The New York Mets have promised to spend more money this offseason and one of their first orders of business could be swooping in and taking Curtis Granderson from their crosstown rival New York Yankees. Granderson, who turned down a $14.1 million qualifying offer from the Yankees on Monday, is on the Mets radar to fill their need for a steady outfield bat.
According to ESPN, Mets assistant general manager John Ricco acknowledged that the Mets have interest in Granderson, but that he wasn't sure if his agent, Matt Brown, would be at the general managers meetings for face-to-face dialogue.
"When I talked to [Brown] earlier last week, he wasn't sure if he was coming," Ricco said about contact with Granderson's agent, according to ESPN. "He wasn't planning on coming at that time. Maybe he changed his mind. He's one of the guys we called. We've called dozens of players and their agents and talked to them. Matt is one of the guys we checked in with, but we don't have anything scheduled."
Injuries limited Granderson to just 61 games with the Yankees last season, and he hit .229 with seven homers and 15 RBIs, just one year removed from hitting 43 homers to go along with 106 RBIs. While Citi Field is a drastic difference in dimensions to Yankee Stadium, the Mets are still willing to take a risk on the centerfielder.
Ricco also spoke about possibly meeting with Scott Boras, who is the agent of free agents Shin-Soo Choo and Stephen Drew, who are also on the Mets radar.
"There was a lot of mixed answers when I called around to see who is going to be here and who wasn't [agent-wise]," Ricco said per ESPN. "We'll find out who's here and kind of line it up that way."
Choo hit .285 with 21 homers and 50 RBIs with the Reds while Drew hit .253 with 13 homers and 67 RBIs for the eventual World Series champion Boston Red Sox in 2013.
Ricco then addressed the Mets' seemingly having a lack of activity during this offseason.
"I don't think it's quiet," he told ESPN. "If you go back and look at the timing of the deals that have happened in the past, I'm sure you have a few that are done pre-GM Meetings. But a lot of times those are guys just re-signing with their old clubs. And then the GM Meetings are kind of a ground floor. You'll get more signings when we get out of here, through the winter meetings, and then obviously at the winter meetings."
The assistant GM went on via ESPN: "I think a lot of teams are just doing their due diligence like we are, talking with clubs. You're trying to balance the free agents that are out there and the trade opportunities. Until you start gathering that information, it's hard to start moving forward. And I think that's what all clubs are doing at this time."
What the Mets end up doing remains to be seen, but for now they at least have interest in trying to improve after finishing in third place in the National League East and missing the postseason for the seventh straight year.
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