Mets Luck Out Big Time With Universal DH Rule Because Yoenis Cespedes Isn't Completely Useless Now

Major League Baseball is expecting to present players with official proposals for ways to start the 2020 regular season as soon as Tuesday. Per reports, the league is planning an 78-to-82-game regular season that includes an expanded playoff field.

On Sunday, a new wrinkle was added to the jumble of proposed changes: a universal designated hitter. An implementation of this magnitude would have a ripple effect on the entire league.

In terms of beneficiaries, the New York Mets come to mind in that they would actually have a reasonable excuse to play aging outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, while still deploying JD Davis.

As incentivized as the Mets would have been to include Cespedes' bat in the lineup, asking him to play left field full-time would be nothing short of a disaster. The 34-year-old is fresh off double heel surgery and has played a combined 119 games across the last three seasons. Prior to his run of injuries, he was already a liability as a fielder (not a thrower, though!), so deploying him in LF on a consistent basis in 2020 would be asking for trouble.

The Mets making Cespedes their permanent DH would be a great way to preserve his legs and keep him healthy. Asking the two-time All-Star to focus solely on hitting would benefit both the player and club. After all, it's what he does best.

If La Potencia is as motivated as he says he is following the restructuring of his contract, New York might see a semblance of the stud he was back in 2016 if the National League adopts the DH.