DECEMBER 21: Under the amended contract, Cespedes will see his 2020 base salary drop from $29.5MM to just $6MM, according to a report from Ronald Blum of the Associated Press. However, that number will hike up to $11MM as soon as Cespedes is on the active roster or the IL with an injury unrelated to the contentious ankle fracture. Cespedes will still be able to reach the $20MM threshold through a series of plate appearance bonuses totaling $9MM; if he reaches 650 plate appearances, he will earn that entire amount.
Earlier Updates
5:25pm: Cespedes’s pocketbook has taken a huge hit, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports on Twitter. In addition to losing some of his 2019 earnings, he’ll now be guaranteed less than $10MM for the season to come. He can earn his way back to the $20MM range through the incentives.
For the Mets, the benefit comes primarily from the perspective of cash accounting. It’s unclear whether this modification will be reflected in the calculation of the team’s payroll for purposes of computing the competitive balance tax. Even if so, the reduction presumably wouldn’t be dollar-for-dollar (barring some special treatment), since the CBT refers to the average annual salary of a contract.
4:29pm: Much but not all of the guarantee can be recouped via performance and awards bonuses, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets.
3:58pm: There’s more to this story (and more sure to come). The Mets stopped paying his salary at some point during the 2019 season, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter). The organization also brought a grievance action relating to Cespedes’s 2020 earnings.
The involvement of Cespedes’s 2019 salary adds another wrinkle to this. For one thing, it seems the club has been saving on its hefty obligations to the veteran slugger for some time. (Timing remains unclear.) For another, it appears there was quite a lot more cash at stake in the dispute than was already evident. Cespedes was due to earn $29MM last year.
3:21pm: The Mets and injured outfielder Yoenis Cespedes have agreed to “amend” the remainder of his contract with the team, according to Andy Martino of SNY.tv (Twitter link). Details of the arrangement aren’t yet clear, but it seems there is a modification to the salary Cespedes will earn in the coming season.
As things stand, Cespedes is due $29.5MM in the final season of his four-year deal. He’ll remain under contract, but at a lower rate. The modification relates to the injury suffered this May. Cespedes shattered his right ankle in an accident on his ranch while recovering from successive surgeries to both heels.
While we still lack a full public accounting of how Cespedes was injured, it seems clear that he was in a jeopardized position with regard to his contract. This settlement — which surely involved the league and union — will allow both sides to avoid the cost and strain of a full-throated legal battle. For the Mets, they now know just how much they will save on their obligations to Cespedes at a key juncture in the offseason.
The Mets entered the winter with a payroll predicament. This news promises to free up a good chunk of change to put towards other uses. The club will still have Cespedes on hand as a complete wild card — his talent is undeniable but his physical capabilities are at this point unknown — but can divert a substantial portion of what it would’ve paid him to other purposes. The club had reportedly been looking to move some underperforming contracts as a means of freeing payroll. Just how the offseason course will be impacted by today’s news remains to be seen.
I’m having Bonilla flashes
And you’re an idiot.
exactly
This has nothing to do with Bobby Bonilla..
There are several factors to consider, and several questions we need answered before we can even make any kind of judgment. For starters, technically, we don’t even know exactly how much Cespedes is truly giving up..
From my understanding, after skimming through the article and the related updates, the article states that he has agreed to reduce his guarantee from 29.5mil down to some number less than 10mil. Which, at this point, even that fact is vague as almighty heck.. HOWEVER, with that being said, it also states that Cespedes can RECOUP the vast majority of that money via incentives this year..Again, we do know he CANNOT recoup all of that money; however, we do not know how high his incentives might reach, so that number is mighty vague as well..
Furthermore, there are several other factors that play into and that will effect the ultimate outcome of this deal. We still do not know the current state of Cespedes’ health, nor do we know if he will even play this season. Then, let’s say Cespedes does play this year, how much does he play? Not to mention, if Cespedes does play, then how attainable are the incentives? Are they as simple as him being on the 25-man roster and healthy, or are they performance and milestone based??
Another MAJOR factor we just do not know yet is if Cespedes gets anything for agreeing to this deal..Or did Cespedes and his agent see the writing on the wall, and they knew the Mets had a strong case to possibly get his contract voided entirely. If that is the case, then Cespedes and his agent likely just took the best deal they thought they’d get??
