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Cespedes to Nationals could be double disaster for Mets

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Yoenis Cespedes (r.) leads the Mets to an NL East title in 2015 - could he do the same for the Nationals in 2016 if he signs a reported 5-year, $100-plus-million mega deal?Rich Schultz/Getty Images

Yoenis Cespedes (r.) leads the Mets to an NL East title in 2015 – could he do the same for the Nationals in 2016 if he signs a reported 5-year, $100-plus-million mega deal?

The Mets may have no problem with allowing Yoenis Cespedes to leave and sign a long-term deal elsewhere. But almost certainly they have to cringe at the thought of him signing with the Nationals.

For one thing, Cespedes could be the same difference-maker next year in a race between the two NL East rivals as he was last season — only this time he could put the Nationals, not the Mets, over the top.

For another, with fans outraged by the Mets’ unwillingness to bring back Cespedes on anything beyond a three-year contract, his landing in the same division would mean 19 head-to-head meetings a season and perhaps a lot more anger from the ticket-buying public.

Will it happen? As of Thursday night there was no word of an agreement, but the Nationals appeared to be the clear front-runners, as reports emerged that they had offered a deal in the five-year, $100-million range.

Such an offer may pale in comparison to the six-year, $132 million deal that fellow slugging outfielder Justin Upton received this week from the Tigers, but at age 28, Upton is two years younger and, unlike Cespedes, he isn’t dogged by speculation that he’ll lack motivation with a long-term contract.

Most significantly, it may be easily the best offer that Cespedes gets. Other teams have expressed a clear interest in signing him if he were willing to limit the length of a deal to one, two or three years, but there was plenty of speculation in the baseball industry on Thursday that only the Nationals were willing to make a nine-figure offer.

So while it may not be the $120 to $150 million the Roc Nation agents went into the off-season seeking, Cespedes may not have much choice but to take it.

“If it’s five for $100 million I’m sure (Roc Nation) is trying to get them up at least another $10 million, even if they don’t have another big offer,” a rival agent said Thursday night. “If they can’t get the sixth year, they need to get the AAV (average annual value) up closer to Upton. Or it looks bad for them.”

Meanwhile, a source said the Nationals’ interest wasn’t sparking any change in the Mets’ stance, as they remained interested only if Cespedes were willing to take a short term deal.

And, yes, Mets’ people are well aware that fans are in a frenzy, convinced the ballclub is simply unwilling to shell out big bucks. However, their contention is that there are important baseball reasons driving their decision-making, from their concern about having to play Cespedes regularly in center field to worries about his effort level.


With that in mind, the Sandy Alderson regime seems prepared to live with the fan backlash.

“I’d rather be second-guessed now than later,” was the way one Mets’ person put it, referring to potential regret of signing Cespedes long-term.

Apparently they aren’t the only ones that feel that way, because Cespedes has proven to be an electric talent, at least as attractive as Upton if it were strictly about ability.

In any case, the Nationals seem willing to take the plunge. Cespedes isn’t a perfect fit for them either, for it appears he would have to primarily play center field for at least two years, until Jayson Werth’s contract runs out.

Because at the moment the Nats have Werth and NL MVP Bryce Harper in the corner outfield spots, and only a couple of weeks ago they traded for Ben Revere to share center field duties with Michael Taylor.

Some baseball people believe the Nats would look to trade Revere — or perhaps Taylor — should they sign Cespedes.

In any case, the Nats may be willing to spend on Cespedes because, much like the Tigers and Upton, they have an old owner — Ted Lerner is 90 — who wants to win a championship before he dies.

And surely they don’t mind sticking it to the Mets. Having already signed Daniel Murphy, adding Cespedes would mean a lineup with two of the Mets’ most important cogs in their World Series run last season.

And while negotiating presumably continued into Thursday night, it figured to end fairly soon. In recent days the Roc Nation group told executives it expected resolution by the end of the week, so one way or the other, Friday could be the day.

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