Mets acquire Yoenis Cespedes

The New York Mets acquired outfielder Yoenis Cespedes from the Detroit Tigers minutes before the trade deadline, as Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com first reported.

In return, the Tigers received righties Michael Fulmer and Luis Cessa, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports first reported.

The Tigers, after selling David Price to the Blue Jays, opened their doors for all teams to take advantage of trades and dealt Joakim Soria and now Cespedes just after making the Price deal. 

Detroit's selling strategy came as a surprise to many, but makes sense, as the team is 50-52 and is 3 1/2 games out of the closest playoff spot, all while being on a seemingly downward trend. 

The Mets are a benefactor of the Tigers' selloff, as they got possibly the best hitter available on the market in Yoenis Cespedes. It was no secret that New York needed hitting, ranking second-to-last in runs per game this season. 

The team acquired Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson, while promoting Michael Conforto, in order to achieve their goal of getting offense. But, with the rumored acquisition of Carlos Gomez falling through, the team obviously knew they needed better. 

Cespedes will be just that, even if he is only in the Big Apple for a short period of time. He is signed through this season before he becomes a free agent. This is the last year of his four-year, $36 million deal he signed with the Athletics out of Cuba. 

When he joins the Mets, he'll slide right into the middle of the order. He's hitting .293/.323/.506 this season with 18 home runs and 61 RBIs over 427 plate appearances this year. He has averaged 22 homers and 81 RBIs per year over his career. 

The Mets hope that Cespedes is the bat they need to make the playoffs this season. The team is three games out of the Nationals in the NL East and 4 1/2 out of the Giants in the NL Wild Card. 

--Devan Fink

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