Without all these questions answered it is impossible to give any kind of educated opinion of the deal, one way or the other. Anything we say right now is just ignorant speculation..But that surely has not stopped a large portion of the commenters on here before…Soo..lol
Yep, the article and information is annoyingly vague. Clearly Cespedes was in serious danger of getting the contract voided completely and took a safety net, otherwise nobody in their right mind would agree to something like this. Especially a guy like Cespedes who seems to enjoy living a luxury based lifestyle.
It doesn’t really matter. Cespedes will not play when it rains for fear of injury. He will also avoid day games with sunny weather as he will be playing golf.
You have a lot to say for someone who just skimmed an article.
Maybe he does but he is right
youre thinking too much, sure people can give opinions, all they have to do is add “based on what we know”
This whole thing makes me wonder if the Yanks actually will end up being able to pay Ellisbury less money than the $26+ million everyone seems to think he is surely entitled to from a legal standpoint. I can’t imagine why Cespedas would have signed this new deal if he didn’t the the Mets had a chance of voiding his contract or at least lowering his compensation to less than what his new deal is worth.
I suspect Ellsbury did nothing wrong and the Yanks will be forced to pay his entire salary.
Agreed
I have an opinion but you won’t like it.
” based on what we know”
Why? It’s not your money. Further, the Nats have been deferring money like nobody’s business and they’re praised for it. Honestly, if they’ve convinced Cespedes to defer, that could free up some money this year. I would also assume that the Wilpons would love to spread Cespedes’s deal into Cohen’s tenure.
I agree. Nats will owe millions to many after the players are gone. Bobby Bo contract tame compared to thise of the Nats
One problem. Many of those players got the Nats a championship out of it.
As things stand right now, Bobby Bo has a championship ring, but not for the team that is paying his retirement plan. It’s for the team where his yacht is parked for his leisure fishing on the Mets dime.
These are 2 different things all together, Bonilla was owed like 6mil for the final year of his contract and the Mets managed to turn that into paying him 29.8mil. The Nats are pushing current salary value into future payments at today’s dollars with no interest.
What’s the Nats are doing is extracting extra value out of these contracts by pushing payments into the future with no interest, it’s almost like a 10 year whereas what the Mets did with Bonilla was basically borrow 6 mil dollars from him and promised to pay him 1.2mil a year from 2011 until 2035 at 8% yearly interest becoming an astounding 29.8mil.
*like a 10 year no interest loan
Just to add context, the Wilpons at the time were invested with Bernie Madoff’s unindenitified ponzi scheme hedge fund and were making conservatively 10% to 15% annual returns. Bonilla’s deal for 8% made total business sense. If Madoff had been an actual Wall Street unicorn, the Wilpons would’ve profitted $40m+ after paying off Bonilla every year.
Yea it completely makes sense to plan future expenditures on fraudulent income.
Yanks are still paying Kevin Brown
WTF
very true. many ppl do not recognize the strategy was sound and meant to be profitable for Mets ownership and Bonilla.
The crazy thing is that it was a buyout and Bonilla is getting $30 mil for a season in which he never played for the Mets (2000, when he was due the $6 mil).
Just to be clear, there is no evidence that anyone other than the Modoff family and employees were aware of the Ponzi scheme. There was apparently some speculation that Madoff must have been trading on insider information in order to achieve his returns, In a 60 minutes story about the person who alerted the SEC that something wasn’t right, the whistle blower said thought that it was insider trading and he’d get a statutory award for blowing the whistle. No evidence has been presented that the Wilpons knew of the scheme, though some have argued that they should have realized something was wrong because the returns were too good to be true. The guy on 60 Minutes said that no one had these kind of returns on investments every quarter, though I don’t know if that is true.
Attention Bleed. There is nothing compatible to the Booby Bo contract. It was the single largest screw up in MLB history and followed the previous record holder; the Mo Vaughn albatross.
No worries metsies. Fred is clipping the money back to his Brooklyn Dodgers fund. Anything that leaks will be offset with Brody Big smile trading the house away for dumb deals.
