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Alderson wants Cespedes situation resolved by winter meetings

Rich Schultz / Getty Images Sport / Getty

The New York Mets may want Yoenis Cespedes back in Queens, but they're not going to let him hold up their offseason plans.

Speaking to reporters from the general managers' meetings on Monday night, Mets GM Sandy Alderson said the club would prefer to not have negotiations with their free-agent outfielder drag into the last days of the offseason once again.

Ideally, Alderson wants to know if Cespedes will be back at Citi Field by the end of baseball's winter meetings on Dec. 8.

"Certainly from our standpoint, between now and the Winter Meetings and through the end of the Winter Meetings would be the right time to get some of these issues resolved," Alderson said, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post.

As a free agent last winter, the bidding for Cespedes took several months to decide; he only returned to the Mets on a three-year, $75-million deal last January. That deal included an opt-out clause after year one which he exercised following a stellar year at the plate, putting him back on the open market in a generally weak free-agent class; it's expected the 31-year-old will decline the $17.2-million qualifying offer tendered to him by New York on Monday.

While the Mets and Cespedes' representatives have engaged in some talks that the GM characterized as "friendly" - though Alderson noted that terms were not discussed - the team's apparently been sending out feelers to possible backup plans in case the popular Cuban bolts. New York has already been linked to another star free-agent slugger in Jose Bautista, whose bat has the potential to replace that of Cespedes in a corner outfield spot, or even at first base.

Report: Mets have inquired about Bautista

Alderson does believe there's at least "some interest on their (Cespedes' agents) part in doing something sooner rather than later," but acknowledged the realities of free agency could change how this situation ultimately plays out for both sides.

"Things will probably have to resolve themselves a lot sooner than they did last year," Alderson continued, according to Newsday's Marc Carig. "But that's hard to predict where things could go. Things could go quickly, things could linger."

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