As the offseason is winds down, and Spring Training approaches, the Mets were finally able to bring Yoenis Cespedes back to the squad. Amidst rumors that the Washington Nationals offered a multi-year contract to the slugger, the Mets were able to convince Cespedes to come back, as they offered a three-year deal with an opt-out option at the end of the first year. The amazing part about this, was that Sandy Alderson’s patience prevailed, and the Mets get their star back.
There have been plenty of times where Alderson’s approach to free agency has backfired, as his eagerness resulted in the Mets signing Chris Young, while Nelson Cruz was on the market, and had a monster year. There have also been plenty of signings that have left fans scratching their heads, but this offseason has been a different story.
The Cespedes market was thought to be filled with suitors after last season’s performance, where he hit 35 homers with 105 RBIs. With other prominent outfielders such as Jason Heyward and Justin Upton on the market, Cespedes was waiting for the other dominos to fall. Heyward went first and signed with the Chicago Cubs for $184 million over 8 years. The deal includes two opt-outs (which are becoming quite a popular trend and bargaining advantage for players) that could lead to Heyward entering free agency at another point in his career. Upton recently went to the Detroit Tigers for about $132 million over 6 years. The Mets essentially got Cespedes on a steal of a deal. Yes, the team will be paying about $27.5 million over the first year, and if Cespedes stays with the Mets over the three years, he will be earning around $75 million. To put it in perspective, Heyward is making $23 million annually, and Upton is making 22 annually. Even though Cesedes is making more, the Mets avoided offering a long-term deal, which have not always turned into the greatest investments by organizations.
If Alderson’s waiting game did not impress you in regards to Cespedes, turn to Antonio Bastardo. The reliever market has been interesting, as Darren O’Day signed a 4-year deal worth $31 million, while Tony Sipp went back to the Astros for $18 million over 3 years. It has seemed unlikely that relievers would get contracts like these, which made Bastardo want a multi-year deal that would possibly last for more than two years. Alderson’s investment in Bastardo was a fair price, and once again, he emerges with minimal risk. If Bastardo does not perform well next year, then the team has one more year of control, rather than two more years.
As for the other big free agent signing, Asdrubal Cabrera was considered a solid utility player, and after Ben Zobrist went to Chicago, it made sense for the Mets to sign Cabrera, as an attempt to upgrade shortstop, while providing insurance for second base and third base. Alderson’s approach to this signing did not help nor hurt the Mets, however he did stick to the short-term approach by signing Cabrera to a 2-year deal.
The Mets are in it to win it, and the organization is putting a competitive product on the field entering 2016. With Cespedes back, the Mets have brought back a huge part of their lineup at an understandable price.
Are the Mets a better team after the offseason?
Yes.
Was Asdrubal Cabrera a good signing?
No.
Will that be crucial to 2016?
Probably not.
With Mets’ depth in middle infs in their system, Cabrera makes sense. 2,years and he’s gone. You could certainly make a case for a defensive whiz coming in but those guys mostly don’t hit. Most teams don’t carry defense first SSs anymore. The Mets now have some pop at every position!
Actually, signing Young turned out better than signing Cruz. If they did, they would not have Conforto since Cruz had a QO attached.
The bad move was giving Young so many ABs when it was obvious he was toast.
I think the idea of Alderson plotting to nab Ces via a patience strategy, as if it were intentionally designed, is off base in my opinion.
From the word go, no one in the Mets FO expressed much chance to land Ces. As a result, the team went out and made a deal with De Aza, who today is completely unnecessary and will cost upwards of 7M$ as a 5th outfielder. The Mets intended to go with a Lagares/DeAza platoon as their main strategy. If that were not the case, then letting go of a cheap Kirkkk for 5th OF was a mistake. Clearly Ces was more lucky of a grab than a brilliant long-term chess play. At any time he could have easily been the choice of Detroit or whoever else…even the Nats. I will give SA all the credit in world for making the deal when it was possible to do so, and full credit to ownership for taking the post season proceeds and pumping them right back to Ces’ contract for next year. But I do not believe this was his plan.
I agree, Chris. In fact, I think if the other bidder was any team other than the Nats, the Mets would have sat tight. Back to Detroit? See ya!