Example of pissing away money are today’s two pitchers announcement. One has awesome stuff who can’t get to 120 innings in a season.
The other Porcello is healthy and you wish he was in the IL.
You do realize that the Mets did the exact same thing as the Nats,right? Are you just pretending you know what Present Value means?
@abgb123 That’s easy to say in hindsight.
You are an idiot. A big idiot. Literally clueless.
hindsight? Madoff was filing paperwork with the SEC that was deemed to be literally mathematically impossible. It was investigated and found to be a Ponzi scam that was missing 18 billion dollars. It was found in a libel case that the investors that got the net positive (Madoff’s friends) would have had to have known that the returns were impossible. By the time Madoff was arrested it was apparently an inside secret that he was running a Ponzi scam or at least suspected. This is documented in court cases pertaining to the Madoff case over and over, Katz, Wilpon, Picower avoided jail time due to it being hard to criminally convict them and the willingness to give back the gains.
It didn’t require hindsight it required the parties that were making the largest gains not to be willfully blind and to look past their noses.
There were a lot of people who were blindsided by Madoff. It’s ridiculous to single out the Wilpons. If everyone knew about it, why wasn’t he shut down sooner?
I’m mesmerized that the Dodgers gave a 34 year old a 7 year contract.
Fred is so dumb
And how about the Bobby Bo deal? Should we single out Fred for that?
Stop making excuses for Mr. Cheap.
this isn’t a deferment situation. this is a reduction of salary due to cespedes breaching his contract, which resulted in an injury. in a round about way, this is stated in the article.
Ah, only half the article was written when I posted this.
Okay, no reductions.
The article doesn’t say defer it days amend. He shattered his ankle doing something stupid so his salary is now less not prorated
Nats have been paying up to the tax though,they’re just avoiding going over with their contracts.And they got a chip.
That’s not how the luxury tax works, it’s based on AVV, deferring salary doesn’t help.
Exactly
I love making fun of the Bobby Bonilla contract as much as the next guy, but it’s not even relevant. This has nothing to do with deferred money. Clearly the Mets had enough of a case that the injury was non baseball related and involved something Cespedes shouldn’t be doing so they reached a mutual agreement to lower his salary in the last year if his contract. Jeff Kent would be a better comparison.
I can see them doing something like they did with Bonilla, $1.9 million/year until the end of time.
Still having Bonilla flashbacks or were they just wet dream!
interesting
Respectable
Another Bobby Bo deal?
Bobby Bonilla contract 2.0??
Cespedes is going to rake next year.
Yeah maybe in his yard…
And he will likely tear a major ligament while doing it
But at least he won’t have to worry about Wildfires.
On the 10th hole
I agree chino. These haters gonna be shocked.
No flipping way
Make your move Yoenis
Cespedes about to earn the mvp award without having to take the field if he takes a significant pay cut
I wonder how this will effect the insurance money for him, or is he playing finally?
Sounds like they made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
I wonder what he’s getting in return.
Cespedes gets 6 million per year for the next 10 years.
A cespedes jersey.
He gets not having his contract completely voided which was more than likely because of his stupidity.
Would the Mets be interested in dumping his contract and attaching talent to it? There was talk about doing this with Familia and Lowrie.
You might want to ask the Padres how easy that is to do.
The Angels just did it a few days ago. Granted, less money, but a worse player too.
another terrific mets contract
This one is not their fault. He’d had a terrific season when they gave it to him.. Should they have let him walk after he opted out?
He played them by signing the one year contract. It suckered Fred into thinking that he could get that kind of a performance out of him when his history was injury infested
Yankees would have just not paid him. “Accident at his ranch”… void contract
That’s the dumbest thing I’ve read in a long time.
Iamhector and Joe- you don’t see the similarities between the Cespedes case and Ellsbury?
To quote Dean Vernon Wormer: “”Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life.”
Ah memories!
Corrected “fat, drunk, stupid and rich”
TBH I wasn’t talking about Els or Cespedes.
Funny stuff Joe. Tough you have to ‘splain it though
Ella – “Funny stuff Joe. Tough you have to ‘splain it though”
Tough you felt the need to ‘splain it though.
There, fixed it for ya.
Yet it’s wildly popular.
