For those of you – and I know there’s a lot of you – holding out hope that the Mets were still in the hunt for free agent outfielder Denard Span despite the signing of Alejandro De Aza, here’s some sobering news for you…
According to Mike Puma of the New York Post, the Mets have no plans to watch Denard Span next week in Tampa, Florida where he’ll be holding a special workout for interested teams.
The free agent center fielder says he fully recovered from his hip surgery and his agent Scott Boras says Span is running at full speed. They planned the workout so that teams won’t be apprehensive about offering a 3-4 year deal.
“Leadoff hitters are in demand, they’re hard to find, and a guy who plays center field on top of it,” Boras said. “He offers teams a very unique skill set. And I think the only thing they need to see is just the fact that he’s back at 100 percent.”
Span had an injury plagued 2015, playing in only 61 games for the Nationals. However, he was effective when healthy and batted .301 with a .365 OBP and .431 slugging in 275 plate appearances with five home runs and 22 RBI in the leadoff spot. He also stole 11 bases without being caught.
It’s been apparent to me from the very start that the Mets never had any plans to address center field with anything other than a one-year deal for a left-handed outfielder to complement Juan Lagares in a platoon. Once they signed De Aza, that mission was accomplished. Follow the money… Or lack of it.
