WHAT'S WITH THE LOVE FOR YOENIS CESPEDES?

With the Red Sox signing both Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez there have been plenty of people willing to tell you that Yoenis Cespedes is now available for trade. Many believe that the Red Sox will have Hanley in left field before long, which makes Cespedes expendable.

And that makes sense.

What makes less sense to me is the amount of White Sox fans I know that think they should trade for Cespedes. I've even seen national writers like Jon Heyman tweet that Cespedes could be used by Boston to trade for a pitcher like Mat Latos which only leads to one simple question from me.

Why?


Why would anybody give up so much for Yoenis Cespedes?

Actually, I think I know why. It's because of this video.



I remember that video. We all remember that video. Seeing that video was one of the seminal moments of any baseball fans life. It's like losing your virginity. It doesn't matter how old you get, or how many times you have sex, you always remember that first time. Hell, I remember the song that was on the radio. It was "The Freshmen" by Verve Pipe. I fucking hated that song, but I didn't care because I was actually having sex.

Cespedes' workout video was phenomenal. Both for the performances it showed, and the accompanying music soundtrack.

But Cespedes hasn't really lived up to that video since coming to the United States. Sure, he was solid in his rookie season, putting up a line of .292/.356/.505 with 23 homers. He lived up to the hype that season.

Since then not so much.

Here's Cespedes' line the last two seasons: .251/.298/.446. Yes, his OPS is above league average in that span, but look at his OBP. It's under .300. That .298 OBP is in Tyler Flowers territory. Cespedes has become a lot less patient as a hitter the last two years. His rookie season he had a walk rate of 8% and a strikeout rate of 18.9%. The last two seasons that walk rate has dropped to 5.9% and the K-rate has risen to 21.7%. While he's actually seen more pitches over the last two years, he's swung at them more often as well.

Defensively I get it. He's a plus defender in left field. He has an amazing arm, and he finished the 2014 season at 11 defensive runs saved. Only Alex Gordon (23) and Christian Yelich (12) had more in left field.

But do you really want to give up a starting pitcher for a player that's proving to be a defensive left fielder more than anything? If you look at the White Sox current makeup, while Cespedes would be a drastic improvement over Dayan Viciedo in left field, the truth is the offensive difference wouldn't be as great as you probably think. At least not enough of a difference to justify the price for the White Sox.

If the White Sox are going to avoid the free agent market for a new outfielder this winter and address the issue through trade there are other options out there I'd much rather have. How about they go after the one corner outfield Oakland decided to keep over Cespedes last year?

Word is Josh Reddick is on the trade block.

Reddick not only put up a better slash line than Cespedes last season, but he's even better defensively.  Reddick accounted for 13 defensive runs saved for the Athletics last season, and his presence would actually allow the White Sox to move Avisail Garcia to left field, where I feel he's much better suited defensively. Yes, you can read that as I just doing think Avisail is a good outfielder.

Reddick likely wouldn't come cheap, but neither would Cespedes. And unlike Cespedes, Riddick is under team control for two more seasons. Cespedes is owed $10.5 million next season and is then a free agent.

So forget Cespedes. There are much better options out there for the Sox in left field. Oakland knew it, and now Boston knows it. The fact neither team has done everything in its power to keep him should tell you everything you need to know.