Enjoying Beast Mode

[batmagadanleadoff]

Edgy MD wrote: Wow. Wonder how much that cost them.

I dunno but if the Mets had to pay to amend Cespedes's contract (and my guess is that they did have to) that they did is probably a good sign.

[batmagadanleadoff]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Edgy MD wrote: Wow. Wonder how much that cost them. I dunno but if the Mets had to pay to amend Cespedes's contract (and my guess is that they did have to) that they did is probably a good sign.

FAFIF's post is phrased to suggest that Cespedes voluntarily waived the clause for nothing in return.

G-Fafif wrote: He might stick around. At the very least, per Joel Sherman, he's agreed to waive the five-day clause that would make him a free agent unavailable to the Mets until May 15, if at all. He seems to like us and stuff.

Doesn't the press know to ask the right questions?

[G-Fafif]

I have no idea how it went down, mind you. I'm just happy it went down.

Last night a friend suggested Mets should pay him a million bucks for the privilege, which reminded me of a posting fee for Japanese free agents. I hope it was a sign of good faith on the player's part. Or that he gets a bigger cut of the t-shirt sales.

[batmagadanleadoff]

G-Fafif wrote: I have no idea how it went down, mind you. I'm just happy it went down. Last night a friend suggested Mets should pay him a million bucks for the privilege, which reminded me of a posting fee for Japanese free agents. I hope it was a sign of good faith on the player's part. Or that he gets a bigger cut of the t-shirt sales.

I'm kinda hoping that the Mets had to pay to waive the clause. Because if so, it's a good sign of the state of the Mets.

[G-Fafif]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: G-Fafif wrote: I have no idea how it went down, mind you. I'm just happy it went down. Last night a friend suggested Mets should pay him a million bucks for the privilege, which reminded me of a posting fee for Japanese free agents. I hope it was a sign of good faith on the player's part. Or that he gets a bigger cut of the t-shirt sales. I'm kinda hoping that the Mets had to pay to waive the clause. Because if so, it's a good sign of the state of the Mets.

Good point.

[Benjamin Grimm]

...the Mets can let the process play out and be like any of the other 29 clubs that can negotiate and sign him at any point this offseason.

But if they're really like all of the other 29 clubs, doesn't that mean that the Mets have to make a Qualifying Offer in order to continue to negotiate after a certain date? And since Yoenis is a player that was acquired mid-season, even with a QO there's no draft pick compensation for the Mets, correct?

[Frayed Knot]

IIRC the new rules dictate that you can't make a QO and receive future draft picks for players picked up in mid-season - so this was never a case with Cespedes with or without his now defunct 5-day clause.

[Benjamin Grimm]

But they do have to make a QO to continue negotiating past a certain point, don't they?

[Frayed Knot]

I think so, yes.
But of course if they're even considering a long term deal then there's essentially no risk to doing so. They'd take Cespedes on a one-year deal at maybe the QO x 1.5

[Ceetar]

no, the 'qualifying offer' is just a stand-in for 'good faith offer to keep player' It's the same mechanism as offering him 7 years, 150 million, which would also be a qualifying offer if it came within those first five days. You have to do that in the first 5 days of free agency (the team's exclusive negotiating window) in order to be eligible for compensation should that player sign elsewhere, but because there will never be compensation for Cespedes, there's no reason for them to offer the token ~15ish/1year deal.

(edit to say that I'm not actually sure you can make a bigger qualifying offer. Sounds like it's just a boolean "yes, we'd take him" type deal)

[ashie62]

Can the Mets just trade Harvey for Cespedes?

[RealityChuck]

I figured this would happen. Cespedis loses nothing by waiving the clause.

[Edgy MD]

Ashie62 wrote: Can the Mets just trade Harvey for Cespedes?

I'm sure the Tigers would like that just fine.

[Lefty Specialist]

RealityChuck wrote: I figured this would happen. Cespedis loses nothing by waiving the clause.

And gains another potential suitor for a bidding war. No down side for Cespedes.

[Edgy MD]

Well, it takes away the motivation for the team to make an aggressive pre-emptive offer.

Allowing for that downside may be worth it to him at this point, but it's a calculated maneuver and the Mets may certainly have paid something for the honor.

[Lefty Specialist]

Edgy MD wrote: Well, it takes away the motivation for the team to make an aggressive pre-emptive offer. Allowing for that downside may be worth it to him at this point, but it's a calculated maneuver and the Mets may certainly have paid something for the honor.

Cespedes' new manservant- Danny Muno.

[Frayed Knot]

Lefty Specialist wrote: RealityChuck wrote: I figured this would happen. Cespedis loses nothing by waiving the clause. And gains another potential suitor for a bidding war. No down side for Cespedes.

