The first huge domino in baseball’s offseason fell Tuesday, leaving an imprint of Yoenis Cespedes’ face in the outfield at Citi Field.
After less than a month on the free-agent market, Cespedes made good on his assertion he wanted to remain with the Mets, agreeing to a four-year contract worth $110 million with the club, according to an industry source. The deal is pending a physical and could be announced by the Mets this week.
The 31-year-old Cespedes received a full no-trade clause in the deal, and his annual average salary of $27.5 million will be the highest for an outfielder in major league history.
Cespedes opted out after the World Series from the two years and $47.5 million remaining on his previous contract to explore the free-agent market. Sources indicated he was seeking a five-year deal, but wasn’t willing to drag out his free agency, as he did last offseason, in search of that offer.
Among position players, only Miguel Cabrera’s average annual salary of $31 million is higher than what Cespedes will receive in his new contract. Cespedes will receive $22.5 million in 2017, $29 million in 2018, $29 million in 2019 and $29.5 million in 2020.
Cespedes had a .280/.354/.530 slash line for the Mets last season with 31 homers and 86 RBIs. But there were concerns about the wear-and-tear on his legs as the season progressed.
Cespedes, who stopped playing center field after the All-Star break to preserve his legs, spent 2 ½ weeks on the disabled list in August with strained right quadriceps, but his return to the lineup was among the driving forces in the team’s 27-13 finish to secure a National League wild-card berth.
With Cespedes returning, the Mets are expected to trade Jay Bruce, whose $13 million option for next season was picked up earlier this month. But club officials haven’t ruled out the possibility of trading Curtis Granderson, who will be entering the final year of his contract. Cespedes’ return probably will preclude the team from adding an everyday center fielder such as Dexter Fowler. Instead, the Mets are expected to employ a platoon that could include some combination of Granderson, Michael Conforto and Juan Lagares.
For the Mets, the timing of the Cespedes deal couldn’t be better, allowing club officials to focus on other areas of need — mostly the bullpen — as they prepare for the winter meetings in National Harbor, Md., next week.
Last offseason, the Mets didn’t re-sign Cespedes until Jan. 23, after he rejected a five-year offer worth $110 million from the Nationals that was heavy in deferred dollars. Cespedes instead signed a three-year deal with the Mets worth $75 million that contained the opt-out clause after the World Series.
The Nationals, Giants, Dodgers and Astros were among the teams linked to Cespedes in recent weeks. But both Mets general manager Sandy Alderson and Cespedes’ camp moved swiftly to finish a deal.
Any concerns from Mets officials about Cespedes’ motivation and work ethic were overridden by the thought of a lineup that would have had a glaring hole in the middle that can’t easily be replaced.
It was Cespedes’ arrival at the 2015 trade deadline, in a deal that sent Michael Fulmer to the Tigers, that sparked a Mets’ second-half surge that ended with a loss to the Royals in the World Series. The Cuban outfielder played for the Athletics and Red Sox before he was dealt to the Tigers.