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In a last minute deal, the New York Mets acquired Yoenis Cespedes from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for minor league pitchers Michael Fulmer and Luis Cessa, according to 670thescore.com.
The trade gives the Mets much-needed help in the outfield and in the middle of the lineup. Cespedes, 29, has a .293 BA, .829 OPS with 18 HR and 61 RBI. He will likely become the starting leftfielder in New York, which means Michael Conforto will either go back to the minors or come off the bench.
Source says Cespedes has been dealt to the Mets.
— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) July 31, 2015
It will actually be Cespedes’s fourth team in two years. He was surprisingly traded during the deadline last season from the first-place Oakland A’s to the Boston Red Sox. The Sox traded him to Detroit during the offseason. Since the Tigers decided to let go of some of their stars despite only being 3 1/2 games out of the second Wild Card spot, Cespedes was trading yet again on what is the final year of his contract.
Throughout his four-year career after coming over from Cuba, Cespedes averages 28 HR with 101 RBI and a .269 BA over 162 games. The Mets have scored fewer runs than any other team in MLB, which could end with Cespedes joining Lucas Duda and Travis d’Arnaud.
Fulmer, 22, was a first-round pick of the Mets in 2011. He is 6-2 with a 1.88 ERA in Double-A this season. Cessa, 23, has split this season between Double-A and Triple-A. In Double-A, he's 7-4 with a 2.56 ERA. In Triple-A, he's 0-3 with an 8.51 ERA. He is one of the better pitching prospects in the minors for the Mets, and he will be a future starter in Detroit.
Cespedes will be in the Mets lineup Saturday against the Washington Nationals.
