Michael Cuddyer started in left field for the Mets on Sunday for the first time since Tuesday at Citi Field against the Cubs.
And unfortunately for Cuddyer, the afternoon for Cuddyer was pretty much par for the course – he went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts against the Dodgers in the Mets 15-hit attack, although he played the entire game in left field.
The hitless afternoon for Cuddyer dropped his line to .236/.289/.354 for the season. He is mired in a 6-for-56 skid with just two walks and 16 strikeouts over his last 18 games.
It suddenly became easy to attribute his performance issues to the knee problems which suddenly surfaced last week. However, this injury was sustained last Tuesday against the Cubs – it’s not something he’s been dealing with for an extended period of time. Unfortunately, it sounds like this problem is going to be something he and the team have to manage for the rest of the year, as there is an injury people close to the team is choosing not to name for the time being.
The Mets are at a point the need to find ways to get more productivity out of the outfield. The .658 OPS their outfielders have produced is second worst in the league, and there’s no question Cuddyer as well as Juan Lagares have badly contributed to those struggles.
So, what can the Mets do?
The logical move to make is to consider a platoon between Cuddyer and Curtis Granderson, mainly to protect Granderson’s severe weakness against left-handed pitching. While Granderson has been fantastic against right-handed pitching with his .854 OPS, he has a minuscule .354 OPS against left-handed pitching and is just 7-for-58 against left-handers this season. A platoon with Cuddyer takes care of that weakness for the most part, and he would see a bulk of the time out there anyway. Then, the Mets could conceivably go shopping for a corner outfielder.
Of course, that doesn’t address Lagares’ problems on both sides of the ball, but the Mets could at least live with that if they could improve their production and defense in right field with a platoon in left field.
It remains to be seen if the Mets actually do this, however.
By doing this, the Mets would be paying their left fields $24.5 million in 2015, and $28.5 million in 2016. While that may make them better in theory, it’s an inflated number to pay one position filled with diminishing mid-30 year olds. And, they have to go out and invest in another outfielder with hopes he produces as well.
No matter what, the combined .658 OPS for Mets outfielders speaks for itself, and not very nicely, either.
Just Mets 