Just Mets

On Friday, the Mets made their most significant trade deadline acquisition perhaps in this century, acquiring OF Yoenis Cespedes from the Tigers in exchange for Michael Fulmer and Luis Cessa.

He is unquestionably the big transformational bat the fans and the entire industry has been waiting for the Mets to acquire.

But now that he’s here, how will the Mets align and play Cespedes? Cespedes, has played the majority of his big league career in left field, but he is a more than capable center fielder as well. He recently told Marly Rivera of ESPN that he will play wherever the Mets need him to.

But where can his strengths ultimately be maximized in relation to everyone elses?

The current Mets outfield consists of one staple, and that’s Curtis Granderson in right field. Besides that, every other outfield position has been a rotation of players both before and after Michael Cuddyer went on the disabled list.

Michael Conforto has taken the majority of the time in left field since Cuddyer went down last week, with Eric Campbell and Kirk Nieuwenhuis occasionally sharing time there as well. But it’s fair to argue Conforto’s time hasn’t quite come yet despite an impressive showing so far, and both Campbell and Nieuwenhuis just are not full-time players.

In regards to Juan Lagares, despite being awarded a Gold Glove in 2014, he has suffered through a couple of injuries which has helped contribute towards his regression both offensively (he has a .280 OBP) and defensively in 2015. He has pretty much become a part-time player despite signing a long-term contract extension with the club in March.

However, tonight we should start to see a new established outfield alignment with the addition of Cespedes. Here are the options…

The defensive outfield.

The most obvious alignment the Mets can go with is to have Cespedes in left, Lagares in center and Granderson in right. However, that will dramatically decrease the playing time of Michael Conforto, who could find himself back in the minors if the Mets ultimately go this route.

Conforto has shown promise in the majors, but he was seemingly brought here despite Sandy Alderson clearly stating his concerns for bringing him here prematurely. He does need everyday at-bats to continue his development into an everyday big league outfielder. So, if the Mets choose this path, the best place for him to get those at-bats is in Triple-A Las Vegas.

This alignment plays to a run prevention strategy, but not necessarily the most optimal lineup on a regular basis.

The offensive outfield.

If the Mets want to keep Conforto around for a little longer, the Mets could choose to keep Granderson in right, Conforto in left and have Cespedes patrol centerfield, relegating Lagares to part-time duty officially.

In this scenario, Conforto continues to play on a daily basis here, for now anyway. However, Cespedes has only played nine games in center field over the last two years.

And, with Conforto still developing and Granderson’s obviously flawed play in right field, this does not provide for optimal defense for the expansive outfield at Citi Field and the rest of the National League East.

What about Michael Cuddyer?

The Mets will have to make another decision when Michael Cuddyer comes off the disabled list, which could happen in a week or so. It seems he’s destined for a platoon or part-time duty, regardless of what happens with Conforto or Lagares. He could conceivably platoon with Granderson, who has been mostly horrible against left-handed pitching in 2015. This solution would protect Cuddyer’s knee from flaring up by playing in a more limited manner, and protect Granderson’s ineffectiveness against southpaws while keeping a competent body at the position every single day.

Cuddyer could also platoon with Lucas Duda at first base, which could keep Conforto in left field and Cespedes in center field.

This is a good problem for the Mets to have but it does mean playing time for a few of their regulars will be diminished. Playing time shouldn’t matter at this point though for a team that is making a push for the playoffs.

Andrew Harts covers the Mets for MLB.com as their real-time correspondent. He provides content for MLB.com, the Mets social media group, and Cut4.

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