Yoenis Cespedes to Mets: Latest Trade Details, Comments and Reaction

With the Detroit Tigers' postseason window closing by the day, they opted to offload Yoenis Cespedes, sending the 29-year-old outfielder to the New York Mets just prior to Friday's non-waiver trade deadline. 

Bruce Levine of WSCR-AM in Chicago first reported the deal, and Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports confirmed the report. The Mets also made the move official.

New York manager Terry Collins said on acquiring Cespedes, per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, "I haven't been through somebody of this magnitude, this kind of bat coming to the clubhouse."

According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the Mets sent pitchers Michael Fulmer and Luis Cessa back to the Tigers:

While this year's trade market was flush with talented pitching, offensive help was a little more difficult to come by. Next to San Diego's Justin Upton, Cespedes was one of the top outfield bats available.

As a result, the Tigers were bound to collect a healthy trade haul, even though there's the risk Cespedes, an impending free agent, is merely a rental player for New York. 

Flags fly forever, though, so few will argue that adding the former All-Star was a bad move for the Mets, even with the chance he leaves in the offseason.

Cespedes is hitting .293 with 18 home runs and 61 runs batted in. His .354 wOBA and 125 wRC+ represent improvements from his 2014 numbers. And his value also extends to defense. According to Baseball Prospectus, his 5.4 fielding runs against average puts him on pace to smash his previous career high (0.5).

ESPN Stats & Info added an impressive stat regarding Cespedes' outfield assists:

Given how well he has played in 2015, the Tigers were in a somewhat tricky position. There's no question Detroit has been a disappointment this year, but the 50-52 club is one hot run away from climbing into a wild-card spot in the American League. Three-and-a-half games is a far from insurmountable deficit.

Trading Cespedes doesn't necessarily mean the playoffs are an impossibility now for Detroit, but the Tigers' chances of reaching that stage certainly got worse.

For a franchise that won its division in each of the last four years, essentially waving the white flag at the trade deadline likely wasn't an easy decision.

When the Tigers dealt David Price, as reported by ESPN.com, that signaled Detroit was willing to sacrifice the present for the future. Before the Price trade, ESPN's Jayson Stark noted the Tigers were looking to start another competitive cycle:

Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal presented a silver lining for Detroit, however, at least with regard to Cespedes.

Rosenthal wrote that the Tigers could have a better chance of re-signing the outfielder in the offseason if they traded him, highlighting a clause in his contract that prevents a team from extending him a qualifying offer:

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Nor can it re-sign him as a free agent until after May 15 of the following year.

In other words, the Tigers hold exclusive negotiating rights with Cespedes only through the five-day window at the end of the World Series. After that, they would be at a disadvantage unless he was willing to sit out until May 15.

If, on the other hand, the Tigers traded Cespedes, they would lose the ability to negotiate with him for the rest of the season and through the exclusive negotiating window. But they would gain equal footing with other clubs in free agency, and could sign Cespedes without losing a draft pick.

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Talk about a win-win. The Tigers would pull off a masterstroke if they could manage to not only trade Cespedes for future assets but also re-sign him the following offseason. But that's a long way off. In the immediate future, this trade won't help Detroit. Swapping a proven commodity for prospects is always a risk.

Meanwhile, Cespedes immediately strengthens New York's standing as a playoff contender. He's a middle-of-the-order power hitter, and the anemic Mets offense sorely needed that type of presence.

You'd have to consider New York one of the biggest winners at the deadline after it landed one of the most prized sluggers available. This could be the final piece of the puzzle given the strength of its pitching staff.

Stats courtesy of FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.  

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