Yoenis Cespedes Wants to Stay in New York, Might Yankees Be Mystery Team?

Yoenis Cespedes has repeatedly mentioned that he loves playing in New York City. But does he love it enough to leave his reported $100 million deal over five years on the table from the Nationals to stay in the ‘Big Apple’?

A source confirmed by Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal suggested that Cespedes was torn between New York and Washington in part because he preferred to stay with the Mets, but Rosenthal wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Cespedes signing with a mystery team.

Interestingly enough, I’m willing to bet that the mystery team he might be alluding to is the New York Yankees.

According to John Harper of the New York Daily News, another source confirmed that Cespedes’ agents, the Roc Nation group, reached out to the New York Yankees on Thursday evening to inform them that he desires to keep in his talents in New York, and suggested that they jump in the mix with a three-year deal.

Now the notion around the league is that the Yankees have no intentions of pursuing the slugger, but when Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner was questioned about the possibility of pursuing the free agent slugger, he said;

"“I’m comfortable where payroll is right now, but we’re always looking to improve the club. You never know with us. We’ve surprised people in the past.”"

After batting .291 with 35 homers in 2015 with the Detroit Tigers and New York Mets, the 30-year old Cespedes is said to be looking for a contract in the ballpark of six years, $120 million, which is likely way out of the ballpark of what the Yankees would even be willing to offer.

If the reports are true, the Nationals are undoubtedly the closest team to offering him what he wants. Originally he was linked to Baltimore and Detroit, but those markets dried up when Chris Davis returned to the Orioles and Justin Upton signed with the Tigers earlier this week.

If the Nationals do indeed sign Cespedes it would prove disastrous for the New York Mets, as they would lose their three and four hitters to their divisional rival in the same off-season after Daniel Murphy spurned them to sign with Washington earlier in the winter.

Other mystery teams might be the San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Chicago White Sox, who all kicked the tires of Cespedes during the MLB Winter Meetings.

Stay tuned Yankee fans!