We may be nearing the end of the Yoenis Cespedes free agency saga.
According to Jim Bowden of ESPN and SiriusXM, the market for the 30-year-old slugger is “intensifying” and “something could get done in the next few days.”
Cespedes and his reps at Roc Nation should have a pretty good read on all the available proposals by now, and which teams will be willing to open the purse strings a little further. Cespedes was initially seeking a big long-term deal in the Jason Heyward or Chris Davis range, but nothing of that sort has been put on the table yet and we are now in mid-January.
There was a five-year, $90 million offer at one point from the Orioles, but that’s no longer an option for Cespedes because of the money Baltimore had to spend on re-signing Davis. Teams like the Mets, Tigers, and White Sox are willing to explore something shorter and cheaper, and the O’s could jump back in if the price tag falls far enough.
But you can understand why Cespedes has been reluctant to budge.
The dynamic Cuban posted an impressive .870 OPS (137 OPS+) with 35 home runs, 42 doubles, and 105 RBI in 159 games last summer between Detroit and New York. He ranked seventh among all MLB hitters in FanGraphs’ version of WAR, and his free agency is not tied to draft pick compensation because he was traded midseason.
