The offensive production in the Mets outfield has been, well, downright offensive in 2015.
But despite an outfield that ranks 28th with a .666 OPS, the Mets will be hoping for improved production from Curtis Granderson, Michael Cuddyer, and Juan Lagares down the stretch of the season, as Adam Rubin of ESPN New York is reporting the Mets are unlikely to acquire any upgrades in the outfield.
Instead, if the Mets make any acquisitions at all, Rubin says it will mostly likely come at shortstop, a versatile starting player, or an upgrade on the bench.
Nearly three weeks ago, Sandy Alderson said the club would not be making more than one acquisition before the non-waiver trade deadline on July 31.
So in other words, the Mets are identifying their shortstop position and overall versatility on the bench as their weakest points.
This really isn’t a surprise, although it may be far fetched to expect Lagares to swing at fewer pitches outside the strike zone, Granderson to hit better than .119 against left-handed pitching, and Cuddyer’s knee to not be prohibitive down the stretch.
It also means they’re not ready to settle on a platoon in left field between Cuddyer and Granderson ( which would be wise), nor are they ready to shutdown Lagares because of his bad elbow, something which is obviously devaluing his defense in center field.
Having said that, it’s possible the outfield upgrades available to them are not appealing, too costly in trade, or both.
For instance, it would certainly be foolish to overpay for someone like Justin Upton, who cannot be given a qualifying offer if traded and has every reason to test the open market at age 27, given young, right-handed power is a rare commodity in this era of baseball.
Still, the Mets need a bat to lengthen this lineup, right now. Even though they’ve had a knack for big hits lately, what they have just isn’t sustainable.
They know that, the media knows that, and the rest of the industry knows that.
Just Mets 
3 responses to “Mets not expected to pursue an outfielder in trade this month”
While no one will like reading this, the reality is that the Mets should seek to deal Granderson and/or Cuddyer for prospects as their system is depleted/overrated. The reason for selling is that their young SPs will hit their innings limits in early Sept and the last three weeks of the year they will fade as a result. For example, Harvey has about 75 innings left which puts him as done on or about 9/7-10. Syndy is in the same boat. And we dont even know if Matz will be back. If they get prospects and save big $ on these two contracts along with insurance money from Wright they will be well positioned over the winter to add a key FA and/or make a trade. Also, they should give Conforto a cup of coffee in Sept so he is ready next year. The Mets have missed guys like Peralta, Cruz and Gordon over the past few winters. Watching them as All Stars makes a Mets fan sick as Grandy, CY, Cuddy, Mayberry were all disasters as signings (and the vast majority of people made that call at the time versus 20-20 hindsight).
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[…] On Wednesday, Adam Rubin of ESPN New York reported the Mets are unlikely to acquire an outfielder in trade this summer, instead focusing their efforts … […]
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[…] However, while a club source told Marc Carig of Newsday the Mets would consider seeking an upgrade in the outfield, another source told Adam Rubin of ESPN New York it was unlikely the Mets would consider trading for an outfielder this summer. […]
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