Last year at this time, Michael Cuddyer was the New York Mets’ headlining offseason addition. He signed a two-year, $21 million contract, a seemingly inexplicable agreement with a player who would be 36 years old on opening day and coming off a season in which injuries limited him to 49 games.
By the postseason, Cuddyer was a non-factor for the Mets, limited to starts against left-handed pitching and pinch-hitting appearances. Putting him in left field was a defensive disaster and playing him at first base kept Lucas Duda’s power bat out of the lineup. He had very little to do with the Mets’ World Series run and it was difficult to see where he fit on next season’s roster.
Between that uncertainty and his continued battles with injuries, Cuddyer apparently decided his time as a major league ballplayer had reached its end. On Friday, he announced his retirement, despite having a year remaining on his contract worth $12.5 million. Cuddyer shared his retirement announcement on The Players’ Tribune.
“I’ve made the decision to retire. With one year left on my contract, it is especially difficult to imagine not suiting up in a Mets uniform for one more year. As an athlete, retiring is the toughest decision you have to make and I don’t make it lightly. I’ve always run out every hit like it was my last. As an untested high school kid drafted with a dream, I’ve never taken a single moment in the Majors for granted. It goes against every grain in my body to consider a future without the game. But after 15 years, the toll on my body has finally caught up to me.”
For a team looking to contend for a NL Wild Card playoff bid (at the time, the Nationals were viewed as the far-and-away favorite in the NL East), signing Cuddyer just didn’t seem like enough. Yes, if healthy, he was still a very good hitter. But just how much could he stay in the lineup, especially being asked to play the outfield, when he was probably better suited as a first baseman or designated hitter?
Sure enough, Cuddyer missed time with wrist and knee injuries and those issues also curtailed his production. (He also underwent core muscle surgery shortly after the season ended.) Overall, Cuddyer batted .259 with a .699 OPS, 10 home runs and 41 RBI in 408 plate appearances. Forced to seek other options, the Mets actually managed to find upgrades to their corner outfield by calling up Michael Conforto and later trading for Yoenis Cespedes.
Sandy Alderson statement on Michael Cuddyer retirement pic.twitter.com/lorXGRnKzW
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinESPN) December 12, 2015
Cuddyer retires with a career triple-slash average of .277/.344/.461 with 333 doubles, 197 home runs and 794 RBI in 15 MLB seasons, 11 of them with the Minnesota Twins. He was a first-round selection (ninth overall) by the Twins in the 1997 draft as a shortstop (!) out of Great Bridge High school in Chesapeake, Va. (Looking at that 1997 first round, Cuddyer arguably had a better career than the eight players drafted before him.)
The Mets now presumably have the $12.5 million earmarked for Cuddyer on their payroll to use elsewhere on the roster. (It’s unclear whether or not the team bought Cuddyer out of that final year or he walked away from that salary entirely.) Perhaps that money can be used toward signing a center field upgrade over Juan Lagares, a veteran starting pitcher for the back of the rotation or adding to the bullpen behind Jeurys Familia.
