Mets send Granderson in trade to Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers have acquired outfielder Curtis Granderson and cash from the Mets for a player to be named later or cash.
The teams announced the deal after their games Friday night. The 36-year-old Granderson is hitting .228 with 19 home runs and 52 RBIs this year.
Los Angeles is running away with the NL West. The Dodgers are 86-34 after Friday’s win at Detroit . Granderson gives Los Angeles another option for the outfield along with Cody Bellinger, Yasiel Puig, Chris Taylor and Joc Pederson.
Pederson has been struggling quite a bit of late, hitting .149 since the All-Star break. Granderson, like Pederson, offers some power from the left side of the plate.
This is Granderson’s fourth team as he started with Tigers then went to Yankees. He signed a $60 million, four-year contract with the Mets before the 2014 season. He hit 95 home runs — including a grand slam in his final at-bat — for the Mets in 573 games and was part of the team that won the National League pennant in 2015.
Granderson said he had mixed emotions.
“I was excited, looking forward to the rest of the season,” he said. “This changes some things up a little bit for me, but, excited, still going to come out ready to play. I’m going to try my best to help that team just like I was trying my best to help this team out. Looking forward to it.”
Meanwhile, the Chicago Cubs claimed veteran catcher Rene Rivera off waivers from Mets.
Granderson started in left field and went 0-for-4 with a run scored in his Dodgers debut, a 3-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday afternoon.
The 34-year-old Rivera is known for his defensive skills. He has thrown out 10 of 31 runners attempting to steal this season. He is batting .230 with eight homers and 23 RBIs in 54 games.
The Cubs lost catcher Willson Contreras to a hamstring injury on Aug. 9. They got Alex Avila in a trade with Detroit last month and rookie Victor Caratini was promoted from the minors after Contreras went down, but the acquisition of Rivera gives them more insurance at the position.
Yu Darvish has been placed on the 10-day disabled list after just three starts for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The team said Saturday that Darvish has lower back tightness, which he first noticed after a recent start in Arizona and mentioned again after making his Dodger Stadium debut last Wednesday. He didn’t figure in the decision, a 5-4 win over the White Sox, in which he gave up three home runs while striking out a season-low two and walking one.
The Japanese right-hander is 2-0 with a 2.50 ERA in three starts with Los Angeles since being acquired from Texas in a trade deadline deal on July 31. Overall, he’s 8-9 with a 3.83 ERA in 25 combined starts with the two teams.