Tony Plate - Cespedes Speaks to Media

                                                       

 At first Yoenis Cespedes stated that he would not be talking to the media. Apparently, he changed his tune this time. He faced the media on Sunday morning. They asked him if he would be ready on opening day. He felt that if he continues to progress the way has, then he will be ready.

His progress has looked good in terms of running, taking batting practice sessions plus he is doing running drills on the side and defensively he is at 90-95 percent. He still is thinking about reaching his goal of hitting 52 home runs. If his legs are healthy, he may do it. He is motivated to play hard since many think he won’t be able to contribute that much.

He is determined to do well since he lost a big part of his salary. He is hoping to acquire a few incentives. If he doesn’t begin the season on the disabled list his salary will increase to eleven million and plate appearances could add another nine million to his salary.

The way he is feeling currently, he thinks he will be ready to go by the middle of next month. Nobody knows how he will perform in 2020; however, the Mets are hoping that Cespedes will show some of the power he demonstrated back in 2016.

If he performs like that it would be a tremendous boost to the offense. He and Alonzo would make a powerful duo and the offense would be awesome.  The Mets would be scoring many runs and to go along with the awesome starting rotation it can make them World Series contenders.

Since the Yankees are the American League favorites to make it to the World Series, maybe there will be a subway series. If the two New York teams do meet the Mets would have the edge in the starting rotation due to the recent health issues of Luis Severino and James Paxson.

Robinson Cano is another player that is motivated to improve based on the season he had last year. He is working on keeping his lower body in shape. His main focus is the legs which he also has been working on back home and he will continue to do it in spring training. He wants to get them stronger so they do not become an issue during the season. I think Cano can come back and have a decent season.