The Mets have their Bryce Harper already. He goes by the name Yoenis Cespedes.
In defending the team’s decision not to pursue high-priced gems Bryce Harper and Manny Machado this offseason, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon on Thursday cited the contract belonging to Cespedes — who is set to begin the season on the disabled list and may not play until after the All-Star break, if at all, in 2019.
“I don’t know how many teams have two $30 million players,” Wilpon said at a luncheon with the Mets beat reporters at Citi Field. “That’s a bit of the answer. We went into this offseason and Brodie [Van Wagenen, general manager] knows exactly where the target is for payroll.”
Cespedes is under contract for the next two seasons at salaries of $29 million and $29.5 million respectively. And there is precedent for a team placing multiple $30 million-per-year players on the same roster: The Nationals have Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg ($35 million apiece) in that stratosphere for 2019. In the vicinity, the Angels have Mike Trout ($33.25 million) and Albert Pujols ($28 million). Expectations within the industry are Harper and Machado will receive at least $30 million apiece this season once signed, possibly on shorter contracts than originally anticipated.
In addition, the Mets won’t be on the hook for Cespedes’ full salary this season with insurance covering a significant portion of his payout as he rehabs from surgery to remove calcifications from both heels.
After the 2016 season, Van Wagenen, a former agent with CAA, negotiated a four-year contract worth $110 million for Cespedes. The average annual value of the deal was the highest for any outfielder in the major leagues.
“He was rewarded with that contract for a reason,” Van Wagenen said. “We believe in him, we believe he can make a high impact, and we hope that he will in the coming season and beyond.”
Van Wagenen’s additions have included Robinson Cano, Edwin Diaz, Wilson Ramos, Jeurys Familia and Jed Lowrie, bringing the Mets’ payroll back into the $150 million ballpark for this season — factoring in David Wright’s restructured contract after the team received an insurance settlement on the injured third baseman, who has moved into the front office as a special assistant.
“When we looked at our roster and we tried to build our plan, we recognized we had multiple needs that needed to be addressed — not just one area that needed to be addressed,” Van Wagenen said, when asked about Harper and Machado. “I think the execution of our plan sort of shows what our intentions were of trying to fill those multiple positions. We needed to get better in the bullpen, we needed to increase our run production, we wanted to get better behind the plate, we wanted more right-left balance in our lineup and we wanted to create more depth.
“We never looked at this offseason as having one player in mind or looking at this offseason to make one significant investment. The goal from the beginning was trying to address all of our needs in the most efficient way that we could.”
Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo are slated to begin the season as the corner outfielders, with Juan Lagares as Keon Broxton as options in center. The Mets also want to find at-bats for Jeff McNeil in the outfield.
“I go back and listen to what Brodie and the baseball staff have said,” Wilpon said. “We have two pretty good lefty outfielders and we’re pretty full in the infield. And then the price [for Harper or Machado] from a value point of view, I don’t think they have come to me and said, ‘We should really do this because it’s come down to a point where the cost has value.’ We do have a $29 million outfielder on the roster that we hope to come back sometime this year and be productive.”