For all of his faults as a centerfielder, Yoenis Cespedes is an incredibly gifted baseball player coming off of a career year at the relatively young age of 30. In 2015, he hit .291/.328/.542 with 35 homers and 105 RBI. He was the Gold Glove left fielder in the AL, and he set the world ablaze upon coming to the NL. Teams should be lining up to give him a big contract. 

So far, they’re not. They’re also not lining up for Justin Upton, who at 27, is just entering his prime. His 162 game average is .271/.351/.473 with 26 homers and 84 RBI. Are we supposed to believe teams aren’t interested because he had a down year offensively while playing at Petco Park?  Then there’s an established player like Dexter Fowler, who is a leadoff hitter and a centerfielder on a team that just won 97 games at went to the NLCS. These guys would make a great outfield from left to right. 

Heck, you can surround them with a pretty good team. There’s Chris Davis at first, who’s 47 homers lead the AL. There’s Howie Kendrick at second, who’s a good glove and high average guy. The 2013 playoff hero, David Freese, mans the hit corner. Ian Desmond is the rare shortstop who averages around 20 homers a year. By the way, these are all Top 50 free agents who are all unsigned, and we’re 36 days away from pitchers and catchers. 

It’s insane!  In fact seven of the top 15 free agents remain unsigned. One that did sign was Alex Gordon. He signed a team friendly contract that has been described as a bargain. We’re now hearing questions whether three-time All Star Justin Upton will only seek a one year deal. The Mets, who once discussed a two to three year deal with Cespedes, is now thinking of offering him only a one year deal (of course they’re expecting him not to take it). This all sounds a little too much like Andre Dawson to me. 

Due to the owner’s collusion back in 1987, Andre Dawson offered a blank check to get him out of Montreal. Did I just use the word collusion?  Yes, I did. At what point does someone bring it up?  There are simply too many big time free agents unsigned. 

The offseason was somewhat slow to develop, and then we saw a lot of deals happening. The top players were receiving opt out clauses to the dismay of the Commissioner. After that, free agent signings came to a crawl. There are several top free agents left with the start of Spring Training a little more than a month away. The top free agent that did sign in Janusry signed a team friendly deal. Can we at least be suspicious?  Doesn’t the Mets reducing their offer to Cespedes scream a little foul?  

Better yet, doesn’t it make you yet again question the Mets jumping the gun signing Alejandro De Aza?  With all these big time free agents, why wouldn’t you wait a little longer?  Even if De Aza fills a real need, is it worth signing him and losing out on Cespedes or Fowler?  Did the Mets just get a really bad read on this free agent market or is something else going on here? 

I don’t know because none of this makes sense. Players in their prime putting up huge numbers are not supposed to be available now. Yet, here we are. These players are available, and they might be seeking team friendly deals like Gordon because the market seems to be suppressing their value. Whether that’s artificially or not is up for debate. 

What is not up for debate is the fact that the Mets had a bad read on this market. As a result, they have De Aza, and they probably won’t have Cespedes. No one is coming to the Mets with an open check. Instead, they’ll go elsewhere on team friendly deals.