Yoenis Cespedes has agreed to start speaking to members of the media again. Under one condition: no one ask him about what happened on his ranch last year.
"I'm doing an interview, but I'm not going to talk about what happened in the past," Cespedes told reporters in Port St. Lucie on Sunday morning. "I committed an error and I paid the price for it. Today, I'll be talking about the present and the future."
The Mets 34-year-old veteran slugger has been absent from baseball for more than a year after getting double-heel surgery to remove calcification and bone spurs prior to the 2019 season. In May, Cespedes suffered a significant setback after fracturing his ankle in a violent accident _ reportedly due to a run in with a wild boar on his ranch.
But that's in the past. "La Potencia" only wants to focus on the now and the what's to come.
"I feel good, I'm happy with the progress, every day I'm working to get better and better," Cespedes said. "My progress isn't as fast as I would like it to be ... If I continue progressing like I am, yes (I'll be ready for Opening Day)."
He explained his road to recovery _ and what he thinks has been the hardest part of his return _ has included having to wake up every day at 5 a.m., regardless of the time he goes to bed, to start his rehab.
Cespedes has been running in zigzags, not quite like running around the bases, but moving at about 80%. And as far as his defensive progression, he feels he's improved to about 90-95% of his capability. That progress supposedly started back in December. General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen confirmed Cespedes had resumed baseball activities after a since-deleted video surfaced of the outfielder taking batting practice with ex-Met Endy Chavez.
"(Hitting 40 homers this season) depends on the health of my legs, but I think I can," Cespedes said when asked about his projected offensive production. "When it comes to hitting, that's one of the things I'm not worried about because that's one of the skills you never forget."
Cespedes is in the final year of his four-year, $110 million (signed in 2016) stay with the Mets. In December, he agreed to a significant restructuring of that contract as a result of his May accident. He'll receive a $6 million base salary (under the original contract, he was set to make $29.5 million), which could jump to $11 million if he doesn't start the season on the Injured List, and could add another $9 million in bonuses for plate appearances, per The Associated Press.
Agreeing to take an incentive-laced pay cut, Cespedes said, has not had much impact on the way he planned to approach coming into this season.
"The truth? No. The money is important ... but a big part of the motivation is the people who have been saying I can't do it," Cespedes explained. "So I'm going out there to prove I can."
