Detroit Tigers Trade Rumors: Mets Interested in Yoenis Cespedes
By Matt Snyder
Earlier today I wondered whether the Detroit Tigers might be able to pry young starting pitcher Zack Wheeler away from the New York Mets in exchange for soon-to-be free agent outfielder Yoenis Cespedes.
Wheeler, even though he’s currently on the disabled list after undergoing Tommy John surgery this spring, carries a ton of value, so it’s not necessarily likely that New York would be willing to part with him, but today we do have reported confirmation of the Mets’ interest in Cespedes.
Since it's name-linking day on trade circuit, I hear Mets have interest in Cespedes but nothing's come of it. He manes sense tho. Mad power.
— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) July 25, 2015
Cespedes has already stated that he would like to return to Detroit as a free agent, so moving him ahead of the July 31 trade deadline wouldn’t preclude the Tigers from pursuing him again in the offseason.
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Some teams might shy away from Cespedes because of this fact — and the funky clause in his contract that limits teams’ exclusive negotiating window following the season — but the Mets aren’t known as a team who likes to spend a lot of money, so they probably wouldn’t be counting on a big long-term contract extension for him anyway.
The Tigers entered Saturday two games below the .500 mark, so it certainly seems like they’re headed to the trade deadline as sellers, but the current consensus is that they’ll wait until Monday (at the earliest) to make any decisions as an organization.
It remains unlikely that the Tigers will land an impact prospect (or player like Wheeler), but the Tigers do have players of value that could help restock the farm system with a handful of reasonably talented prospects that would nonetheless look good in the Tigers’ barren farm system.
Next: Giants Interested in Tigers' Rajai Davis