Another wild swing and miss by another Red Sox fan who refuses to grow up. I’d like to point out how well-behaved Yankees fans have been in the flurry of Red Sox articles posted the last 36 hours. Completely as expected, Conversely, Melchez and his colleagues dumped in every Yankees-related item out there, and going out of their way, as in this case, to bring Yankee attacks into non-Yankee pieces.. Thoroughly confirming my point on this subject. I rest my case.
kinda racist.
I’m not sure what your point is. Are you talking about Melchez or me? I don’t see race in his comment or mine…
Please enlighten us with what you feel is kinda racist.
those sox fans just can’t help themselves.
Funny that after this the fact came out that Mets weren’t paying his salary. Almost like that’s what all teams do when you breach your contract…
That’s all the Marlins do is lose.
Insurance likely is only related to baseball activities. The article indicates an accident on his ranch. There are clauses in MLB contracts on activities players aren’t supposed to so the willingness of his reps to agree to a reduction in means ilkely that’s what happened.
MLBPA has strict rules on contracts being changed/ guaranteed $ being reduced but clearly this fell into one of those exceptions.
I imagine it was the insurance company that investigated and discovered the breach of contract. They then inform the Mets there will be no payout, prompting the Mets to make Cespedes an offer he couldn’t refuse. Considering Cespedes accepted indicates he knows they have the goods on him.
Highly plausible. Union head Tony Clark hasn’t made a statement that we know of and probably won’t. Unlike Ellsbury case.
David Wright should have done the same
As much as it would be Classic Mets for this to turn into another Bonilla situation, it sounds more like Cespedes knew he violated a term of his contract, so it was just in everyone’s best interest to resolve it by simply paying him less this year.
Though no one should be surprised if it somehow turns out the Mets now owe him $1.2 million per year every year until the heat death of the universe.
But that would only be 4% per year – which is reasonable. Bonilla gets his money at 8%…
And if he collects more than 3 RBI’s in any game replays the amount increases by 50% in that year.
Bobby Bo has an archive of his handful of 3 RBI games as a Met and he posts them to You Tube every spring.
If healthy, would be a good part of a DH/RF platoon with Mazara. If the Mets pay down some of his contract I could see this. Or in an even bigger trade attach him to Syndergaard and take a pick of prospects besides Robert and Madrigal
This smells of Bobby Bonilla obviously, but it seems to be prepping for a trade of Cespedes for a bag of balls to some team that’s willing to kick the tires on him for a cheap rate.
The marlins you mean
It’s possible. You never know. Marlins have nothing to lose.
Except 120 games
Except that current ownership actually cares about team makeup and reshaping its culture. I don’t think Cespedes fits into that mold. The Curtis Granderson signing was even though everyone knew sadly that he was a diminished player.
This freaking guy is everywhere. Go comment on your miserable Marlins threads
Changes to that 100% pure robbery of a contract he had lol
Ellsbury should have done the same
Any possibility that he’s just doing the right thing …realizing that he hasn’t fulfilled his contract obligations to the best of his ability and is willing to work it out with his employer
or is everybody so cynical these days?
Would you give up millions of dollars just to do the right thing?
Yes, specially considering he already has made more money that he or his family would need
You’re different then, because most people won’t.
Easy to say you’d give up $10 million to “do the right thing” when you don’t have the chance to give up $10 million.
Yes it’s easy when it’s the right thing to do
Are you not familiar with Cespedes ridiculously expensive lifestyle and over the top ultra expensive vehicles and paying for an entire entourages living? I seriously doubt he’s saving much of the money he’s made.
not really how it works. is he intentionally trying not to play hard or slacking off? he’s injured, and even if it’s his own doing doesnt mean he owes them something.
Imagine negotiating against the contract that you yourself negotiated in the first place.
The Mets should have just voided the contract due to the non-baseball injury. The shattered ankle is likely to be arthritic and alter his play.
My guess is that he will be payed depending on number of games played and/or other performance levels attained.
NBIs (non-baseball injuries) are unfortunate because every freaking contract has a clause; it’s not like the player is surprised that it was in his contract. Occasionally, a player will fight the clause because they enjoy playing basketball or participating in off-road sports, etc…
affeldt got paid when he cut his hand during a BBQ and his kid landed on him wrong and blew out his knee…
Depends on the club I guess. Besides, I doubt there is a clause in any contract that says you can’t play with your children…..
