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Michael Cuddyer had a rough night in the field during yesterday’s win over the Dodgers. Cuddyer misjudged two fly balls during the second and third innings that turned into doubles for Los Angeles.
“I misread the ball,” Cuddyer said. “The ball was flying in the first couple of innings. Misread both of them….Fortunately for me and fortunately for our team (Jacob deGrom) was dominant, he was able to overcome this.” (Mike Vorkunov, NJ.com)
Even though Jacob deGrom bailed Cuddyer out of trouble, it put added pressure on the Mets’ ace and made his pitch count climb even higher.
Cuddyer also went 0-for-3 at the plate with a strikeout. He looked completely over matched against Clayton Kershaw and left two runners on base as well.
It’s clear that Cuddyer should no longer be starting, especially with Michael Conforto on the roster. While the Mets were concerned about him facing a lefty, Conforto outproduced Cuddyer all season and provides much better defense in left field.
Conforto batted .270 in the majors with a .841 OPS in 56 games while Cuddyer only hit .259 and had a .699 OPS.
Another possibility is to start Juan Lagares in center against lefties and move Yoenis Cespedes to left. But with right handed starter Zack Greinke going tonight, Conforto should absolutely be playing.
The Mets were lucky that Cuddyer’s mistakes didn’t hurt them a lot more in game one. Terry Collins can’t afford to keep playing him as his shaky defense could wind up being very costly in the playoffs.
