The Mets pulled off a trade for an impact bat, getting Yoenis Cespedes from the Tigers for minor league pitchers Luis Cessa and Michael Fulmer. According to MetsBlog, the Mets will be responsible for between $4 and $5 million for the rest of Cespedes’ contract. Detroit is sending no money along and Cespedes is a free agent at the end of the season.
Cespedes has a .293/.323/.506 line. The righty-hitting outfielder has an .898 OPS versus RHP and a .565 mark versus LHP this season. For his career, those numbers are .798 and .766, respectively. Comerica Park did him no favors this year, as Cespedes had a .741 OPS with 5 HR in his home park, compared to a .915 OPS and 13 HR in road parks.
Weigh in below if you are in favor of this move or not. We’ll revisit at the end of the year.
Fantastic! Better than Gomez.
And his power? His spray chart shows that every one of his 18 homers would have been out of Citi Field, as well.
My post from your Bruce article:
Well, Fulmer is obviously a legit prospect. He’s not on the level of Harvey/deGrom/Thor/Matz/Wheeler, though. Does anyone really think the Mets will be able to afford hanging on to all of these guys? Fulmer was part of the next wave.
Still, Cespedes is a big, big bat to add to the lineup. He’s a rental, but he changes the dynamic of the lineup dramatically. However, he complicates the OF situation. Grandy in CF? Conforto demoted?
Don’t forget that Cessa is a nice piece as well.
Hm….all in all I think I like this deal.
Addendum: Liking this deal more and more. Really wouldn’t bank on a re-signing this winter (in that small window they’ll have), but his impact this season is potentially huge.
Didn’t think he could pull it off. I’m also not sure that this was an overpay, as some have suggested. Cessa is not having a good time in AAA, and is clearly not the most talented pitcher in the system.
Fulmer is a budding ace, but in order to acquire an all-star they need to give up a future one.
Like the deal, the rest of the season, and how the aggression of Alderson could help the team this offseason.
Cots — acquired by NY Mets in trade from Detroit 7/31/15 with $3,729,508 remaining on contract
Nearly $4 million and two top prospects to get a guy for two months. I don’t like it and unless they make it to the NLDS and get two home games, it’ll be a failure.
It’s PR over baseball sense.
I like it.
This is how baseball works. If you fortify in order to contend for the playoffs, by definition you sacrifice long-term for the short-term. It’s why Sandy has done so well in the past. This time, he wasn’t trading away Beltran, he was trading for him.
Tough business.
Also: It’s hard to lose our guys, but Wheeler was for me a much, much tougher lose to consider.
I don’t think we sign Cespedes. Come winter, will need to address SS, CF, 3B, and bullpen. Could be that they stand pat at SS and/or CF and/or 3B, but it’s possible that all three positions need upgrades.
The rental is only worth it if they make the playoffs.That it was needed reinforces how bad the Cuddyer signing was.
There are no guarantees. It was worth it if, in your judgment, it gives you a real shot at the brass ring. Championships are not for the meek of heart.
Cuddyer was a minor mistake. Colon was the horrible signing, IMO.
Get what you need and pay what you need to pay. It’s encouraging that they’re willing to try with this deal.
The team was poorly set offensively, right from the start. It left them needful of lots of help.
I love it! Even as a rental, but we should try and keep him. We kept Wheeler! That was crucial with me. If we could only get one big bat his is perfect for the job. Righty power!
As I posted earlier today: The Mets had 21 starting pitching prospects in their minor league system (A level and above) that have ERA’s below 4.00 (except those pitching in Las Vegas).They could eventually become major league starting pitchers except that the next opening in the Mets rotation isn’t until 2019. It really didn’t hurt to trade a few for some rental offensive help for the 2015 pennant run. Sandy traded 5 and the Mets still have sixteen left. Cespedes was a steep price but I can live with it. No minor league prospect position players were traded. They are now fortified for the 2015 pennant drive and still on plan all the way until 2019 and beyond. This is exactly the way to work a plus farm system to benefit the major league team. We got a peek at Michael Conforto and we should see him back when the rosters expand in September. Cespedes was the best available 2015 hitter traded based on wRC+. He was better than Gomez, Upton, Bruce or Tulo and has the best chance to make a difference. The Mets have an opportunity for the post season and they should go for it because there are no guarantees that they will be in this position again.Sandy has improved this team to compete for the division in 2015.
While the name Fulmer caused me some momentary dismay, I quickly realized that giving up Fulmer and Cessa while gaining Flores and Wheeler is a huge plus, I preferred Cespedes over Bruce and Gomez. So, it has to be considered a plus. The Mets have the cultural advantage of signing Cespedes by having a big Cuban population, probably second to Miami. Can they resign him? They cannot give a qualifying offer, but he must be released. So, why can’t they resign him during the five day period following the World Series? If there is a loophole, Alderson will find it. If the Mets are out of it on the final day, release him then and then sign him, I guess. I don’t know.
Cespades has a gun and great power. Bruce has a very good arm and good power, but strikes out alot and keeps lower batting averages. Gomez is a complete package when healthy and it is assumed he is, except his power has decreased the last two years. Plus, Gomez brings big time energy to a lineup with different variables.