Like, you said, every player has NBI clauses written into their contract, so if the Mets could outright prove that the ankle injury was a pure NBI and not at least somewhat related to his baseball-related heel injuries they would just NBI Void him. The face that they haven’t is pretty solid proof that they cannot prove the ankle injury is fully non-baseball related, or solid proof that Cespedes at least has some tangential evidence connecting the two.
i mean they were both injured no? hard to believe the daily stress on them didnt contribute.
Yoenis and Jeff Kent should get together and wash their trucks.
One difference between this NBI and some others in the past is that he got hurt at a time he was in the IL because he was supposed to be too hurt to play baseball. If I owned a team and a player did that I wouldn’t want to be paying him either
Curious how much they save and where they allocate that money….no relief arm on the market is worth it to me…Porcello and Wacha mean it wont ve in the rotation. I know salary can be added via a trade…but that also means loss of other assets.
Rendon would have been nice…
Lets see what they do with the savings
Of course Rendon would have been nice, so would have been Cole, but neither had any possibility of ever happening
At least this NY salary withholding situation makes more sense than ellsbury
Actually, on premise they are quite similar. But, on its face, the case for Cespedes is much easier to prove. Now don’t go crazy, I didn’t say the Yankees would win, just that the premise upon which the argument is made is the same.
I say good for both parties. As the thread said, there is an assumption that both the league and union were involved, which is good. Otherwise this could set a dangerous precedent for the game. And we all know what matters the most here…the game.
The problem for the Mets here is that Cespedes was already injured (dual heel surgeries for bone spurs) when he broke his ankle. So there would have to be concrete medical proof that his shattered ankle added XX months to his recovery. I’m sure insurance covered the heel issues here but like any insurance company, I’m sure they did what the could to stop payments after his ankle was broken. It will be interesting to hear how much money Cespedes agreed to forfeit; I doubt it’s more than a 1/2 year’s salary ($15M) but you never know.
And an answer to the other question
yes – I would do the right thing and renegotiate a promise that I wasn’t able to keep
Life can’t always be about the money
Life should never be about the money.
That sir…is a simple, yet brilliant response, that should be chiseled in stone add onewhere… well said!
This story has a very Jeff Kent feel to it. I’m not sure what Cespedes did but I do like agreements, in general. Coming to an understanding and resolution is better than letting lawyers air dirty laundry publicly.
I think he fell off a horse when he was supposed to be rehabbing on his ranch. Pretty hard to feel sorry for such stupidity.
Cespedes is high maintenance!
I’m curious to find out how he shattered the ankle. We should probably all refrain from opinions until we know, but it would probably have to be along the lines of a Ron Gant/Madison Bumgarner situation to have the Mets stop payment. I don’t think Cespedes would agree to this, otherwise. I know I wouldn’t. They’d have to beat me in court. The Mets have likely already saved a ton through the insurance cut. It kinda stinks of the Wilpons trying to reneg on a bad signing. I’m sure they are tired of terrible contracts like David Wright, and to a lesser extent, taking on Robinson Cano and blowing money on Jed Lowrie. Then again, they may be justified on this one. Interesting situation going on here.
I tell ya…the Mets are looking disastrous. The Wilpons are cheap, BVW is a terrible GM, and the medical staff is heinous.
What does Cespedes suffering a non-baseball injury have to do with the team’s medical staff?
Ron Gant was a tremendous talent. After his dirt bike accident, the Braves voided his contract with due cause. He came to the Reds l as Terry and had a tremendous year!
Ron Gant was a tremendous talent. After his dirt bike accident, the Braves voided his contract with due cause. He came to the Reds and had a tremendous year!
Considering what was just paid for Cole and Strasburg the deGrom looks great. BVW has made a lot of solid moves too. The Cano deal was for Diaz who didn’t perform and Lowrie got hurt. It’s a max $20m deal so it’s not like he struck out on a $100m contract.
I believe Cespedes hurt his ankle while on his ranch, I recall something about him stepping/falling in a hole.
What makes BVW any any worse than the other GMs in baseball?
