McAdam: 'Fenway Park Is Made For Yoenis Cespedes'
BOSTON (CBS) - The Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics completed the first blockbuster deal of the MLB trade deadline when the two teams completed a trade for Jon Lester, Jonny Gomes and cash for Yoenis Cespedes and a draft pick.
CSNNE's Sean McAdam joined the Gresh & Zolak Show on 98.5 The Sports Hub to discuss the mega-trade that had just went down. Since Cespedes played for the Oakland A's on the west coast, not many Boston fans have been able to see him play too often. Sean McAdam gave people some insight into the type of player that the Red Sox were receiving.
READ: Who Is Yoenis Cespedes? All You Need To Know About Boston's Newest Outfielder
"I think he's a player of tremendous talent," said McAdam. "He has a real high ceiling, that he perhaps hasn't realized. Yet, I think a lot of people are surprised with this trade because the expectation was that they were going to get back a good prospect, but one that hasn't had much Major League service time."
With the Red Sox trading for Cespedes, many people believed that he would be under the Red Sox control for a few more years. However that is not the case, as McAdam explains.
"The downside is this guy is going to be a free agent after 2015. So, you're not getting a huge amount of control -- that would have been the attraction of getting somebody like Oscar Taveras from the Cardinals or Joc Pederson from the Dodgers, in that you would have six more years of control. Here you have a guy in Cespedes who can walk after next year."
The one knock on Cespedes has been his inconsistency, something McAdam believes could be cured in the friendly confines of Fenway Park.
"This would seem like this is a ballpark that is made for him," said McAdam."He's got tremendous strength. I have seen him take batting practice, even in Oakland in a big ballpark, and it is jaw-dropping to see his raw power. It hasn't yet translated to the kind of consistent performance that you might want to see from him. The raw ability is there. I think in many ways he still is young, in terms of establishing himself as a player at the Major League level. He's just got undeniably great, raw physical skills. We've all seen the throwing arm. Yoenis Cespedes will be fun to watch."
Yoenis Cespedes is joining a Red Sox team that desperately needed an outfielder with power. He now brings that power to a ballpark that has been generous to right-handed batters.
Listen below:
MORE RED SOX COVERAGE FROM CBS BOSTON