Re-Sign Cespedes

[nymr83]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: In response to your pointing out the obvious: the Mets are gonna let him go no matter what we say. They'll let him go even if we all wanted him back. I was just being goofy with that line. It's not as if I thought that that really needed to be explained.

but they left Harvey in to pitch the 9th because the fans wanted it...

[Frayed Knot]

Ceetar wrote: The rule that required them to sign him within 5 days was a little more complicated and seemed to be part of some older rules/pre-QO put in place. I don't recall the exact reasons since it doesn't matter, but the crux of it was that teams that didn't retain their own guys had to wait until May 15th to re-sign them.

It was simply because, coming out of Cuba as he did, he arrived at MLB as the equivalent of a professional FA so had the power to negotiate such a clause into his deal. It both allowed him to be a FA after just 4 seasons and put pressure on his current team to either re-up ahead of time or risk losing him. Several of the Japanese pros have had similar clauses so as to not have to put in the six full years before attaining FA status.
Turned out for Yeonis to be a rather strange trip as I don't figure he or his agent anticipated being in his 4th organization before his initial 4-year deal ran out, but that's the way the ball bounces (off his foot).

[MFS62]

Ceetar wrote: You mean Cespedes in your question.

Yes, I did.
And, thanks for the explanation.
Later

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

So, maybe if we're serious about this, we're offering him a signing bonus of the Batwing, or the Tumbler. Because he seems to have designed himself a pretty fucking ridiculous Batmobile already.

[youtube:1b9k3paz]RmPBDYheRIY[/youtube:1b9k3paz]

[Centerfield]

So, the guy is definitely an "at-risk" when it comes to douchability factor. He has a customized walk up song, this batmobile stuff, dogs it on many plays, and acts like a limb has been severed every time he gets dinged up (see Floyd, Cliff).

I don't know. I still like him. I'm still holding onto a faint hope that we can sign him for 4-5 years.

[Centerfield]

Although, now that I think about it, if I were young, single, playing baseball in NY, and had millions of dollars to spend on stupid shit, I can't say for certain I wouldn't build a batmobile. I mean, I don't think I would, but I'm not sure I can totally rule it out.

But I most certainly would not drive over to LWFS's house, pick him up, then cruise around town blasting Latin music. That would never happen.

[Vic Sage]

On the other hand, i CAN guarantee that I would, in fact, commission the creation of a batmobile. I'd pick up CF, LWFS and whoever else wants to go (if they can fit in the rumble seat), and we'd cruise the streets of Gotham with Steinman music blaring out of rooftop speakers.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I'd get myself a Fantasticar:

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Centerfield wrote: Although, now that I think about it, if I were young, single, playing baseball in NY, and had millions of dollars to spend on stupid shit, I can't say for certain I wouldn't build a batmobile. I mean, I don't think I would, but I'm not sure I can totally rule it out. But I most certainly would not drive over to LWFS's house, pick him up, then cruise around town blasting Latin music. That would never happen.

[Takes off Robin mask]
[Puts on sad, minor-key version of "El Esta Aqui"]

Vic Sage wrote: On the other hand, i CAN guarantee that I would, in fact, commission the creation of a batmobile. I'd pick up CF, LWFS and whoever else wants to go (if they can fit in the rumble seat), and we'd cruise the streets of Gotham with Steinman music blaring out of rooftop speakers.

I would do anything for Vic, but I won't do that.

I'm more of a dangerous-experimental-surgery-to-give-myself-Inspector-Gadget-limbs guy, I think.

[Edgy MD]

Munster Koach for me. No Steinman. Jack Mashall's surf rock will do fine.

[dgwphotography]

Forget the Batmobile, the Munster Koach, or anything else.

I want one of these:

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Interesting stuff here on the selling of Cespedes to potential employers.

In a bow to technology, the book also has a video player embedded inside the front cover. Executives who push the "play" button are treated to an array of Yoenis Cespedes home runs, jaw-dropping throws and other highlights set to music.

[Guest d'Kong76]

There's still a little smoke...
https://www.sny.tv/mets/news/mets-still-interested-in-cespedes-but-only-if-price-drops/159687604

[dgwphotography]

I'm wary signing him long-term, but it sure does suck rooting for a team based in Milwaukee.

(what? Milwaukee had a higher payroll?)

[Guest d'Kong76]

Beer money spends!

OE: I don't want him long-term (I don't think anyone does and that's
his problem) but 2-3 years at a nice chunk-o-change might be what he
has to settle for.

[Edgy MD]

Maybe one of those escape clauses is what the situation needs. Sign him for six, and allow him to walk after two or three if he's out-playing his deal.

I wish my brother Sandy was here.

[Guest d'Kong76]

No time like the present to get creative.

[Centerfield]

You'd think someone would give him a multi-year deal no? Zobrist had multiple 4 year deals and he's 35.

I'd love if we could land Cespedes on a 4 year deal, team option for 5th year with a buyout. Opt out after 2 years.

I understand the reservations about his walk rate, how he will age, etc.

Think I would still prefer to sign Upton and let Granderson fake it in CF for 2 years.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I wonder if they can get him on one of those contracts where he can opt out after two years?

There's no guarantee that he would opt out, but it may be a sneaky way to get him on a shorter term. (The problem, of course, is that he'd opt out if he's underpaid, based on his performance, and stick around if he's overpaid.)

[Guest d'Kong76]

Right, I think that's what Edgy was saying ^^^

[Edgy MD]

Some guy with 18 followers (at the time) tweeted that he had a source reporting Cespedes to the White Sox for four years, and Twitter 'sploded for about an hour.

