Five years ago, the Mets traded for Yoenis Cespedes at the trade deadline, one of the last pieces for a post-season run that ended with a 5 game loss to Kansas City in the World Series.
Now, Cespedes, who will be a free agent after the season, may have played his last game in New York.
Cespedes no-showed the Mets' 4-0 loss to Atlanta today, the team's 5th straight loss. A team-wide offensive malaise, save for Friday's 11-10 heartbreaker, included Cespedes, whose timing at the plate, save for 2 homers, is still out of sync after missing all of 2019 with injuries. GM Brodie Van Wagenen, Cespedes' former agent, revealed after the game that Cespedes had notified the team during the 9th inning through his current agent that he was opting out, concerned as a lot of others are over coronavirus.
Saturday, Milwaukee's Lorenzo Cain made the same decision. Still, Commissioner Rob Manfred, who, the press claimed on Thursday, had previously considered shutting things down as of tomorrow, stated Saturday that they will play out the season.
For New York sports fans, Cespedes becomes the 3rd player in 4 days to opt out, following Giants offensive lineman Nate (Traveling) Solder and Jets linebacker CJ Mosley.
The decisions in baseball raise the question as to whether or not Major League Baseball should've considered "bubbles", which are being used in the NBA & NHL. In hindsight, the answer is yes.
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Speaking of the NHL, which we really weren't, they resumed play with a 24 team tournament on Saturday. Each first round series is a best of 5. The Islanders were up 1-0 on Florida, while the Rangers trailed Carolina, 1-0, heading into game 2. The teams are playing in one of the NHL's "bubbles" in Toronto.
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The NBA's "bubble" is in Orlando at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex, which also houses the spring training home of the Atlanta Braves. It didn't take long for controversy to hit the league, as Boston's Marcus Smart was fined for accusing the game officials of preferential treatment in a loss to Milwaukee on Thursday night.
It's often been suspected over the years that certain star players or teams would be protected by the officials in the NBA, and instead of addressing Smart's accusations, the league, as it normally does, decided to muzzle him by fining him. Let's stop putting our corporate heads in the sand, boys. Fans have had their issues with certain teams (i.e. Boston, ironically enough) because the reputations of certain teams or individual players (yeah, we're looking at you, LeBron James) will influence calls, but that's usually because the league's media partners are looking long-term in terms of ratings.
Was Smart right? I don't know, but he may be on to something.....
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