Yoenis Cespedes or Daniel Murphy? After the 2015 season, (the one where the Mets went to the World Series, remember?), the team decided to let Murph walk and opted to re-sign Cespedes.
“A no-brainer” most cried. “Who would you rather have?” The implication was that if the Mets had made a realistic offer to Murphy, they wouldn’t have room in the budget for Cespedes. As it was, they signed the righty slugger to a deal with an opt-out, which he exercised. In the off season this year, they gave him four more years and $110 mil. Murphy signed with the Nats for three years and 37.5 mil, less than half of what the Mets are paying #52.
In 2016 Ces hit .280/31/86. Missed a good chunk of games with leg injuries. So far in 2017: .273/11/30. More missed games.
Meanwhile Murph has stayed relatively healthy. 2016: .347/25/104. So far in 2017: .335/19/76.
Cespedes strikes out more than twice as often. Misses many more games and makes more than twice as much. I’ll leave it to the advanced stats guys to add in walks, doubles, etc which boost Murphy’s WAR even more. (Obscure film reference)
Although both contracts still have more time to go —which would you rather have?
It’s a no-brainer.