Astros rumors: Is Yoenis Cespedes on Houston's radar?

As of this writing, Yoenis Cespedes is still a free agent. At the outset of free agency, that would have seemed impossible, but sure enough, that's the situation that the outfielder has found himself in. While the Mets are still interested in him on a short term contract, Peter Gammons reported that the Astros could be a surprise entrant into the bidding for Cespedes.

Thrice today I had execs say "watch the Astros on Cespedes." 5th best HR park in MLB in '15. Good lineup. OK, I'm watching

— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) January 17, 2016

Despite an already full outfield (Colby Rasmus, Carlos Gomez, George Springer, and Jake Marisnick), the Astros could use the DH as their "fourth outfielder" slot, and move Evan Gattis to first base. There's also the possibility that they could trade Carlos Gomez, which was floated as a possibility by Jerry Cransick last week.

While the Astros aren't known as a big market team, they would appear to have plenty of funds to sign Cespedes. Rasmus is their highest paid player ($15.8M), and after the 2016 season, Houston has roughly $45 million in expiring contracts. Even if they can't truly afford Cespedes now, they could backload a potential contract in order to secure the outfielder.

However the biggest question is whether or not the Astros truly want him. At 30-years old, a long-term deal would take Cespedes through his age 36-season (he's stated publicly he wants a six-year contract), which would be far beyond his prime.

As of now, the Astros' interest in Cespedes is unknown, but according to recent reports, he could be signing in the next couple of days.