Atlanta Braves Left Watching, But Did Fans Force Mets to Point of Yo Return?

Who is Responsible for the Mets Puzzling Signing of Cespedes?

For more than two-and-a-half months, the Mets sat on the sidelines while the free agent hitter market parade passed on by.

• They waited as Jason Heyward signed with the Cubs.  Silently.
• They waited as Chris Davis signed with Baltimore.  Not a word.
• They waited as Justin Upton signed with Detroit.  Not a sniff.

The Mets seemed to be satisfied with what they had.  What they had was Michael Conforto for left field, Juan Lagares in center, and Curtis Granderson for right field.  What they did do to cushion the loss of Yoesnis Cespedes was to sign Alejandro De Aza – but that presumably just to be a bench bat and back up the corner fielders.

For two-and-a-half months, that was it.  That was enough.

After all, the 30-year-old Cespedes was looking for a six-year deal.  Fred Wilpon just didn’t want to spend a lot of money.  The Mets have significant debt – even if recently refinanced – and they just can’t spend like the New York City market club that they are.

They were rumblings that they should have been strongly involved in the race for reliever Darren O’Day.  Didn’t happen.

There were howls and scathing columns when De Aza was signed.  How could the Mets repay their fans by not re-signing the player that got them to the World Series?  How could they hoard their money?

Heck, Michael Cuddyer retired, depositing his $12.5 million contract in the shredder on the way out.  Daniel Murphy went to Washington, relieving the Mets of the need to pay him $37.5 million over the next 3 years (though Neil Walker will get more this season than Murphy, due to a heavily back-loaded deal).

The cacophony against the Mets continued.

The Aftermath

There’s a lot to puzzle over after this signing… not the least of which is “why?”

• Mets fans were vocal:  did they play a role in getting this done?
• Mets brass were adamant:  preferred a 1-year deal – definitely not more than 3 years.  I guess they got what they wanted.
• Washington wanted in… maybe.  They reportedly made Cespedes a 5 year offer of $100 million or more.  Did this scare the Mets into getting involved (even though Washington didn’t exactly have an obvious need for him… at least not yet)?
• In the end, Yo wasn’t cheap:  $25 million per year… IF he stays for the full 3 years.  $27.5 million for a single year if not.  so this wasn’t at all a cheap low-ball deal – even for one year.

Where Does he Play?

• Center field, it seems.  That despite his age and questions about his ability at the position.  On a radio interview (MLBXM) today, a New York beat reporter suggested that Cespedes could move to LF with Lagares in Center when left-handed pitching was starting against the Mets, but that takes a big bat out of the lineup (albeit one that hit just .214 vs. LHP in 2015).
• What about defense?  The Mets starting outfield is now Conforto, Cespedes, and Granderson.  That represents three below-average fielders.

Does this improve the Mets?

• Yes… yes it does.  Their offense is now set up, with 3-4 power bats:  Conforto, David Wright (if healthy), Cespedes, and Granderson.
• On defense, they’ve got trouble.  Once any opponent can get a ball out of the infield against their pitching staff, they could start piling up the hits.  Even their infield defense is a bit suspect in places, including catching.  The obvious hope in New York, of course, is that this will happen only intermittently against the likes of de Grom, Harvey, Syndergaard, and Matz.

Overall, you’d have to think that this signing does raise the Mets to the level of the Nationals in the NL East Divisional race.  Certainly it eliminates any thought that Washington could dominate, particularly when the Mets’ pitching superiority is factored in.

For Braves’ fans, it also seems to cement Atlanta’s place alongside the Phillies at the basement of the division… and the National League.

Next: More Cespedes Musings, Fallout

How much is a World Series worth?  Was this the right $27.5 million to spend?  Was it spent because of fan ‘crowd-sourcing’ catcalls to force the issue?  Did the thought of playing the Nationals for five years with Cespedes roaming their outfield cause any concerns to the Mets?

Regardless of the answers, this is one of the oddest situations I can recall:  a team gets a player without hardly trying … and then seems to overpay in the process of finally getting involved.

Go figure… because few of these figures add up.