MLB: Latest on Justin Upton, Yoenis Cespedes After Alex Gordon Inks Deal with Kansas City Royals
One of the biggest remaining free agents just went off the market after the Kansas City Royals re-signed Alex Gordon to a four-year, $72 million deal on Jan. 6. That leaves Justin Upton and Yoenis Cespedes as the remaining slugging outfielders in the market and here are the latest updates on both players.
According to Buster Olney of ESPN, the Baltimore Orioles are interested in Cespedes and are in talks with his representatives. The Orioles appears to have money to spend considering they were able to offer first baseman Chris Davis $154 million before the team hold off the deal. Baltimore is also looking at Upton as power bat option if they can sign Davis or Cespedes to a contract.
Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com also reported at the end of the year that the Chicago White Sox were one of the favorites to land him. He added that the Los Angeles Angels, San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers were also interested, but there were no indications on when would Cespedes make his decision.
As for Upton, the Rangers and White Sox are both showing interest with the 27-year-old outfielder. However, the Rangers have a strict budget so they are only looking at a one-year deal for Upton, but the player will continue to seek for a longer deal, per Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
It seems that teams are more willing to offer a longer contract to Cespedes than Upton even though he is three years younger. Any team that signs Upton would forfeit their first-round pick next year because he received a qualifying offer from the San Diego Padres, but that's not the case for Cespedes as he has been traded from the Detroit Tigers to the New York Mets at the non-waiver trade deadline, making him ineligible for a qualifying offer.
In terms of Gordon's deal with the Royals, he is scheduled to make $12 million in 2016, $16 million in 2017 and $20 million each of the following two years. He also has a $23 million mutual option for 2020 with a $4 million buyout, but if he is traded, the option would be nullified and the $4 million would become an assignment bonus, per Yahoo! Sports.
The Royals-Gordon deal represents how quickly the free agent market can change in an instant as it appeared unlikely that the two sides will come into an agreement.If Davis signs elsewhere, there's no doubt the Orioles' interest on Cespedes and Upton will increase, but aren't expected to offer $100 million on either player as they still have a need to add at least two starters for their rotation.
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