Jon Heyman reports that the Mets are officially out on Yoenis Cespedes and only offered the free agent outfielder “two or three years” and never even got to actual dollar figures.
In other words, the negotiations ended as soon as they started given that Cespedes is thought to be seeking a six-year deal worth well over $100 million. Of course Cespedes at that price is a huge, huge risk. Yes, he was amazing after he came over to New York from Detroit last year, posting a .942 OPS with 17 homers, and 44 RBI in 57 games down the stretch. Overall, however, he has been up and down, with two less-than-amazing years sandwiched in between his excellent 2012 and 2015 campaigns. If you get more of one of those Cespedeses your $100 million is well spent. If you get more of the other, not so much. And of course he will be in decline by the time a six-year deal ends.
Still, it’s somewhat sobering to learn that the Mets didn’t even make a halfway serious run at the guy on the basis of a couple of bad years on the back end being worth some good years on the front end while the young pitching is still good and cheap.