Can’t judge the Cano Diaz deal until we see what the young prospects become
He did get JD Davis
deGrom’s deal by comparison to Cole is awesome
No one could have predicted Lowrie’s injury and most thought it was an awesome deal last offseason
If nothing happens with the two minor leaguers that were tradedi n the Cano deal the Mets are still stuck with Cano for 4 more years at a ridiculous price.so it is already a terrible deal and if either one of those minor leaguers make it big it would go down as one of the worst trades of all time.As to Lowrie while you can’t predict injuries signing a 35 year old with a history of injuries cannot be called a wise move and when he again gets injured you can’t say there was no way the GM could have known. In 13 years Lowrie only played more then 100 games 4 times.Yeah that injury was totally unexpected
I agree Willy. Brooklyn is a typical Mets fan sleeping and talking Mets mojo at the same time.
I think that it is already the worst trade of all time as Cabo’s contract and reputation were well discussed.
Super Salesman GM was impatient and panicked when Jerry Dipoto played him so he bit on the line way too quickly.
Didn’t he fall off a horse when he was in the middle of a rehab program from a previous injury while on his ranch?
Cespedes was a good player then all the injuries. Sad
A lot of his injuries were self inflicted. He seems to be an absolute moron.
Being an absolute moron is the number one quality of Mets owners, Mets GM’s and field managers, and players that they recruit.
Are they paying him $1.2 million a year until 2075 instead?
Mets still paying Bobby Bonnilla
Really that is news to me… I had never heard that before
Welp, no matter what, this is probably the last contract Cespedes will get unless he is completely healthy and has an awesome 2020. Too bad cuz he is talented.
(disclaimer – that is my opinion)
I disagree, he will get at minimum minor league contracts the rest of his active career.
This is a good business decision for both sides. Mets save money that hopefully is out to use elsewhere on the roster and Cespedes still has a contract for 2020. Was reading in other sites that the Mets could have someone fought to void his contract entirely but instead settled in this manner.
That was stupid
He got hurt on his ranch by falling into a hole, hurting his heel/leg.
It’s still makes little sense why Cespedes is a full-on Texas-style traditional cowboy though.
It’s like every person you meet in the military. They go to bootcamp and be like Texas this and that. After boot camp they be like all I wear is this but I’m also from the city.
He fell of a horse when he was supposed to be rehabbing, and had it written into his contract that he wasn’t supposed to be riding horses because he’s an idiot and predictably would do something dumb.
Acquire a couple starters and clear money in the outfield. Next, trade Thor for Correa and Reddick and we’re good to go
I’m a Mets fan and I covet Correa, but it’s going to take a lot more than Thor to get him. I’d be willing to trade Thor, McNeil, and their choice of Andres Giminez or Ronny Mauricio to get him. I’d prefer to hold on to Rosario and move him to third because I think he’s ready to break out as an offensive force.
As far as clearing money out in the outfield they just did lol. Nimmo and Conforto put up much better numbers than what they are paid. I’m very comfortable going into 2020 with Yo in left who has to be motivated to earn that salary back, Nimmo most of the time in center with Marisnick giving him a break from time to time, and Conforto in right. I don’t want anything to do with Josh Reddick no thanks.
As far as losing Thor in this scenario, I’d like to see BVW trade for Matthew Boyd to fill that void. I can’t trust that Matz or Wacha get through the season injury free or effective. Porcello will be what he is, Stroman will he great or terrible depending on the day, and deGrom is the GOAT so it is what it is.
Correa has played 98 games a year the past 3 years. He can’t stay healthy. More likely the Astros have to add a prospect to the deal to get Thor.
correa hasnt played 100 games in a season in 3 years. Stop this. Boyd is also overrated. He was basura in the second half. Mauricio is untouchable as well. Thank jeebus you’re not a GM
One look at is guy and you can see a lazy play ball player just look you have be able to SEE……
Anyone else in here really want to know what the hell he did?
Also, as a Red Sox fan, I find a little humor on Cespedes being on the same team as the guy that was traded for him.
Braves are still paying Bruce Sutter.
Bruce Sutter took a lesson from Bobby Bo who is still in the Mets payroll
Cespedes may have provate insurance to cover his loss and it is all a ruse like we see on tv news each day.
