The New York Mets gave up a couple of valuable prospects to obtain outfielder Yoenis Cespedes from the Detroit Tigers last week. If the Mets keep winning and stay atop the postseason race, will general manager Sandy Alderson consider signing the slugger to an extension?
Cespedes, 29, is in the final season of the four-year, $36 million deal he signed with the Oakland Athletics prior to the 2012 MLB season. While that contract was a bargain, his next one will not be, which likely poses an issue for the stingy Mets even though Cespedes is open to the idea of staying with the team.
"This is something I can't control," Cespedes said through an interpreter Tuesday, via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. "I don't know what the front office is thinking about. But with what I see so far, I would love for everything to work out and stay as a Met for a long, long time, because I like the atmosphere."
Cespedes owns a stat line of .269/.317/.472 with 298 runs scored, 89 home runs and 327 RBIs in 522 games and is on pace to have the best season of his young MLB career in 2015. With about two months left in the season, he's eight home runs and 35 RBIs away from his career-high marks set in 2013 (26 homers) and 2014 (100 RBIs).
Aside from David Wright's 14-year, $192 million deal and Curtis Granderson's four-year, $60 million deal, New York has nobody else under a lucrative long-term contract despite being located in the epicenter of the global economy. Perhaps they have a plan lined up to sign some skilled position players in the offseason when they have over $60 million come off the books.
Nonetheless, re-signing Cespedes could be problematic.
"The Mets would need to make an offer enticing enough for Cespedes to forgo testing the open market -- at a time when a power-hitting skill set is at a premium," writes Marc Carig of Newsday. "Industry sources yesterday pegged Cespedes' potential asking price on the open market to be in the $120 million-$150 million range, depending on the length of his next contract ...
"Also, if the 29-year-old Cespedes doesn't sign an extension and reaches the open market this winter, a clause in his contract essentially keeps the Mets from bidding on his services."
Why?
Cespedes has accrued only four years of MLB service time and players are required to accrue six years to qualify for free agency, so his contract was negotiated differently. His previous professional experience in Cuba was a crucial aspect of those negotiations and, as a result, he will not be subjected to the qualifying offer. Also, if he doesn't sign a new deal with the Mets within five days after the World Series then that clause in his contract forces the Mets to release him, meaning they will lose out on keeping him because any club that releases a player after August 31 cannot re-sign that player until May 15.
"A player on an MLB Reserve List (40-man roster) who is given his Outright Release during the period of time extending from September 1st through March 31st cannot be added back to the MLB 40-man roster of the club that released the player until May 15th, and a player on an MLB 40-man roster who is given his Outright Release during the period of time extending from April 1st through August 31st cannot be added back to the MLB Active List of the club that released the player for at least 30 days," the MLB rules state.
Alderson also told DiComo the contracts of the team's impending free agents will be dealt with "over the course of the offseason."
But in Cespedes' case, the Mets are much more limited in the time they have.
