Some of you may remember that Michael Cuddyer article we ran a few days ago that featured the different media reactions – mostly positive – to his signing and how mixed in with all of them we had this one:
Keith Law, ESPN – LOL Mets
Since then, I’ve been anxiously awaiting a full article from him after that two word response on Twitter, and here it is – from ESPN Insider – and it’s not for the squeamish.
Michael Cuddyer was just 48th in my ranking of the top 50 free agents; he’s a broken-down 35-year-old (36 in March) outfielder who can no longer play that position and is probably just suited for platoon duty.
The Rockies shocked most of the industry by making him a qualifying offer, running the risk of paying him $15.3 million when his production was extremely likely to be worth less than half that.
The Mets, undaunted, decided to double-down on this insanity by giving Cuddyer a two-year, $20 million contract and giving up the 15th pick in the 2015 draft, in effect paying Cuddyer about four times any reasonable estimate of his value while totally misunderstanding where their roster is.
That was just for starters, he then goes on to bullet pointing each of Cuddyer’s shortcomings in greater detail while establishing his case that Cuddy is finished as an outfielder and the Mets got themselves a high-priced platoon first baseman.
Cuddyer’s list of problems as a player is lengthy, but the biggest one is that he’s no longer an outfielder in anything but name. Between the age, injuries and the fact that he was never that good on defense to begin with, he’s the worst outfielder to spend any significant time out there in the majors over the past two years.
He has become extremely injury-prone, qualifying for the batting title just once in the three years …He went to Denver, and he’s probably going to leave most of that success behind when he heads for Queens. What Cuddyer really is at this point is a platoon first baseman, a partner for Lucas Duda, but not a $10 million player and certainly not worth giving up a mid-first round draft pick, let alone doing all of that in one deal.
This Cuddyer signing has sparked some incredible reactions and overreactions from all levels of the game ranging from fans, players, management, bloggers, and media alike. You have many now talking about the playoffs for the Mets, and even the World Series, all because of this one signing. You also have just as many others like Keith Law who see nothing but doom and gloom. It’s been amazing to see how signing a player who was ranked 50th on most free agent lists has generated so much emotion, so much negative reaction, and so much euphoric reaction.
