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Will the Astros be the team to sign Yoenis Cespedes?
Monday’s Say Hey, Baseball includes a Cespedes-Astros rumor, potential punishment for the Cardinals and reactions to the Chris Davis signing.
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
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Yoenis Cespedes is still a free agent, but with the Chris Davis impasse finally at an end, that probably won’t be the case for much longer. Who will sign Yo, though? Peter Gammons mentioned that the Astros are a team whose name keeps coming up with executives around the league, and that’s intriguing for a few reasons. For one, they haven’t been linked to a free agent of Cespedes’ stature all offseason, nor for the last few offseasons while they rebuilt. That’s just the start of it, though.
The Astros already have a full outfield, with Colby Rasmus, George Springer and Carlos Gomez. Maybe, if Cespedes were signed, they would then try to move impending free agent Gomez to a team still in need of outfield help who couldn’t afford Cespedes (or Justin Upton). A team who doesn’t want to play trade partner with the Rockies for Carlos Gonzalez would also fit the bill. Maybe the Mets, who attempted to trade for Gomez before the Astros did last July and ended up going with Cespedes instead would be into the idea of Gomez still. After all, they’re reportedly trying to get Cespedes on a short-team deal if the rest of his market vanishes.
It’s still unclear where Cespedes (and Upton!) end up, but it was also unclear where Chris Davis was going and for how much until it happened. Free agency works that way sometimes, and this should all be settled sooner or later. Cespedes is too good of a player, coming off of too good of a season, to be left waiting until mid-March, Kyle Lohse style. Now he just needs someone in the league to recognize that.
- There is "more momentum" towards the designated hitter in the National League, according to Cardinals' GM John Mozeliak. That doesn't mean it's going to happen, but teams seem more receptive to it.
- The guilty plea of former Cardinals' scouting director Chris Correa is just the beginning, as the Astros could be in line for some form of compensation from St. Louis for hacking.
- The Tigers historically do not sign any more significant deals at this point of the winter. But maybe a Cespedes reunion will change that.
- The Marlins keep saying they don't want to trade Marcell Ozuna, but then reports like this keep popping up of the times they've tried to do that very thing.
- Tim Wakefield and Jason Varitek will be inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame together, even though the two barely interacted on the field in their 15 years together on the Sox. There was one memorable inning the duo pushed Boston to the brink of a championship, though.
- Ian Kennedy's $70 million deal with the Royals isn't a disaster at all, writes Beyond the Box Score.
- People seem pretty split about the Chris Davis contract. This guy thinks it's the cost of acquiring a player with Davis' skills, so if the Orioles want to spend the money, good for them. I'm not alone in this, either.
- The offseason is dragging for the Yankees, who seem to be waiting for some money to come off the books before doing anything else huge.
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