THIS DAY IN BÉISBOL November 29: Yoenis Cespedes resigns with Mets for 4 years, $110M

Yoenis Cespedes was coming off an all-star season with the Mets in 2016 when he re-signed with the team on for four more years in a $110 million deal on this day in béisbol, November 29.

An international free agent from Cuba, Cespedes was with his fourth team in four years when he was traded to New York in the middle of the 2015 season from the Detroit Tigers.

The flashy, outgoing outfielder who loved to show off his throwing arm — and fleet of fancy cars — quickly became a fan favorite, helping New York win the NL pennant in 2015.

He led the team in 2016 with 31 homers, but fans and the front office alike soon grew tired of his act — especially after claiming he seriously hurt his leg running from a wild boar on his ranch.

He only appeared in 130 games over the next four seasons due to injuries and played his last game in 2020.

Also on this day: Baltimore Orioles closer Felix Bautista won the Mariano Rivera Award as the American League’s best reliever in 2023. But the hard-throwing, towering Dominican righty, one of baseball’s tallest players ever at 6’-8”, underwent Tommy John surgery late that season and missed all of 2024. A comeback in 2025, when he had 19 saves and 110 strikeouts in 34.2 innings, was cut short by a serious shoulder injury.

Keith Allison on Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; LatinoBaseball.com illustration