Lots o' trolling going on.

[nymr83]

I really don't want him back. I really think Conforto, Lagares, and Granderson are all better bets than him for 2016. He'll outplay 1 of them, but I don't even know which one and I don't want the Mets wasting 50 million+ dollars to stick the wrong guy on the bench.

Heyward was the guy to get and the Mets blew that. I don't like the value of most of the other Free agent deals I've seen this winter.

[Edgy MD]

Well, I imagine, should the organization re-sign the big guy, the team would come out of the gate with the same sort of platooning that they finished with last year. So Cespedes wouldn't bump any one guy to the bench, but rather would bump 1/3 of Conforto and 2/3 of Lagares. At least, until injuries and/or performance pushed them to adjust.

[Guest sharpie]

The case against:

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/162347602/juan-lagares-part-of-productive-mets-outfield

[Centerfield]

The case against: http://m.mlb.com/news/article/162347602/juan-lagares-part-of-productive-mets-outfield

It's a pretty weak argument if you ask me. For what it's worth, I think that the Mets outfield could be fine. I just think that given the uncertainty of each of our core three (Lagarez, Conforto, Granderson), it's a stretch to say that it's probable that the outfield will be fine. And by no means can you say it is fine. As our author does.

It's a tough thesis. He has to justify a 144 differential in career OPS that Lagares (.661) gives up to Cespedes (.805)

To start, Petriello starts by tempering enthusiasm for Cespedes. Like others, he states that Yoenis:

almost certainly isn't quite the star he looked like for a short time in Queens

We've heard the arguments before. Small sample size. Results skewed by facing historically bad pitching. "Adventurous" in CF. Etc. All valid points. We cannot put too much weight on what he did in August and September. We have to consider what he will give us going forward.

Then he gets into the meat of his argument. Which, although he says is not entirely about Juan Lagares, is pretty much entirely about Juan Lagares.

Lagares will never be an offensive star, but after a solid 2014 and a hot finish to 2015, there's reason to believe he can be good enough.

Not sure which Lagares he was watching in 2014, but the one that played for the Mets had a .703 OPS. Juan did have a hot finish to 2015. (.813 OPS in August. Even better at .929 in September.) And that's really Petriello's focus there. He further supports his "Lagares is pretty good" theory by citing Juan's exit velocity during the last two months of the season, which were much higher than his first four months.

But wait, aren't these the same two months that we are discounting for Cespedes? Wasn't Lagares also facing historically bad pitching? Didn't Juan but up better numbers in this stretch than he's ever put up before? Disappointingly, our author never addresses this apparent discrepancy in logic. We are just left to accept that Cespedes' success during August and September was a fluke. But Juan Lagares' success in August and September is meaningful.

But wait, we have two more outfielders to think of. Let's start with Conforto.

According to Petriello:

Conforto is a star in the making, after having hit .270/.335/.506 and with average exit velocity and launch angles that mirror those of Paul Goldschmidt.

Great numbers. And I have really high hopes for Conforto. But when did he put up those number? August and September of 2015. There is a trend emerging here. Could he be great? Sure. But there is no way we can count on that as of right now.

And finally, Curtis Granderson.

Granderson, perpetually unloved because he no longer hits 40-plus homers, just had a five-win season and was a more valuable hitter than Jose Abreu or Prince Fielder.

Curtis Granderson just had a great year. Unlike the others, his resurgence went beyond August and September. He also had a .915 OPS in June. But whereas Petriello's arguments relating to Cespedes and Lagares focus on what we expect them to do in 2016, his only justification of Curtis Granderson focuses on what Curtis already did in 2015. And with good reason. Curtis Granderson is a strong candidate to fall back to the pack in 2016. The projections suggest it. His numbers over the last few seasons suggest it. We all hope Curtis can replicate this last season, but we know that this not something we can count on.

Finally, he doesn't say much about De Aza. But he does mention this:

as the lefty-swinging De Aza is an ideal platoon partner [to Lagares]

Sure. Except that De Aza is not really a centerfielder. So if you are keeping track, Cespedes in CF is "adventurous". De Aza is "ideal".

Effectively, this guy, in one article, demonstrates nearly all of the double standards used by Cespedes detractors.

*Cespedes' success last season is not meaningful because of small sample size!
Besides, we can offset his loss by a full year of Michael Conforto. What? Sample size? Huh?

*Don't re-sign Cespedes. Projections say he will have a fallback year!
Besides, we have Curtis Granderson. What do the projections say? Come on. Baseball isn't played on a computer.

*Cespedes sucks in CF! (and Granderson can't play it either)
So let's go with De Aza instead. He seems ideal.

[MFS62]

Centerfield wrote: It's a tough thesis. He has to justify a 144 differential in career OPS that Lagares (.661) gives up to Cespedes (.805)

Paul O'Neill (ptui) had an increase of .102 in his OPS when he played for the MFYs when compared to his OPS with the Reds. It can happen when a player moves to an environment that makes him comfortable. And his move was at the age of 30.
Yeah, I know, the short porch. But he liked the challenge of playing in New York, and Cespedes has said he likes it, too. Who says he couldn't keep it up?

Later

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

There's talk of a National interest. Like, contract-offer-made interest, which puts them one up on teams that, y'know, haven't made one.

Edited January 21, 2016 by Guest

[Centerfield]

Yeah, that would make me hurl.

[Fman99]

Yeah that's a PR buttfuck, if the Mets let both Muffy and Cespy end up in DC. Even a shitmouthed Wilpon would have to see that.

[Edgy MD]

There's a lot o' reasons to re-sign the big man. I hope PR isn't really one of them.