Picture this: Yoenis Cespedes comes up to hit every two or three innings because he’s batting cleanup as the Mets designated hitter against the Nationals in the middle of August. There are no fans forming a line at the gates of Clover Park. Players are occupying the seats in the stands, obediently sitting six feet apart, before it’s their turn to bat or take the field.
It’s a situation that could happen to the New York Mets of Port St. Lucie, and sometimes the New York Mets of Jupiter, or the New York Mets of West Palm Beach.
Under a new plan concocted by Major League Baseball, the Mets would play at their spring training home and roam around Florida, only playing teams in their Grapefruit League division. That division would then be split into groups — North, South and East.
In this scenario, first reported on Friday by USA Today’s Bob Nightingale, the Mets would be placed in the East and face off against teams that are close in proximity to their Port St. Lucie-based spring training facility. That group includes the Nationals (West Palm Beach), Astros (West Palm Beach), Cardinals (Jupiter) and Marlins (Jupiter).
Mets matchups against the Phillies (Clearwater) and Braves (North Port) would be eliminated; those teams would be placed in the North and South leagues, respectively. The Cactus League will take place in Arizona under the same proximity-based format. The winners from the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues will move on to the World Series.
“This is the more realistic plan — having teams play at each other’s spring training sites,” said an industry executive familiar with MLB’s ideas to potentially start an abbreviated season. “The willingness to change around the divisions, while it’s not perfect, is also trying to take into consideration the containment aspect, the safest play, being able to actually play the season.”
But how could Cespedes be the DH against a National League team? With traditional American and National League teams scattered throughout Florida and Arizona in their respective groups in the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues, the universal DH would likely be implemented to account for balance. Plus, pitchers are already expected to have a tough time ramping up for a shortened season. The universal DH removes that extra task of hitting when pitchers are already worried about the risk of injury.
It would be a boon to the Mets and Cespedes, who may not yet be ready to play in the field but still has plenty of power at the plate. One league executive told the Daily News that implementing the universal DH and deploying Cespedes for that role could be the best-case scenario for the Mets.
The Cuban slugger is rehabbing from double-heel surgery and ankle fractures, the latter injury sustained after an incident with a wild boar. He hasn’t appeared in a major league game since July 20, 2018.
“Under these circumstances, you’d almost have to go with the universal DH,” an industry source said. “If you lose the season, it really hurts because the (Mets) have a bunch of free agents. If the season (is played), they’re at a little bit of a disadvantage with (Noah) Syndergaard’s injury. But the one way you feel better is if Cespedes can stay healthy and be healthy. That’s a huge bat in the lineup. Now you can keep him off his feet and he can play a majority of games as a DH.”
Last month during Mets spring camp, Cespedes was improving in moderation. He hit bombs during batting practices and made contact during live simulation games against some of his own teammates, like Jacob deGrom, but the slugger was not yet ready to run the bases or take the field.
The 34-year-old is in the final year of his contract with the Mets. It’s a sticky situation, as the club restructured his contract and Cespedes agreed to reduce his 2020 salary from $29.5 million to $10 million (with performance-based incentives) after the boar accident.
Cespedes appeared deeply motivated to contribute in 2020. Mets manager Luis Rojas often cited that the mending slugger was the first player to arrive at the Port St. Lucie facility every morning in spring camp. During the offseason, Cespedes told ESPN analyst and Mets managerial candidate Eduardo Perez that he could hit at least 40 home runs and play 140-plus games. While that always seemed unrealistic for a player coming off severe foot injuries, his optimism was encouraging.
The Mets could squeeze a number of at-bats out of Cespedes by utilizing him as their everyday DH, while taking some pressure off the slugger to quickly ramp up and play in the outfield. It could be the last time fans see Cespedes — just on their TV screens, of course — in a Mets uniform. The Port St. Lucie Mets, that is.
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