For the New York Mets to actually make sure 2017 isn’t a lost season, slugger Yoenis Cespedes must come to play.
The New York Mets were about to receive Carlos Gomez at the 2015 trade deadline. Due to complications in the trade, it did not go through and fate came into play.Sandy Alderson ended up trading for Yoenis Cespedes, steering the franchise to a 2015 World Series berth. His arrival in New York was monumental in getting the Amazins to the playoffs and giving the fans a boost of confidence.
He took Queens by storm.
When he arrived in 2015, he played a total of 57 games in which he hit 17 homers and knocked in 44 RBIs. He seemed to be getting every big hit the Mets needed to overtake the Nationals in the NL East, propelling them to the division crown.
Since he arrived, he has been the key for victories in Queens. In 2015 the Mets record with him in the starting lineup was 34-20 and in 2016 it was 61-48. Combined, that’s a record of 95-68 in 163 games. That’s 95 wins for basically a whole full season.
He has been out for the majority of this season with hamstring issues. This is unfortunate, considering that some people believed that he could possibly win MVP before the season started. He had just come off finalizing his new four-year 110 million dollar contract, and he was comfortable knowing where he was going to be for awhile. He put on some muscle in the offeseason and looked like he was bound for a breakout 2017 campaign. However, the injuries made a dent in that notion.
Ironically, the team’s record with him in the starting lineup and without him are the same in terms of games under .500. With Yo in the lineup, they are 10-13 and without him, they are 21-24. That’s just a testament to how many injuries the Amazins have suffered, and the lack of decent starting pitching.
However, he brings a spark not only to the lineup, but to Queens as a borough.
The batting order becomes a whole different animal to deal with when Cespedes is in there. His presence induces fear in opposing pitchers and they have to pitch around the lineup differently. Therefore, other hitters might be able to see better pitches, because they don’t want to face Cespedes with anyone on base.
This season, he hasn’t remained healthy enough to be a consistent threat in the lineup. However, since has come back from the DL, he is batting .458 with two homers and six RBIs.
With the injuries to Syndergaard and Harvey, Degrom and Gsellman finding their way, Matz and Lugo getting back to Baseball, and Wheeler coming off a two-year absence, the Mets pitching staff has been atrocious thus far.
Their offense has been good, even without Cespedes. However, the offensive injuries keep piling up. Walker, Wright, and Cabrera are currently on the DL. Reyes should not be in the lineup, Duda and Conforto are struggling now, Granderson has been struggling all season, and with d’Arnaud’s chances winding down every day, the Mets need Yoenis Cespedes to have a torrid second half, where he makes everybody in the lineup better.
[graphiq id=”ddURQtVu62h” title=”2017 New York Mets Stat Leaderboard” width=”600″ height=”495″ url=”https://sw.graphiq.com/w/ddURQtVu62h” frozen=”true”]
