Mets fans will associate it with loss, more than gain. Many came to adore Yoenis Cespedes and he (or a bat like him) is thought of, more than anything else, as the type of piece needed for a return trip to the World Series. The failure to re-sign Cespedes (which is more of a refusal to sign Cespedes on part of the Mets) has drawn the ire of those same fans. I mean, my brother is a pretty calm and reasonable person, and I get e-mails like this:

“The Mets fucked themselves. Royals go out and steal Gordon for 4/$75M. What a joke. If Cespedes goes for this number, it will be an absolute shame.”

The truth is that Cespedes was a great fit for the Mets at the trade deadline but he was always an awkward fit in the long-term.

First, the Mets need a center fielder and while Cespedes can play center field, he is not a center fielder. He compiled a -4 DRS and -3.2 UZR in 312 innings in center field for the Mets last year. If you look back to his time in Oakland the results were similar. He’s played 912.1 innings in center field over his career and has compiled a -17 DRS and -12.6 UZR. So, if he’s not going to supplant Michael Conforto and you can’t make room for him in right field with Curtis Granderson having two more years on his contract, there is no home for Cespedes in the field.

Second, his acquisition coincided with the additions of Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe, the debut of Michael Conforto, and the returns of Travis d’Arnaud and David Wright from injury. Cespedes probably ignited something qualitative in the team, while blasting 17 home runs after the trade, but the Mets have ample opportunity to replace his 1/3 of a season impact with a full season of the other things that propelled them to a NL East title.

These are arguments against bringing back Cespedes, but don’t even touch on the most obvious inevitability — Cespedes is unlikely to replicate his performance in August and September, nor his performance over the entirety of 2015. Cespedes is a very good baseball player, but he’s not the baseball player the Mets are looking for.