This past off-season the New York Mets signed outfielder Curtis Granderson to a four-year, $60 million deal. After spending the first 10 years of his Major League Baseball career in the American League with the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees respectively, Granderson joined the Mets as the team hoped that he would help to change the clubhouse culture. Granderson has postseason experience as he made the only World Series appearance of his career with the Tigers in 2006 while also making three trips to the playoffs with the Yankees during his four years in the Bronx. The postseason experience is vital to the Mets organization due to the fact that the franchise has not had a winning season since 2008 and their last trip to the playoffs was in 2006. For his six seasons with the Tigers, Granderson was a .272 hitter while belting 102 home runs. With the Yankees, Granderson’s batting average dipped to .245 in his four seasons there, but he became known as a power-hitter. In 2011, Granderson hit 41 home runs while leading the AL in runs batted in with 119. Granderson followed this up with 43 homers in 2012. In 2013, Granderson suffered a fractured forearm after being hit by a pitch in spring training. The injury limited Granderson to just 61 games in 2013 and he appears to have never regained his groove at the plate which is something that the Mets are currently finding out the hard way.
On the young season Granderson is batting .137 with a home run, and six runs batted in. Granderson has already struck out 25 times in 2014 as he is on pace to strike out 175 times this season which has already drawn the ire of the Flushing Faithful who were expecting big things from the former AL MVP candidate. Granderson was recently mired in an 0-for-22 slump at the plate while he has only had one multi-hit game this season. Granderson’s slump is not sitting well with Met fans due to the fact that they saw him hit 115 home runs for the rival Yankees and they were expecting somewhat of the same thing from him in Queens.
After being strapped for cash due to his dealings with convicted ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, Mets owner Fred Wilpon had not dabbled into the free agent market lately to give a player a lucrative deal until Granderson. Sports wise there are always expectations in New York City; especially when your name is attached to a $60 million contract like Granderson’s is.
Mets general manager Sandy Alderson brought in Granderson this past winter in the hopes that he would be a bat in the lineup that would be able to provide protection for third baseman David Wright. Wright spent the first eight years of his tenure with Mets playing with the likes of Mike Piazza, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and Carlos Delgado as he was in the middle of a potent lineup. From 2005-2010, Wright had five seasons in which he recorded at least 100 runs batted in along with five seasons of belting at least 25 home runs. Since that time Wright has not had the same protection around him and his numbers at the plate reflect that. Wright has not had one season in which he hit at least 25 homers or drove 100 runs and if Granderson maintains his current pace, Wright’s offensive stats for this season could be hindered.
At 33-years of age Granderson was not expected to hit for average this season for the Mets, but to more of a guy with some pop in his bat. To Granderson’s credit, this current Mets team more than likely will not be an offensive juggernaut compared to some of the previous teams that he was associated with. While with the Tigers, Granderson played with the likes of Magglio Ordonez and Miguel Cabrera and during his four seasons with the Yankees, Granderson was a part of teams that featured players such as Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano. Granderson currently doesn’t have that same luxury with the Mets and in the immortal words of former NBA player Michael Ray Richardson “the ship be sinking” for him.
At the end of the day we are still in the month of April and there is optimism that Granderson can once again reclaim his groove at plate. If Granderson is unable to accomplish that, then he will join the Mets free agent hall of shame that includes infamous names such as Roger Cedono, Roberto Alomar, and Tom Glavine.
Source: Baseball-reference.com
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