Mets: Yoenis Cespedes cost over $100 million plus three seasons of winning baseball

Although not entirely his fault, Yoenis Cespedes has cost the New York Mets more than his $100+ million salary. His presence has also cost this team three seasons of winning baseball.

Baseball fans are always trying to quantify value. Whether it’s WAR or older statistics, we always want to know who the best value is. One thing we know for sure is that the New York Mets have not gotten the best out of Yoenis Cespedes.

The “he got us to the 2015 World Series” argument is over. One deep trip to the postseason doesn’t help when Cespedes has cost the Mets so much more.

In salary, Cespedes will pull in over $100 million from the Mets for the length of his contract. The more costly effect of having him in New York is how his presence has cost the team three losing seasons.

Yes, I’m jumping ahead and already declaring 2019 a bust.

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It’s not all Cespedes’ fault. He’s merely a representation of poorly spreading out the payroll. For as much as we hear the Mets spend money, only three guys under their control are on contracts in 2018 costing $10 million or more. Along with Cespedes, David Wright and Jay Bruce cross the eight-figure mark.

Because the Mets are spending half a small market team’s salary on one player, they are trapped in a purgatory. Yeah, the insurance may help re-line the Wilpon’s pockets. Can we honestly say we expect them to spend the money again?

I don’t want to turn this into yet another “Cespedes is a bum” piece. I have done that enough this year. Rather, let’s focus on how bad it is for a team to dedicate this much of the budget on one man.

How often does it work when teams spend big dollars on one player?

Among the highest paid position players in MLB, only Giancarlo Stanton and J.D. Martinez are producing well on teams vying for the postseason. The highest paid position player, Mike Trout, certainly deserves the $33.25 million. Unfortunately, the $27 million the Los Angeles Angels are paying Albert Pujols has hurt their chances to put good talent around the big fish.

To get out of the hole they’re in, this team needs payroll flexibility. Their commital to Cespedes will stop that from happening for at least another year. The fact that he’s not even taking the field until about mid-2019 at best already puts this organization at a disadvantage for 2019.

Next. Mets need to do worse before they do better

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Thus, the cost of signing a big free agent is more than money. When it goes wrong, it all costs you three seasons of baseball.

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