GRAND STAND
THERE was a throwback feel to Friday night, as if this were 2015 again and the Mets were enjoying an August beatdown of the Phillies to bolster their playoff chances.
Wilmer Flores hit a grand slam, Asdrubal Cabrera homered twice, Jose Reyes hit another and even Bartolo Colon had two hits. The lineup was as electric as it has been all season, which is to say the Mets looked awfully good in this 9-4 victory, even with one of their biggest names on the bench.
Curtis Granderson never will be confused for Jason Bay or Michael Cuddyer, two free-agent disappointments the Mets endured in recent seasons, but his performance lately merits him remaining on the same bench where he spent most of Friday night — before he struck out in a pinch-hitting appearance.
Make no mistake: Without Granderson’s contributions from the leadoff spot last year, the Mets probably wouldn’t have reached the World Series. The team would have been long dead even before Yoenis Cespedes could have arrived to carry the club. Based on last season alone, Granderson has been worth a decent chunk of the $60 million he is receiving over four years, through 2017.
But now should be the time for team brass to take a hard look at the facts and make a move, as difficult as it might be, to help the Mets’ playoff chances. In other words, it’s time to bench Granderson.
Since the All-Star break, Granderson has been every bit as underwhelming as Bay was for three seasons in Flushing and Cuddyer was in 2015. Manager Terry Collins has tried dropping Granderson in the batting order and lim- iting his exposure to righties, but nothing has worked.
Granderson is batting .168 over his past 30 games. With runners in scoring position, Granderson is hitless in his past 19 at-bats. His 20 homers might look nice on paper, but his 34 RBIs do not.
“Grandy has not had a great season and certainly in recent weeks, recent days, has not performed to his expectations,” general manager Sandy Alderson said Friday. “As far as long term is concerned, I think we’re all very confident he will get back to his typical playing level, his performance level. Short term, we don’t have a lot of freeboard at this point.”
In nautical terms, a low-freeboard boat is at risk of taking on water in rough seas. That sums up the Mets, who still trail the Cardinals by 3 ½ games in the race for the NL’s second wild-card spot.
“I think Terry knows that, and I’m sure he will use the players accordingly,” Alderson continued. “Certainly we expect Grandy to get back to a performance level at some point. The question is when and how much tolerance we have for waiting.”
The Mets’ best option to take Granderson’s atbats is at Triple-A Las Vegas. He goes by the name Michael Conforto and deserves a shot at this point to, at minimum, play every day against righties. Conforto never received that chance upon returning from Las Vegas last month and was subsequently demoted for a second time this season, as the Mets attempted to get him regular at-bats. A look at the Las Vegas statistics showed Conforto hitting .520 with five homers entering Friday in his 13 games since returning to Triple-A.