Cuban free agent Yulieski Gourriel held a private workout with the Mets on Monday at the team’s complex in Port St. Lucie, after which he posted photos of himself in Mets attire via Instagram.
Last week, Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said that the team would hold a private workout for Gourriel.
“We’re going to do our due diligence on that player,” Alderson said Tuesday. “We have made arrangements to do that. At the same time, that player hasn’t seen live pitching for weeks, if not months.”
“It’s not clear how long a player in that situation would take to be ready, and of course there is the investment and all the other issues and making an evaluation based on workouts primarily — and not game competition. But we’re going to go through that process.”
Alderson added that if they see what they like and come away believing his addition would help the Mets, they won’t have a problem if Gourriel needs to spend a month in the minors to get in game shape.
Gourriel, 32, was officially cleared by MLB to be an unrestricted free agent,making him eligible to sign with any team. He’s expected to command a 2-3 year deal at $10-12 million annually according so most estimations.
Considered to be the best available player in the International market, Gourriel owns a .335 average with a .997 OPS and 250 home runs during 15 professional seasons between Cuba and Japan.
