Everyone knows that newly acquired right fielder Michael Cuddyer will play a major role in the outfield, but can he also be important as a first basemen?
The way I look at it, yes. Lucas Duda came out of his shell last year when he went on a home run tear hitting 30 long balls. He finished the 2014 season hitting the 11th most home runs in the MLB. Most of his success came against right handed pitchers which is why a solid backup is just what the Mets need.
When he had to face a lefty, he froze, only batting .180 with 41 strikeouts, and even more astounding, hitting only two home runs. The other 28 of them came off of righties. Last year, Eric Campbell got many starts vs. lefties but is not the type of player Cuddyer is which will give the Mets a major upgrade.
With a newly picked up John Mayberry Jr. as a backup right fielder, Cuddyer will get a plethora of starts vs. left handed pitchers. Mayberry is a solid backup that is good for a couple starts when needed. Mayberry has surprisingly good power with his speed being a benefit as well. Looking at some of Cuddyers’s stats vs. lefties in his 14 year career, he is hitting .291 with 66 home runs. Picking up Cuddyer not only solves the outfield problem, but also helps the first base position. This way Duda can now focus on just righties which will relieve a lot of pressure off of Duda.
As for the defensive side of it, Duda was an iffy defensive player posting a -.06 WAR. Duda did make some “web gem” like plays with the glove and had a .994 fielding percentage (7 errors). Cuddyer actually posts a worse WAR than Duda with a -.09. Not that the defensive side of this will make a big difference with the number of games Cuddyer with actually start a first, but the Mets can’t afford to have Cuddyer make some poor plays because just to the right of him is Murphy who is not so defensively sound.
Cuddyer playing first base for a number of games can make the Mets that much better in 2015.
