Cespedes, Mets Reach Agreement On 4-Year, $110M Deal
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Yoenis Cespedes isn't going anywhere.
The slugger has reached an agreement to return to the Mets on a four-year, $110 million contract, WFAN baseball insider Jon Heyman reported. The deal also includes a full no-trade clause.
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Earlier this month, Cespedes opted out of the final two years of the three-year, $75 million contract he signed with the Mets last January.
In his first full season with New York, Cespedes, 31, batted .280 with 31 home runs and 86 RBIs.
The Mets initially acquired Cespedes in a trade-deadline deal with Detroit in July 2015. He instantly gave the team's lagging offense the infusion it needed, batting .287 with 17 homers and 44 RBIs in 57 games and helped the team reach the World Series.
With Cespedes in the lineup, the Mets have gone 106-74.
According to Heyman, Cespedes will be paid $22.5 million in 2017, $29 million in each 2018 and 2019, and $29.5 million in 2020.
As CBS2's Otis Livingston reported, this averages out to $27.5 million a season, the highest salary for an outfielder in Major League history.
The deal's annual average value ties former Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez for the second-highest among position players, trailing only Miguel Cabrera's $29.2 million with Detroit.
Some Mets players quickly reacted on Twitter to news of Cespedes' return.
Other outfielders on the free-agent market include major league home run leader Mark Trumbo, Jose Bautista, Carlos Beltran, Dexter Fowler, Josh Reddick and Matt Holliday.
Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said he wanted a resolution to Cespedes' negotiations with the team by the end of the winter meetings, which run from Dec. 5-8.
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