Not every signing tends to pan out and for the New York Mets, signing Yoenis Cespedes was a flat-out mistake.
Every team has suffered through a fair share of signings that haven’t worked out. It’s a part of the game in which the franchise lives and learns. For the New York Mets, despite all negative signs with Yoenis Cespedes—they never learned.
Since coming on through in a trade in 2015 from the Detroit Tigers, Cespedes got off to a hot start hitting for a .309 batting average while smacking 17 homers and bringing in 43 runs in his 41 games as a Met. He literally was the Mets offense during that 2015 season, leading the club to a 9.5 game lead in the National League East.
He was effective during the Mets’ playoff run that year, but once the World Series came, Cespedes disappeared. After giving up that inside the park home run against the Kansas City Royals and batting .150 with no extra-base hits, the Cespedes hype was over.
The mistake for the Mets did not come the following year for $75 million. Instead, the mistake was in 2017. Even though he qualified for the All-Star game, he was out half the season due to a leg injury.
His leg wasn’t hurting him enough to cease golfing while on the disabled list. Even this year, Cespedes is out again with an injury in his right hip right flexor and probably won’t make it back for the Subway Series.
Despite all of that, the fact that Cespedes opted out for a new contract should’ve been the first red flag.
He opted out of three-year contract in which he was making $25 million a season and with the year he had in 2016. It was clear that he wanted to leave. For a guy jumping from team to team, there shouldn’t have much leverage.
The flat-out mistake for the Mets was last year. After opting out, he re-signed with Mets on a four-year contract for $110 million. Why would you dish out that type of money to a player that hasn’t contributed his worth?
An organization like the Mets should have invested that $110 million somewhere else and let Cespedes find another team. They obviously didn’t take into account his past history with other teams.
I’m all for giving big contracts to players, but there’s need to have a long-term vision. Since leaving the Red Sox, there was always feeling around Cespedes that he’s not a franchise guy.
He’s injury prone and climbing the ladder at the age of 32. His contract also contains a no-trade clause which means Cespedes can veto any trade he wants. From the looks of it, the Mets got duped with Cespedes and are now stuck with him.
There’s no doubt that he’s a fan favorite among the Mets’ faithful, but the Cespedes hype has officially ended. Before the New York Mets give out heavy contracts to fan favorites, they should look out for the future and invest where it matters the most.
