The Granderson Game

I’m not here to break any news. But I would like to make a couple of points regarding Curtis Granderson … at the risk of having this mean absolutely nothing when the Red Sox come in and sign him at the last minute (which is certainly possible, as that’s how they’ve done business with the likes of Vladimir Guerrero and such).

Curtis Granderson sure feels like Plan B. For me, and most Mets fans, Plan A was Shin Soo Choo. For the Mets front office, Plan A might very well have been cheaper options that became unavailable (think Norichika Aoki going to Kansas City for Will Smith, instead of here for Isaac Davis). But at the very least, Granderson does represent a plan. Even when you account for diminished power after coming to Citi Field, there are other aspects to Granderson’s game that he performs well (speed on the bases, covers some ground in the outfield, halfway decent throwing arm.) Given a choice between the two second tier outfield options behind Choo and Jacoby Ellsbury (and by the way, the Yankees can have him … if he’s healthy for four of the seven seasons of that nutty contract they should consider themselves lucky) give me Granderson over Nelson Cruz, who can only do one thing well, and coming to Citi Field would neutralize that.

That was point number one. For point number two, I’d like to quote somebody who isn’t that smart, but he’ll just have to do for now:

“But in the grand scheme of things, if the Mets are serious about improving their team, this will be a move, and not the move. If the Mets are serious only about collecting those season ticket invoices, then this is it … so go back to sleep until April.” 

Who did I just quote? Why that would be me. When did I say this: December 30th, 2009 when the Mets signed a guy named Jason Bay. Forget everything that happened to Jason Bay when he actually started playing baseball for the Mets. The Jason Bay signing felt then like it was just something to placate the fans as if to say “Okaaaaaaaaay, we did something. Would you get off our backs, please?” The climate now in Flushing feels more like this than ever, where the Mets need to make a splash to shut everybody up, and when they do they can forget about the rest of the holes the team needs to fill because Curtis Granderson will either sell tickets, or keep people from giving up their existing accounts.

Nobody is expecting another big ticket item to be signed, especially since there aren’t any other big ticket items at positions the Mets really need (except maybe Bronson Arroyo, who ironically enough I advocated the Mets acquire in addition to Bay in 2010, along with Aaron Harang … told you I wasn’t that smart). But a division title didn’t stop Billy Beane from making sweeping changes and finding players via trade, and it shouldn’t stop Sandy Alderson from doing the same. This time instead of Ben Sheets and Carlos Zambrano , I’ll advocate a trade for Billy Butler ($8 million this season and a club option for $12.5 million) once the Royals sign Carlos Beltran, and perhaps a trade for a shortstop such as Jed Lowrie or Asdrubal Cabrera ($10 million this season) for shortstop. Or perhaps something more creative that I’m not qualified to think of at this time.

Just like with Bay, Granderson (if he does indeed sign here when he gets tired of waiting for that offer to come from Beirut), can’t be the last thing this team does if they’re truly serious about putting a team on the field in 2014 that can compete for a wild card spot. We all know how it worked out the last time.