It’s been difficult to gain a full understanding of what kind of player Curtis Granderson is at this point in his career, and the value he will provide the Mets over the final 2 1/2 years of his contract.
He was originally signed to come here and be a middle-of-the-order threat who had extra-base and home run power with first-to-third speed.
But for the most part, he doesn’t do any of that. Instead, he’s left to try and be a singles hitting leadoff hitter who waits out pitches and draws walks, simply because the Mets do not have anyone else who comes close to fitting the profile for a leadoff hitter. He’s shown flashes at times over the first year and a half of his Mets tenure, but has generally lacked any kind of consistency.
Up until recently anyway, he had done a good enough job getting on-base this season, posting a .345 on-base percentage through June 9. But that was the key contributor to his .737 OPS through the same date, as he had just 15 extra-base hits and was hitting only .236 with 51 strikeouts through his first 58 games. Since June 9, however, his ability to get on-base has been mostly absent. His averaged has ticked up slightly since then, but he’s drawn exactly one walk and scored six runs in his last ten games, hardly that of a quality leadoff hitter.
Statistically speaking anyway, he hasn’t been completely sub-par. Granderson’s .711 OPS since joining the Mets before the 2014 season is a little bit above league average for big league right fielders during that span. He’s posted a 1.6 WAR and a 12 percent walk rate, which is also a little bit above league average during that span.
But his power and production are well below that of the average right fielder in the big leagues. His 37 doubles are three below the league average, his 28 home runs are six below, and his 86 RBI are 30 below. In fairness, he has spent much of his time with the Mets in the leadoff spot, so the RBI total can at least be explained.
What’s worse is he doesn’t utilize his speed on the bases, and subtracts from the outfield defense with his poor throwing, in particular, although on Friday night he dropped a catchable popup in shallow right field which forced Jacob deGrom to throw to an extra batter unnecessarily in the fourth inning.
He does lead the Mets with five outfield assists, but that’s presumably due to the scouting report dictating everyone should try and take an extra base off Granderson on balls hit his way.
He’s a pro, a hard worker and a really good guy, but that’s not really the main reason Sandy Alderson signed him 19 months ago. So, the question the Mets really need to answer with Granderson is how they can maximize his value over the next 2 1/2 years.
It’s hard to imagine that with about $39 million left on his deal and the kind of player he is in his age-34 season there will be any kind of interest in him on the trade market, so the Mets are more or less stuck with this as what could probably be considered by talent evaluators as an expected problem.
Eventually, the Mets could consider a platoon between Granderson and Michael Cuddyer. That would open up a position in the outfield, protect Granderson’s weakness against left-handed pitching, and they’d probably be able to extract more value out of one position than they’re getting with the two.
That’s not to say Cuddyer should be in a platoon at this point in his career. His career splits are pretty even, he’s a better player than Granderson right now and Cuddyer’s playing time would be dramatically reduced in a straight platoon.
But at the same time, the Mets need to find a way to get more productivity from the outfield, as it greatly trails that of the infield production.
Opening up a position for a more complete player, whether its someone from the minor leagues or someone from the outside, might be in the best interest of the organization sooner rather than later.
Just Mets 