That's what I'm thinking too as I doubt the Mets had to 'pay' much if anything at all to get him to give it up.
And remember that the original purpose to this is the thing that several of the older Asian & Cuban pros have had inserted into their first ML deals, the ability to declare themselves as FAs prior to the six year wait that younger players have to go through. This clause was just a sort of round-about way of getting there, it forces his original team (not knowing he'd be on his fourth club before ever reaching that point) to either cough up a huge deal or essentially cede the right to sign him at all.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

He's awesome and wonderful and I hope to think fondly on him forever and I worry very much about signing any guy after a huge-outlier career year who's on the wrong side of 30.

Yours,

The turd in the punch

[seawolf17]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: He's awesome and wonderful and I hope to think fondly on him forever and I worry very much about signing any guy after a huge-outlier career year who's on the wrong side of 30. Yours, The turd in the punch

I totally agree. This has been a fantastic ride, but I'm not willing to give him a huge deal.

[Benjamin Grimm]

If he could be signed for three or four years I'd say go for it. But he's probably going to get six, seven, or even eight and that's an entirely different story. If someone is going to be willing to pay him $30 million at the age of 37, it shouldn't be the Mets.

[Zvon]

Whomever first called him a monster, I thank you. Come ONNNN! You know who you are.

That's much easier than spending 15 minutes digging around the board trying to find out.

[Frayed Knot]

seawolf17 wrote: He's awesome and wonderful and I hope to think fondly on him forever and I worry very much about signing any guy after a huge-outlier career year who's on the wrong side of 30. Yours, The turd in the punch I totally agree. This has been a fantastic ride, but I'm not willing to give him a huge deal.

And to add to that caution, whatever Cespedes will be in the future it will most likely not be what we've seen over the last six weeks.
His 'slash' stat NYM numbers currently sit at 38, 37, and 187 points above his pre-NYM career norms as his .269/.317/.473 over 2,019 ABs have morphed into .307/.354/.660 over the most recent 153

Another way to look at that: his 1014 OPS would be (slightly) behind only Bryce Harper, Joey Votto, and Miggy Cabrera if projected out for all of 2015.
His 790 pre-Mets career would put him in about 57th place with the likes of DJ LeMahieu and Shin-Soo-Choo. Nice players but not worth selling the farm for.

[Edgy MD]

An article in The Times has a story about the mustard in Cespedes' game, highlighting his uncanny ability to throw the ball underhanded with strength and accuracy. Some believe he started doing it as a tribute to his mother, who was a star pitcher for the Cuban softball team.



Pretty cool that the Mets have two (at least!) outfielders who have star athletic bloodlines on both sides of the family. That may be their edge in scouting. They're checking out the mothers.

[Benjamin Grimm]

For whatever it may be worth:

Jon Heyman wrote: While Mets people won't discuss it publicly, word is they are expected to make a serious play for Cespedes, whose willingness to play center field has been a huge plus, not to mention all the well-timed bombs he's hitting. The reasons they're not talking about their intentions are two-fold: They don't want to set fans up for a potential disappointment, and they don't want to detract from what's transpiring on the field, which is nothing short of special.

Just for the heck of it, what kind of contract might Cespedes get? I've been reading that he's looking to get between $120 and $150 million, but of course that's speculation. But over how many years? $150 million over six years? Five?

I don't know if they'd be able to pull it off, but maybe they can do with him what the Marlins and the Blue Jays did with Reyes: sign him to a backloaded contract and trade him away before the later expensive years kick in. The problem is, you can't count on being able to deal a 34-year old player with a big contract.

[Guest d'Kong76]

The years the years the years... and it wouldn't surprise me (when
you see him interviewed) he's a year or two older than advertised.

[Edgy MD]

It wouldn't surprise me � and I say this with love � that he's taken wheelbarrows full of nutritional supplements of dubious provenance, and this may be a greater concern over the long haul than it is over short.

[Guest themetfairy]

I'm loving the contract drive; I'm not committed to the big payout.

He can be our summer fling - I'm cool with that.

[TransMonk]

Exactly, I'm just happy the Mets are at least indicating that there is interest (meaning the era of looking to acquire only cheap FAs may be ending).

I don't really want any part of both the dollars and length that Cespedes is going to end up getting from some other sucker team.

[G-Fafif]

I like how Cespedes offers protection to the rest of the lineup.

[fimg=250:3bgvp1xn]http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7135/1256/1600/townhallbodyguard1.jpg[/fimg:3bgvp1xn]

[Frayed Knot]

Cespedes per 600 PAs as a NYM: .313/.360/.681 // 1041 OPS; 34 2Bs, 10 3Bs, 51 HRs. Or, if you want to get real geeky about it, 8.48 RC/27 (a projected all-Cespedes lineup would average about 8.5 runs per game)

Cepedes's career pre-trade/600 PAs: .269/.317/.473 // 790 OPS; 30 2Bs, 5 3Bs, 24 HRs. 5.01 RC/27