The nice thing with the latter two players is that they could bring you a compensatory pick when the player decline the QO. But, th e Mets are looking for help specifically for this year as next year we should have a better SS, a healthier TDA (fingers crossed), and a healthy Wright (toes crossed). Also, hopefully the black holes of Cuddyer, Lagares and May/June Lucas Duda will also be avoided. So…
Gomez + compensatory pick for Wheeler and Flores: Not bad.
Bruce + compensatory pick for Wheeler (and something?): better, but I don’t love Bruce especially if it was Wheeler only.
Cespades for Fulmer and Cessa: not in love, but by doing this you keep Wheeler and Flores.
So, (since you have to or even Must make a trade) you forego Fulmer, Cessa, and a compensatory pick for Flores, Wheeler and two months of Cespades. This is the real benefit. Alderson may have gotten a little lucky here, but, everything plays a role.
I just thought of something: In law, any law that contradicts the Constitution is deemed unconstitutional, thus void. Can any contract that violates the agreement between the owners and players possibly be deemed unacceptable and thus allow the Mets to give a QO? I’m telling you guys, Alderson will find a loophole.
To clarify my Bruce comment towards the bottom, that trade was better if it involved only Wheeler and you got a compensatory pick too; but I don’t love Bruce. This team needs energy and excitement and he fits the Duda profile: station to station game with a ton of strikeouts, low batting average and the occasional bomb. Big deal. What has that done for us?
So I guess i’m the only one who doesn’t like the deal, partly because i don’t like Cespedes and partly because the Gomez deal was better.
In his 4 years in the majors, he’s had 2 season above .320 BABIP and 2 seasons below .300 BABIP.
In the years where his BABIP is low, he’s a barely above average hitter. Last year, his bat played to about the level of Granderson, who many of us wanted to run out of town.
And then there’s the fact that the Mets gave up more for Cespedes than Gomez. Wheeler was a #4 pitcher last year. In his first half year back next year, i don’t think he’ll even be good enough to be a #5 pitcher because he’s struggle to give you even just 5 innings (ala Matt Moore), and then you have to hope he bounces back to be a #5 pitcher in 2017. By the time he’s full strength in 2018, Fulmer will probably be a better pitcher than him. On top of that, we’d get 1.5 years of Gomez compared to 0.5 for Cespedes, and a draft pick at the end of that (or more if he’s traded)
Sandy better hope he’s getting the .320+ Yoenis and Gomez gets hurt, or this trade is going to look as bad as his track record has been.
Keith Law agrees with you. I just don’t know why he says the Mets gave up seven pitchers in all, it was five.
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The New York Mets’ failed deal for Carlos Gomez was just about perfect for the club, as it brought in a bat with some impact at a position, center field, at which they have a great defender but need an offensive boost. With that off the table now that Gomez is an Astro, the Mets picked up the next-best bat — Yoenis Cespedes — to change teams. But this fit isn’t quite so ideal, and the deal cost them the top starting pitching prospect in their farm system, much to the Detroit Tigers’ benefit.
Cespedes addresses their need for power — he’s in the midst of his best offensive season since his rookie year — but he’s a chronic low-OBP guy now entering a lineup that was already second-worst in the NL in OBP (ahead only of the Padres), replacing rookie Michael Conforto, whose greatest skill in the minors was getting on base. Conforto has gone hitless since his four-hit game on Saturday, but I’d project him to post a better OBP than Cespedes’ career .317 figure over the rest of the year, making the upgrade for the Mets more on the order of a win for the rest of this season, considering the value of Cespedes’ power and defense over Conforto’s.
In exchange, the Mets once again give up one of their top pitching prospects, Michael Fulmer, as well as another top-15 to -20 prospect in converted infielder Luis Cessa. Fulmer, the fourth-best prospect in the system before the trade, has come back strongly from a year lost to a knee injury. Fulmer is 93-97 with a plus slider and solid-average changeup, with good downhill plane from a high, three-quarter slot and the ability to spin a curveball. It’s not a perfect delivery, and there’s some reliever risk with the delivery, but he’s already got plus control and a starter’s repertoire, a top 100 prospect in baseball who is probably a year away from helping a major league staff.
Cessa originally signed as a shortstop but has already reached Triple-A as a pitcher, a starter with plus-plus command and great feel, sitting 90-92 with a starter’s body but lacking the secondary stuff to be a major league starter right now. The Tigers added a pair of top 100 prospects at the deadline, plus four other prospects with some asset value, into what had been the majors’ worst farm system coming into the season, a very good outcome for a somewhat last-minute decision to become sellers.
The Mets, meanwhile, shipped out seven pitching prospects, two of them in the system’s top six overall prospects, for a quartet of rentals, three of whom are very low-impact acquisitions, in a year in which they gave up their first-round pick to sign Michael Cuddyer, who’s been a replacement-level player this year when healthy.
The Mets and Cubs were on similar tracks coming into the season, both with tremendous farm systems that pointed toward a good five-year run of contention, if not longer, and both teams have become contenders slightly ahead of schedule. The Cubs didn’t overreact at the deadline and kept their young core and system both intact, while the Mets gave a significant amount of their depth away without getting enough value in return in the various deals. It hasn’t killed the Mets’ future, but it’s the wrong direction, an emphasis on the short term at the expense of the long term when the long term should still be the top priority.
Great title