Yoenis Cespedes seems to have found a home in New York.
The Mets outfielder says he loves playing for the Mets, and he feels as though he could for a very long time.
“It’s like I said from when I got here last year, it feels very much at home here,” Cespedes told Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. “It feels as if I’ve been playing here a very long time. And I could spend the rest of my career with this team.”
Cespedes has proven that his torrid 2015 was no fluke, as he’s started 2016 in much the same fashion. He’s hitting .301 with 15 home runs already this season, and it has come as a surprise that he’s taken such a step forward at the age of 30. Cespedes has an explanation for it.
“You don’t usually see someone at this age making adjustments,” Cespedes said. “However, when you meet someone in this league that’s 29 or 30, they’ve probably also been playing longer than the five years that I have. So I think if they feel like they have to make adjustments, they probably make them earlier in life.”
Cespedes made it clear this past offseason that he wanted to stay with the Mets, but with lingering questions about him, he only got a 3 year deal with an opt out after 2016. Cespedes will be able to make a fortune if he keeps this up, making that opt out more likely. Cespedes loves New York, but whether the occasionally thrifty Mets are willing to pay up long-term is a different question altogether.