To me, late factors in this perfect storm were the huge fan backlash of seeing Yoenis go to our division rival, and the Wilpons’ fear of embarrassment. They almost had to do something. And Cespedes gave them a unique opportunity.
Yes, credit to Alderson, the Wilpons, and to the club under Collins for making the Mets a desired destination. I love the signing.
I guess I’m in the middle here.
I do think Alderson was always willing to do a short-term deal with Cespedes but there was very little reason to think that Cespedes was going to be agreeable to that.
So, while I think the short-term offer was always on Alderson’s mind, I’d find it hard to believe that he thought there was much chance of that ever happening.
Regardless, kudos to everyone and may Cespedes repeat his 2015 season.
I’ve been very critical of Sandy. I questioned a lot of his moves and non moves from signing guys like Shawn Marcum and Chris Young to passing on Dee Gordon and letting Jose Reyes leave for nothing. But I have to hand it to him, he had a very good off-season. This team looks ready to rock.
This is all setting up beautifully for a plethora of funds available to sign our young aces to long term deals in a few years.
Love these short contracts.
Alderson has made many good moves since July 24, 2015. This off season he has continued to make moves to improve the team. Money has allowed him to do this. The Mets now have a competitive payroll that allows them to field a competitive team. Sandy was very “patient” waiting for the Wilpon’s to release the money.
From MLB trade rumors article
“Nationals were viewed as the primary competitor for his services, offering a reported five-year deal with a value said to be around $100MM and an opt-out after two years.”
“According to Heyman, the base value of the contract was $110MM, but the deal contained “significant” deferrals. While that info alone makes it difficult to compare the two offers, Gammons adds further context, stating that the $110MM was to be paid out over a 15-year term, and after factoring in the deferred monies, the present-day value of the proposed contract was roughly $77MM.”
In the end, there was just very little market for Cespedes.
Assuming they don’t succumb to serious injury the top 3 hitters of FA ended up signing for:
Heyward: 3 years/ 65.5 mil
Upton: 2 years/44.25 mil
Cespedes: 1 year/27.5 mil
I’m not sure why teams were afraid to spend big on them. At the very least one of them should have. Or are they really wanting their big contract to be the one that takes them to retirement rather than taking a big 8-10 year deal now and having to look for another 1-3 year deal when they are 36-39.
Possible collusion eh? Timed it so that none of them will have to compete with each in FA in the coming years?
Name, I follow you concerning the opt-out terms but if these players don’t opt-out, the teams are on the hook for the whole deal. So, your entire offer has to be one you can live with. Since many teams were bidding, it’s hard to say there was collusion. The fact that those guys signed those opt-out deals seems coincidence. Certainly we know Cespedes’ motivation was to get that nine figure deal that he craves and next year’s weaker free agent class may afford him the chance.
James, I follow your Alderson’s eagerness that led to quick signings of Young, Cuddyer, Francisco, and I would even say Colon this year (because I endorsed the signing two winters ago) and De Aza. Now, the De Aza deal may have been because he was willing to accept a one year deal and Cespedes was not even a hope for Alderson. However, signing Colon when you have young options, signing Young when you had a young kid in Lagares, and signing Cuddyer and losing a draft pick when Aoki was available for much less and had a high OBP, good defense and didn’t cost as much was rediculous from the outset. It’s very difficult to understand how a calculated, patient, and detailed Alderson would make so many knee jerk free agent signings. Almost as if, he hated to negotiate with these pain-in-the-butt agents and just wanted to get things over with.
Things would have to go horribly wrong for them not to opt out. Like Jason Bay or Tim Lincecum wrong.
Opt outs are like insurance policies. 99% of the time, they aren’t used. And nobody want to use it either because that means something bad happened. IE: Who would want to get into a car accident to collect the insurance?
The collusion comment was just a joke.
Opt outs are also fashion statements. They get given to the elite tier of players. Its like worrying about whether your AAV is higher, or you got more years…this is as much about how agents do work as it is about actual contracts. I think the deals pit CAA/RocNation v Boras and the like. Its a separate game on top of the players. Ces’ contract is a 1 yr deal, masquerading as more. Si he didnt get the longest deal, but he did get the most AAV and for next year the most ever to an outfielder. Break out the golf clap.
Name, please don’t take this the wrong way, but I’ve never heard you joke before; about anything. LOL!