Michael Cuddyer may not be activated from the disabled list until after the weekend series against the Tampa Bay Rays according to what sources have told Adam Rubin. (ESPN New York)
The plan now appears to be that Cuddyer will play a couple of games with the St. Lucie Mets and then rejoin the team on Monday when they play the Colorado Rockies at Citi Field.
No word if this is because of any setback or if the Mets just want to buy some time and continue to observe how Michael Conforto plays.
August 6
Michael Cuddyer expects to play in a minor league rehab game on Thursday and then get activated on Friday, when the Mets will open a weekend series with the Tampa Bay Rays and will have the DH available.
Either Michael Conforto or Eric Campbell will be optioned to Triple-A once Cuddyer is officially activated before Friday’s game. No word on where the Mets are leaning on this.
During Sandy Alderson’s press conference last Friday at Citi Field, he made it very clear that Yoenis Cespedes was going to be playing everyday either in left or center field, which pretty much relegates Cuddyer into a platoon and fourth outfielder role.
“He will play when I think he should play,” Terry Collins said on Wednesday. “We’ve got a DH in Tampa, where he might DH one game and I know we’ve got a ton of lefties coming up, so he will play in those games for sure, but I have nothing etched in stone. He wants us to win and wherever I’m going to play him or need him, I think he will do that, but we’re going to get him back in there.”
My guess is that Curtis Granderson is going to be seeing limited playing time against left-handed pitching so expect to see Cuddyer in left or right when there’s a southpaw on the mound.
Juan Lagares, who hits left-handers very well, will play in center field on those occasions and come in as a defensive replacement late in games as well.
If Conforto stays, he should continue getting starts against right-handed pitchers, and I suspect Kirk Nieuwenhuis will also get frequent starts against them when he comes off the DL.
Basically, the Mets have a lot of solid options now to effectively employ some platoons which will maximize production while strengthening the bench. That wasn’t the case a week ago. LGM