Man this guy was a monster, how they fall so easily
Funny, the same Mets fans crying about this contract are probably the same ones crying about how cheap the Wilpons are and were begging them to re-sign their all star outfielder. Can’t have it both ways.
Oakland – Boston — Detroit — what did these teams find out about Cespedes to want to trade him —
Very savy move by the Mets. it just made this offseason more interesting. will they reinvest the money? talk about savings
Mets being Mets. If he slipped and fell at their facility shattering his ankle does that mean they wouldn’t be able to do this?
His contract didn’t say “stay away from the facility,” so yeah, you nailed it except for the first sentence.
Slipping at the facility is much different than getting hurt on his ranch stop being ignorant
Braves still paying Gene Garber 30 years later
This is some BS! Cespedes deserved every penny of that contract.
Rare true 5-tool player, I hope he comes back with another team and destroys the Mets.
He’s been destroying the Mets already.
Not sure why getting hurt doing a non baseball activity makes you deserving of your money but sure
lol he was never a 5 tool guy. You crazy. He injured himself on a horse and they had proof. Otherwise the mlb or players union wouldve never allowed this to happen
Except when he apparently hurt himself doing activities prohibited by his contract. I agree that the contract was justified.
Which contract was justified?
This one, or the original one when his agent took the Wilpons into the land of stupidity?
How does deserve all of it? He’s only played 119 games since 2016, the last time he was healthy.
This leaves me with more questions than information. They stopped paying him last year. Injured on his ranch. $10 million with escalators to $20 million? What? You’re in the big leagues, when you’re into Big League Chew! Fake chaw!
Now if they move Lowrie, Smith and Davis they could afford Bryant.
The only one making any money between Lowrie, Smith and Davis is Lowrie. What do Smith and Davis have to do with affording Bryant.
This opens up more questions than it answers, but if they save most of the $29.5 million he is owed for 2020 it is great news for the Mets payroll flexibility.
I think it’s great that there are incentives now in the contract. Cespedes is a player who apparently needs to be playing for something to actually play hard (or play at all). I figured he would play hard this year since he will be playing for a new contract (presumably not with the Mets). Now it gives him even more incentive since some of this year’s salary is on the line.
Except Misterbill, Cespedes’ attitude will make the Mets and their fans cough with toxic clubhouse syndrome.
Already he won’t play during sunny afternoon games at home, opting to play 18 holes on eastern LI.
And can you wait to see him fail to cut off a ball in the gap by not running all out and diving?
Perhaps, but play like that isn’t going to get him a lucrative contract for 2021 (and not just with the Mets). And I think he’s not going to let that happen.
Cespedes has had a suspicious private life.
I recall a game when he was with the Red Sox where they had to remove him from a game due to death threats.
sfchronicle.com/sports/cespedes/
Obviously I don’t know what happened but this may turn out to be a story that turns into a movie.
Hope he will be OK. He always seemed like a likable guy.
When he was healthy he always had a great deal of talent.
Wth. They just had the chance to Void his contract completely! They should have. They can’t even do that right!
Try this: You’re signing him as a 1 year FA at 6 mil. Now consider guys like Cron and Schoop just got the same money and who would you rather have?
No doubt, but if he meets his incentives that goes to $20M. As a Mets’ fan, I hope like hell he meets his incentives because that could mean a repeat of 2015 or even better for much less than his original contract.
wow, that’s quite a lot.
Cespedes and Familia To Whitesox for Adolfo, Covey and Heuer
Never heard of the White Sox players but as a Mets fan yes
Cespedes and Familia probably get one of those three, but not all, lol
He was getting fatter and the injuries started to stack up… baseball isn’t a crazy taxing game to ones body if you keep yourself in decent shape. Speedsters and pitchers are the highest risk. I know a lot is out of his control, but he wasn’t putting himself in the best position.
Also, him losing this money is not good for him. He’s publicly known to blow through money. This is well documented. I hope he has a lot put away from those massive contracts, cause i was predicting he’d be the next millionaire featured on a how quickly I blew through my money interview
That’s a gift from above
New York team wants a player who was on the Red Sox. Gives said desired player a big contract. Player gets hurt. A lot. Finally team says its player’s fault. Blah, blah, blah. One team tries to NOT PAY the player. Other team N E G O T I A T E S a new contract. What a concept. Sit down and reach an agreement. Well, it sure isn’t politics because something actually got done. What a concept. N E G O T I A T E. Duh.
