WASHINGTON — This was, for all intents and purposes, a (trade deadline) closing-time hookup that never was supposed to last.
And yet, by golly, the relationship between Yoenis Cespedes and the Mets is approaching the 10-month anniversary, and their fondness for each other only seems to increase. And that naturally begs the question:
Can these two commitment-phobic parties find a way to keep this great thing going beyond 2016?
At the least, they should try to work out something well before Cespedes’ opt-out comes into play five days after the conclusion of the World Series.
“It’s a little early,” John Ricco, the Mets’ assistant general manager, said Tuesday, before Matt Harvey struggled again in the Mets’ 7-4 loss to Washington at Nationals Park. “We really haven’t had discussions about that. It’s probably in the back of everyone’s mind, maybe, but nothing that we’ve even discussed internally.
“There’ll be a time and place for that and I think when that time comes, we’ll see what happens. But we haven’t really started down that road yet.”
That road would seem to be paved with riches for Cespedes, who has followed his explosive 2015 Mets fling with an even more impressive start to 2016 after re-upping for three years and $75 million with an opt-out after this season.
Cespedes leads the National League in home runs (15), RBIs (36) and slugging percentage (.678). In 111 games in a Mets uniform, counting 14 games last postseason, the 30-year-old has compiled a .286/.342/.598 slash line with 34 homers in 429 at-bats. Before he became a Met, he recorded a .265/.313/.474 line with 90 homers in 2,059 at-bats.
“We’re paying him a lot of money. Don’t mistake that,” manager Terry Collins said Tuesday. “But he wants to play in New York City. And that says a lot. Because a lot of guys would shy away from that challenge. He wants to be here. What he provides in the middle of that lineup, we need. And we’re going to need it as we continue to move forward.”
Sure looks that way, doesn’t it? Last winter, the Mets approached Cespedes as though he was an utterly dispensable commodity, and I didn’t disagree with them. Why get stuck holding the bag on a six-year, $150-million contract for a guy who was notoriously streaky, displaying the downside of that streakiness in last year’s World Series of all times?
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Of course, that mega-offer never emerged anywhere, and Cespedes displayed his love of the Mets and New York by passing up a larger overall package from the Nationals to take the Mets’ creatively structured deal.
It was Ricco who, acting as the team spokesman as general manager Sandy Alderson underwent treatment for cancer, told the media at last December’s Winter Meetings that the team didn’t expect to retain Cespedes.
“Every time he takes the field, it puts a smile on my face,” Ricco said Tuesday. “And I give credit to Sandy, who kind of put us in position to where we didn’t think it was likely, but he never gave up on it.”
Can the Mets, still understandably reluctant to give the sort of ginormous contract that currently has them handcuffed with David Wright, be that doggedly clever again? Will Cespedes, who has refused to even acknowledge the possibility of opting out, be that open-minded again? And with Cespedes headlining a far weaker free-agent crop than last year’s bonanza, will the rest of the industry cooperate again with a surprising lack of enthusiasm if Cespedes keeps playing at or close to this level?
Understanding that both the opt-out and the frontload (he’s getting $27.5 million this year) appealed to Cespedes, how about four years and $110 million, with $30 million in 2017 and an opt-out after next season? Five years and $140 million with $30 million in 2017 and opt-outs after 2018 and 2019?
As Ricco said, we need to see more of this season unfold before determining the final numbers. However, if these two sides remain as motivated to advance this relationship, then they shouldn’t need all of the season before working diligently — and creatively — to stay together.