Yoenis Cespedes Trade Finally Gives Mets Big Bat, Rights Gomez Drama

This is not the day to rip the New York Mets. This is the day to praise them.

But first...

Did you notice what was playing on the Mets' SNY cable network just as the team was announcing its feel-good Yoenis Cespedes trade?

I'll give you a hint. The rain was coming down at Citi Field, and Justin Upton was stepping to the plate against Jeurys Familia.

Over to you, Sandy Alderson.

The Mets can't change history, but at least they can change the story. And while they may not have won this trade deadline the way the Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals won it, there's no team in baseball that did a better job of bouncing back from what seemed to be total disaster.

Carlos Osorio/Associated Press

New York had the worst 24 hours of any team in baseball, with a botched trade and a blown 7-1 lead. Twenty-four hours later, it had the best deadline-day deal of anyone, adding Cespedes' bat into a team that might otherwise have wasted a dominant young rotation.

One day, people were laughing (or crying).

The next day, a rival National League executive was saying, "I think this puts the Mets in the playoffs."

Story changed.

The Mets still have work to do. They entered play Friday three games behind in the National League East, trailing a Washington Nationals team that didn't have a great deadline but has already added Ryan Zimmerman, Anthony Rendon and Jayson Werth back into the lineup and will eventually get Denard Span back, too. Even without those guys, and even with the Mets starting their Big Three pitchers, the Nationals won two of three last week in D.C. 

The Nationals still look like the better team...but so what? The Mets now look like a real threat, not just to the Nats but to the clubs chasing the NL wild-card spots (New York enters play Friday 4.5 games out in that race).

For too long, the Mets made it too easy to dismiss their chances because they didn't act like an organization focused on winning now. They didn't address their shortstop problem. They didn't address their bench. And they waited and waited as games slipped away because they had nobody who could hit.

Carlos Osorio/Associated Press

Just last week, the Mets started a lineup with four guys who had batting averages below .180—including cleanup hitter John Mayberry Jr. (.170).

Thursday, the Mets officially released Mayberry—and officially joined the National League playoff race.

The change actually began last week, with the Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson trade and the Michael Conforto promotion from Double-A Binghamton. The Mets won two straight over the Los Angeles Dodgers, and they even ended Zack Greinke's scoreless streak.

It was a good start, but they needed more. So they traded for Carlos Gomez and then watched their world fall apart.

They called off the Gomez trade, citing concerns about his hips, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Tom Haudricourt. They botched the calling-off, and everyone watched as Wilmer Flores (supposed to be going to Milwaukee in the deal) cried on the field.

When Upton hit the three-run home run off Familia on Thursday afternoon, the crying continued, as Kevin DeLury of the New York Rangers blog pointed out:

Then came Friday, and as deadline day dragged on, the Mets were linked with other hitters. They were going to get Jay Bruce or Rajai Davis or Will Venable or Upton or, finally, Cespedes. But with 15 minutes to go to the 4 p.m. ET deadline, they still had no deal.

Fortunately for them, the Detroit Tigers had to move Cespedes, a free-agent-to-be whose contract didn't permit the Tigers to receive draft-pick compensation. Fortunately for them, not many other teams were trying to acquire hitters on the final day.

The Tigers agreed to accept Michael Fulmer and Luis Cessa, a pair of minor league pitchers who aren't bad (especially Fulmer) but who weren't crucial to the Mets' chances of present or future success. The Mets agreed to take on the remainder of Cespedes' $10.5 million contract (damaging the narrative that they called off the Gomez deal because they couldn't pay his $8 million).

Cespedes isn't a perfect fit, because he's a left fielder and his addition might force Curtis Granderson into center field. But he's a great fit, because he's exactly the type of power bat the Mets had lacked.

"All of a sudden, you're looking around that clubhouse; there's some nice offensive pieces that are there," said manager Terry Collins, looking happier than he has in days. "This is a big bat in the middle of the lineup. I think it's a huge step forward for us."

Mets fans, including comedian Jerry Seinfeld, seemed to agree:

Alderson has to love that reaction. During his press conference to announce the trade, the Mets general manager admitted that he hoped dealing for Cespedes would energize Mets players and fans.

"This is the kind of player who could have a big impact, both with the team on the field and how the team is perceived," he said.

It's the move the Mets needed. It's the move that signals they actually are trying to win—this year.

It's easy to say they should have done something sooner, but at least they did it now.

So stop laughing at them, at least for now.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

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