Once Curtis Granderson‘s contract is signed, sealed and delivered, and he is added to the official 40 man roster, the Mets will have eight outfielders on the list. While Lucas Duda is listed as an outfielder on the roster on mets.com, I am not considering him as part of that list. Still, this is not good news for Kirk Nieuwenhuis.
Kirk was not added to the roster with the September call-ups and additionally, he performed poorly in his brief time with the team in 2013. The league had caught up to him when he was demoted in 2012 and he never adjusted. The window of opportunity he once had when the Mets outfield was wide open last season seems to have passed him by. With 377 big league at-bats under his belt, he has hit only .236 with 130 strike outs.
The Mets have gone from “what outfield” last offseason to an improved one that now includes Granderson, Chris Young and Juan Lagares with Eric Young as the fourth outfielder.
Juan Lagares, with his smooth glove, may be on the trade block… then again, maybe he isn’t. Or maybe Eric Young will be on the move… or maybe the stolen base champ won’t. Either way, they’re both above Kirk on the depth chart with very just cause and if both EY and Juan remain, that’s four outfield spots accounted for.
As the roster currently stands, Kirk’s best shot is to try to earn the 5th outfielder spot… but that’s also an uphill climb. Matt den Dekker was given an opportunity to play last September where Kirk was not and is another excellent defender. Andrew Brown is also on the 40 man roster and while Brown only hit .227 at the big league level last year, he has some pop with seven HR in 150 at bats and could serve as a better power pinch hitter thank Kirk.
Then there’s Cesar Puello who’s also on the 40 man roster. Even with the BioGenesis matter that cost him a suspension last year, Puello put up very good numbers in AA (.326 BA, 16 HR, 73 RBI, 24 SB, .403 OBP) that could bump him above Kirk on the depth chart as well.
And let’s not forget Cory Vaughn, who was in AA in 2013 and may be getting a look one of these days.
Kirk’s time may be running very short. It may have already ran out. Were he arbitration eligible this year, he probably would have been cut. The 40 man roster currently has 35 players (and will be 36 once Granderson is added) If more than 4 players need to be added prior to spring and if Kirk hasn’t been included as a throw in in a trade, he may be the next one on the chopping block.
And it just may be the best opportunity for Kirk to get back to the majors, because his time in New York is likely over.
Regarding your headline: We’re trying.
I saw Kirk play four games in AAA this summer. All you need to do is feed him breaking balls down and most of the time he’ll walk back to the bench. If he can improve his pitch recognition it would help his chances a lot. Saw him make some terrific plays in the field and hit one out on a mid-plate fastball early in the count too.
He is another example of a Mets prospect rushed to the bigs because of poorly built teams and then benched by a manager who doesn’t understand that for prospects to develop they need to play every day not platoon or hit off the bench. He never got a chance to develop. I hate the way Collins handles young players.
Stats shown for Kirk do not really reflect how bad he has been on the major league level over the past 200 or so plate appearances. A brutal strikeout machine except for his one miracle game last year where he got on 5 or 6 times. He struck out too much throughout his minor league career…and it carried over. The likelihood of him ever being more than mediocre is very low.
Considering most of his at bats are lefty-righty, which should be to his advantage, he does not even likely measure up to Cory Vaughn, who gets a lot of righty-righty exposure, so may be able to fix his K problem through many at bats, and could be a platoon player vs. lefties in a year or so, perhaps even for the highly paid Grandy man.
Move on. Dekker also K’s a lot, but should be as good or better than Kirk