on the disabled list. After he returned, the Mets closed with a 27-14 surge to finish 87-75. They made the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the second time in team history.
MLB, players reach new five-year deal
NEW YORK (AFP) — Major League Baseball and its players association agreed on a new collective bargaining agreement on Wednesday, beating a midnight deadline to ensure five more years of labor peace.
The deal, which must still be ratified by owners and players, would extend through 2021, MLB said in a statement, adding that both parties “continue to draft the entirety of the agreement.”
A five year deal would take the game to 26 years without a strike or lockout.
Baseball saw eight work stoppages in the prior 24 years, including the damaging 232-day players’ strike that wiped out the 1994 World Series and delayed the start of the 1995 season.
After the sides met at a hotel outside Dallas, where the Major League Baseball Players Association held its annual executive board meeting, MLB announced that the tentative deal had been reached.
That was hours before the old agreement was to expire at midnight Eastern time (0500 GMT).
Despite the deadline, a lockout of players looked unlikely with both sides eager to continue negotiating and avoid any shutdown of a sport that generates $10 billion a
year. The deal reportedly raises the luxury tax threshold from $189 million to $195 million with further gradual increases.