Yoenis Cespedes Wants To Be A Met 'For A Long, Long Time'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Not so fast.
Slugging outfielder Yoenis Cespedes was acquired by the Mets at the trade deadline as a rental, but his career in Queens might not end once the 2015 season concludes.
Cespedes has been a Met less than a week, but he already sees a future for himself in New York.
"This is something I can't control," Cespedes said through an interpreter on Tuesday afternoon, according to ESPN.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."
The 29-year-old has a strange provision in his contract which will make it difficult for general manager Sandy Alderson and the Wilpons to re-sign him.
The Mets have five days to re-sign Cespedes after the World Series. If they don't get a deal done, the club will be forced to release him. Once a free agent, New York would not be eligible to sign him in the offseason. Cespedes could only sign with the Mets on May 15, over a month into the 2016 season.
The Mets are also prohibited from making the Cuban a qualifying offer.
But of course, if both parties want a deal to get done, Cespedes and the Mets can agree to a contract extension before the end of the season. It stands to reason that the 2014 All-Star, who will be a hot commodity and is in line for a huge payday, will want to test the free-agent market. And the Wilpons haven't exactly spent extravagantly in recent years.
"The first thing you can see is the pitching," Cespedes said, according to ESPN.com. "Every team needs pitching, and I think we have enough pitching to go all the way to the finals. Other teams that I've been around, they scored four and they give up four.
"This team, if we score four with the pitching that we have, we'll be able to compete and go to the finals. The energy that everybody feels from the pitching staff and the hitters is a plus."
In four games with the Mets, the two-time Home Run Derby champion is 5-for-17 with four RBIs, three runs and three doubles.
On the season, he's hitting .293 with 18 homers, 65 RBIs and 31 doubles.
