Asdrubal Cabrera had a bad public time with the Mets, which automatically makes him one of the best free agent purchases of the franchise ever (Curtis Granderson, who has never had a bad time anywhere, is in first place in base to this metric).
And it didn’t take long for people to forget the moment of Cabrera on June 24, 2017 because the shorts are notoriously protective of their territory and, let’s face it, these are the Mets, and they have long since lost the benefit of the doubt in these players- brush-ups of the employer.
Cabrera requested a trade after being activated from the disabled list and moved to second base (this, in keeping with the Mets theme for the past two seasons, was done to keep Jose Reyes in the lineup). Cabrera said none of the Mets communicated their desire to change positions and that if they wanted him to withdraw from shorttop, they should immediately exercise his option for 2018.
Nothing happened and five days later Cabrera said he was happy with the Mets. Only he knows how he really felt about staying with the Mets, but if he was unhappy, he did an excellent job of channeling him productively.
Between the time he requested an exchange and on Friday, when the rebuilt Mets finally assigned him to the Phillies in exchange for the minor league pitcher Franklyn Kilome, Cabrera beat .288 with 97 RBI and 73 extra base hits, including 26 humeri, in bats in 678 while he spends most of his time in second base.
Overall as a member of the Mets, Cabrera hit .279 with 55 homers, 179 RBI, 142 extra-base hits and an .803 OPS. In other words, Cabrera improved a lot after his bad time.
His defensive shortcomings – according to Sports Info Solutions, Cabrera has cost 63 defensive teams in the last five years, behind only Nick Castellanos and, let’s not joke, Jose Reyes – has left Cabrera with a modest 4.9 WAR since the beginning of 2016. But also with his problems on the field, he was still the best and most consistent everyday player of the Mets in the past two seasons and the type of player who was much more appreciated in person than he could have been on the back of a baseball card or on a baseball reference page.
Among Mets players with at least 1,000 appearances in pots since 2016, Cabrera was ranked first in extra-base and RBI hits and second, just behind Yoenis Cespedes, in the batting average and in home games. It should be noted that Cabrera was the only Mets player to reach 1,500 plate appearances in the past three years. And 1,400 appearances of dishes. And 1,300 sheet metal appearances. And 1,200 appearances of dishes.
If anything, Cabrera has played too much. His range was limited by a variety of leg problems and he suffered at least two injuries which, at the moment, seemed to be in danger of the season. But it only required short periods on the disabled list for a strained patellar tendon in August 2016 and a sprained left thumb in June 2017.
In addition to suffering his injuries, Cabrera showed the proverbial slower heart beat in big spots. He beat .353 with 42 RBI in 51 at-bat with one runner in third and less than two outs.
Cabrera collected three of these RBI on September 22, 2016, when he was the author of one of the most dramatic moments of the regular season in the history of the Mets, hitting an outgoing murderer to give the Mets tied to the playoffs a 9-8 key, 11-inning victory on the Phillies. Cabrera punctured the humerus by throwing his club with two hands before raising his arms above his head and looking towards the shelter.
The Mets, whose disinterest in honoring their historical boundaries with the criminal, distributed dolls depicting Cabrera’s celebratory pose on July 1 during a game against, you guessed it, the Phillies. It also hit the game’s humerus winner that day.
Cabrera’s work for the Mets probably won’t deserve another promotion of doll dolls. But once again, considering that he spent almost three seasons without threatening to show anyone the Bronx, throwing firecrackers in someone’s direction, losing his skills, poisoning a club house with his harsh personality or spending a lot of time on the bench , perhaps it should.
“I know it’s part of the game,” Cabrera told reporters after the exchange was announced. “I am really happy, because I left with my head held high because I did my best for the Mets.”
