Angels and Nationals biggest losers in Yoenis Cespedes’ decision

(AP) The last major domino in free agency fell on Friday night when Yoenis Cespedes agreed to a three-year, $75 million contract to stay with the New York Mets.

There’s emphasis on the word major there, because there are still several notable free agents available. That’s especially true on the offensive side, where veteran outfielder Dexter Fowler and infielders Howie Kendrick and Ian Desmond remain unsigned. The difference, though, is those players solidify a lineup. Cespedes is a guy who changes its dynamic and in the Mets case takes the entire team to a new level.

[Brown: Yoenis Cespedes returns to Mets on three-year contract]

Cespedes, though flawed in some parts of his game, is a nightly game-changer who could have helped all 30 teams. In the end, only a handful had the money, the desire and the room to make a serious push. And it turns out that Cespedes’ comfort playing for the Mets and an opt-out clause after one season were perhaps the biggest variables, as he reportedly took a shorter deal worth less guaranteed money than others on the table.

Such is life in the unpredictable landscape of free agency. It’s good for the Mets, but disappointing for other teams in serious pursuit, such as the Los Angeles Angels and Washington Nationals. When you look at that the teams that missed out in the Cespedes sweepstakes, those two stand out like a sore thumb.

In the Angels case, that’s based on need. With roughly ten weeks until opening day, their offense is woefully short on firepower. There’s Mike Trout, who has arguably been the AL’s best player in each of his four seasons, and there’s Albert Pujols, whose production is anything but reliable at this stage in his career.

Signing Cespedes would have instantly given them a second impact bat who can create offense with one swing. Without him, the pressure on Trout to be other-worldly is amped up. The good news is Trout can handle that pressure. The bad news is that it also adds pressure on Pujols to stay healthy and be great, and his body is less likely to cooperate at age 36.

As MLB Network’s Jon Heyman points out, the Angels will have to be creative now to find that offense. Signing Dexter Fowler would fill the outfield need and the need for a leadoff hitter, but the pure power would still be lacking. With that being the case, the Angels will face an uphill battle to survive in a really strong AL West.

For the Nationals, it would have required additional roster maneuvering, but that might have been worth it just to keep Cespedes away from the Mets. Cespedes wasn’t a need, persay, but he was another confirmed target that they ultimately whiffed on.

As Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal notes, Washington pursued and missed out on Ben Zobrist and Jason Heyward, who took less money to join the Chicago Cubs. This week alone, they missed on Cespedes and Justin Upton, moving them to 0-for-4 on impact free agents. And Rosenthal adds they can’t dismiss those misses as even moderate successes because they couldn’t even drive up the price on three of them.

General manager Mike Rizzo was a big hit last winter, striking at this stage in free agency to sign Max Scherzer. This year, he hasn’t been able to make that same impact. Adding Daniel Murphy helped to some degree, but they’re also likely to lose Ian Desmond. He added depth to the bullpen, signing veterans Oliver Perez, Shawn Kelley and Yusemeiro Petit, before trading former closer Drew Storen for Ben Revere.

And yes, Jonathan Papelbon is still there too.

They’ll still be competitive, but it’s tough to see where they’ve really improved coming off a disappointing 2015. Perhaps the hope is new manager Dusty Baker will make the difference. But it’s also possible the Nationals are viewed as a damaged brand in some respect, and wil now face their own uphill battle to turn that image around.

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