That’s quite the pay cut.
The Mets and Yoenis Cespedes agreed to an amended contract that will have the oft-injured outfielder playing on a $6 million base salary in 2020, according to an exclusive report from The Associated Press. If he does not start next season on the injured list for a right foot or ankle injury related to his accident in May, he can jump his salary to $11 million.
Cespedes, who hasn’t played since July 20, 2018, was originally slated to make $29.5 million next season under the terms of his four-year, $110 million deal he inked in December 2016. 2020 is expected to be Cespedes’ final year with the Mets as he’s set to hit free agency following next season.
But the new deal is loaded with incentives. If Cespedes can hit 650 plate appearances in 2020, he will see his pay raised to $20 million, AP reported. That’s an unlikely scenario for a player who has topped 321 plate appearances just once since 2015, but now Cespedes’ recent comments to ESPN studio analyst Eduardo Perez make sense. The 34-year-old slugger told Perez during an interview Thursday he wants to play 140-plus games and hit 52 home runs in 2020.
Cespedes had double-heel surgery in 2018, then suffered multiple ankle fractures in an accident on his ranch in Port St. Lucie, Florida last May. Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen, who then left the Mets’ series in Miami to visit the outfielder at ‘La Potencia,’ initially said Cespedes told the team he stepped in a hole and twisted his leg and foot into a difficult position. The “violent fall” Cespedes described gave the Mets reason to further evaluate its accuracy.
The Mets wanted to withhold part of Cespedes’ salary as the team argued his injury happened during an activity prohibited in his contract. The players’ union filed a grievance and the sides settled on an amended contract before the case was argued.
Cespedes also agreed to a pay cut in 2019 — from $29 million to $22.9 million — as part of the new contract restructuring that was finalized on Dec. 13. Information sent to teams this year listed his pay as $14.8 million. So the latest deal actually gives Cespedes about $8 million more than the Mets originally paid him in 2019, for a season that tallied zero plate appearances.
The outfielder has been hitting, throwing and running at the Mets minor-league facility for “several weeks,” according to Van Wagenen’s latest public update on the slugger during this month’s Winter Meetings in San Diego. Former Met Endy Chavez posted and then deleted a video of Cespedes taking hacks during an informal batting practice on Nov. 19.
If Cespedes can uphold his motivation to “go out with a bang” in 2020, as he told Perez, here are some of the incentives he can earn. Next season, Cespedes can earn $9 million based on plate appearances: $250,000 each for 200, 250 and 275 PAs; $500,000 apiece for 300, 350, 375 and 400 PAs; $750,000 each for 425, 450 and 475 PAs; and $1 million apiece for 525, 550, 575 and 650 PAs.
He would get $1 million for league MVP, $250,000 for second and $100,000 for third, up from $125,000 for first, $100,000 for second and $75,000 for third in his original contract. Fourth ($50,000) and fifth ($25,000) remain the same.
Cespedes also would receive a $2 million assignment bonus if traded to an American League team and a $500,000 bonus if dealt to a National League team, the money owed by the club that acquires him. His amended deal says he does not have to make his $50,000 charitable contribution in 2020.
It appears unlikely the Mets will trade Cespedes ahead of the 2020 season, though a report from MLB.com indicated the team is fielding offers from other teams on the injured slugger. The money saved on Cespedes contract restructuring should give the Mets a larger budget, to potentially spend on a reliever or backup catcher, for the 2020 season.
– With The Associated Press
