MY FAVORITE METS PLAYERS - # 2 YOENIS CEPSEDES – Tom Brennan

MY FAVORITE METS PLAYERS - # 2: YOENIS CESPEDES – Tom Brennan  

A few days ago, I started my series on my favorite 2016 Mets with NOAH Syndergaard (Thor) as MY favorite Met.  So who is my # 2 dude? 

Thor first, Superman second.  Superman - you know, the guy who stepped out of a phone booth in late July as the Mets’ Man of Steel to save the day, and the season, in 2015.   

Yep, Yoenis Cespedes.

I love huge power hitters, guys with blistering speed and cannon arms.

Cespedes fit that description last year.  My brother Steve was thrilled when they got Cespedes, reminding me several times that when he was at the home run derby at Citifield a while back, Cespedes was crushing balls nearly 500 feet.

But that is nothing more than glorified BP, what about in real games?  

Cespedes did it in real games too, and saved our season...without him, no World Series, and no playoffs IMO.  He hoisted the team onto his side shoulders in August and took the offense from dreary to searing (not all by himself, but he was undoubtedly the catalytic converter for this team's offense). 

I wrote last year that at a game I was at in late September, Yoenis lasered a ball off the left field wall.  Hit the wall - BOOM!  It caromed back to the left fielder, who pivoted quickly and fired a fine throw to 2nd.  I had a perfect seat to watch Cespedes turn the bag at first, think "I can make this," down shift, and get to 2nd base in a nanosecond, beating the throw.  My thought? Super human...he must be the fastest guy in the bigs. 

He, as we all know, needs to tighten up his CF play.  He also IMO needs to stop taking fat first pitches.  If he does those 2 things, we have a superstar slugger for all of 2016 and the playoffs.  I love offensive players with raw power and speed....so yes, he is my # 2 Met for 2016. 

And we almost did not have him for 2016.  Before the season ended, I campaigned on this website that they re-sign Cespedes.  That it would be money well spent, with a positive return on investment. 

Now that we did keep Superman, time for all Mets fans to jump aboard the “100 Win Express” and attend lots of games so that the Wilpons are so flush with cash, they only let any of our pitching elite off this team if they get a trade offer that is way too good to refuse. 

We got Syndergaard, d'Arnaud, and Becerra for Dickey, so a trade of one of our elite could bring an incredible haul.  But I'd prefer to re-sign all of them and keep them.  The possibility of the best rotation ever is intriguing.  

Next article: my # 3 favorite Met player.  Just to reduce the suspense a bit, it won’t be Ruben Tejada.  Sorry, Ruben and all you Ruben fans.  He is in my top 25, though.  LOL and LGM.