Well, are you absolute certain they did not try to negotiate, Whyhayzee? I’ve heard and read the articles, but i have not read anywhere wherein it has said they never tried to negotiate. Maybe they wanted to and Jacoby said to pound sand. Also, let’s be honest, Cespedes is a MUCH easier case to prove so a negotiation is a Christmas present for him.
And I’m not sure where people assume it is a business owner’s responsibility to pay someone money they don’t owe, by contract, or as a “reward,” or whatever other terminology you want to use. It doesn’t happen in any other business, nor would the expectation be there. Forcing businesses to pay people money outside of a contract or court ruling is called socialism. I’m not a socialist, so I don’t agree with it. If they win in court, fine. If, as with Cespedes, they choose to pay and make an alternate contract, also fine.
Socialism is terrible, kids; don’t buy into the free-college hype!
It’s very easy to say “just void his contract”, but it’s easier said than done. There would have been a long, drag out fight that could have lasted a year. All the while the money would have hung in limbo. Also, they would have had a hell of a fight with the players union to contend with. Under the current scenario they now have an additional 23 million available flor a free agent or trade without giving up young talent as a carrot to ditch a bad contract. If Cespedes actually comes back and contributes to the team in a meaningful way so he can regain some if that lost income, the Mets still wind up with that windfall of potentional production. Imagine a healthy Cespedes protecting Alonso and Conforto in the number 5 hole. It’s a reach I know, but it’s a nice one all the same.
Your hypothetical lineup is really strong. I think Cespedes will be back better than ever because now he has an incentive to play everyday and get to 650 PA.
Obviously something that was already in the contract allowed the Mets to do this. As long as they acted in accordance with what they and Cespedes agreed upon, the union shouldn’t have an issue.
Cespedes at $6M or less if they move him at the deadline will net the Mets something not bad at least. Cespedes probably is a DH from here on out, but no doubt in my mind if he’s healthy, he will be able to mash.
Question. If the Mets cut Cespedes right now, will they only be out the $6mil or will they be on the hook for the entire ammended contract if another team picks him up?
Just wait a week and he will fall off a goat or some such nonsense and violate his own contract. He’s pretty unintelligent to risk his career and all that money for a hobby.
If someone picks him off waivers Mets are off the hook. If he clears waivers then Mets are on the hook less what the signing team agrees to pay him
Could the Mets, theoretically, enter the Josh Donaldson sweepstakes at this point? That’s quite a bit of money that’s been freed up — maybe NY could get almost completely off the hook by trading him before the season starts.
Teams seem more willing to “pay” for upside these days, so it wouldn’t surprise me if a couple AL teams would be interested in trading for Cespedes — wouldn’t take much to acquire him.
Even though his salary jumps to 11m if he’s on the active roster, that would likely reflect him being healthy, which would obviously be a plus — Yo seems like one of those guys that’ll always put up above avg. offensive numbers if healthy.
Donaldson isn’t what he used to be. He’s also on the wrong side of 30.
JD is just an injury waiting to happen — plays too hard thats why he will get hurt
Cespedes may be a combination of the biggest waste of talent with the worst attitude the game has ever seen. I give the Mets credit for pushing him to renegotiate to create some salary cap room. I’ll give Cespedes credit for not simply retiring as a very rich man. Maybe he actually does want to get back on the field, but I’m sure it’s only if they are on contention and he can say, “Hey, look what I did when it mattered!”
If you are talking about the recent crop of players I would think Puig would be in the running for that title
Agreed. Puig is #1
He absolutely is #1, but Cespedes is very close.
Its a few million more to buy horses
This should make it easier for him to be moved. Mets will likely have to settle for a player with a similar salary that can bolster a need (bullpen arm) being that any acquiring team will understand he comes with injury risks. CWS seem like a fit.
Wrong. They are not looking for a prima Donna.
Still decent money for a guy who has no interest in playing baseball…
Why do this? What’s the benefit? To be on a better team in 2020?