Recently acquired shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera participated on a conference call on Friday afternoon with the Mets beat and media. He weighed in on a number of topics which I’ve summarized below.
There was no hiding of his excitement of being with the Mets and Cabrera was genuinely thrilled. “They are a very good team. It’s a great city to play baseball and they are winners. Last year, they were in the World Series.”
He added how much he looked forward to playing in New York when he was with the Nationals. “It’s a great city, a big city, I played there when I was in Washington, they have good support of the fans.”
“Whatever the team needs,” Cabrera said when asked about playing other positions and specifically third base.
“I think if you can play shortstop, you can play second or third base. I’m going to wait until spring training to see where they want me to play. I’m going to do my best.”
Cabrera, 30, is looking forward to pairing up with fellow newbie second baseman Neil Walker. “I think he’s a great player, a great second baseman, he plays hard, plays the ball, he plays the ball right,” Cabrera said. “I am happy to be playing with him and we’ll try to go out and win a World Series.”
One of the things that attracted Cabrera to the Mets was the team’s young starting pitching, and he’s glad to be playing with them rather than having to face them. “Oh man they are great, last year their pitchers, they were the best starting pitchers in the league,” Cabrera said. “I hope they do the same job as they did last year and we will win this year.”
Always known for being a fierce competitor, Cabrera batted .265 with 28 doubles, 15 home runs, and 58 RBIs in 551 plate appearances this past season for the Rays, posting a 104 wRC+ and 2.2 WAR in 143 games. He also finished the year with a strong second half, batting .328 with 10 home runs and 36 RBI. It bodes well heading into 2016.
He’s very motivated and incredibly psyched for next season. The best takeaway from the conference call was how often he talked about winning. I think he’s going to fit right in and fans will love his fiery play and personality.
(Updated 12/21)
