The Marlins have announced a minor-league deal with outfielder Curtis Granderson. It includes an invitation to participate in MLB Spring Training. He’ll earn $1.75MM in the majors with $250K in possible incentives, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter).
Granderson turns 38 in March but can still get the job done at the plate. He ended the 2018 campaign with 403 plate appearances of .242/.351/.431 hitting, good for a 116 wRC+. That’s right at his career mark for overall productivity (117 wRC+), though the most recent iteration of Granderson relied a bit more on on-base percentage than the power that has traditionally driven his value.
There are certainly some major caveats here from an on-field perspective. Granderson was not trusted to face lefties last year, reflecting his longstanding struggles against same-handed pitching. And metrics have increasingly soured on his glovework in the outfield.
Still, it seems like a nice addition for the Marlins, who likely gave Granderson assurances that he’d have an inside track to a roster spot and semi-regular playing time. The team is likely headed for another rough season in the standings, but needs to maintain some fan interest and provide veteran leadership. Granderson, a widely respected clubhouse presence, is more a contemporary of Marlins CEO Derek Jeter (his former Yankees teammate) than of the many young players on the Miami roster. He’ll join recent signee Neil Walker in providing some affordable gravitas before potentially transforming into a mid-season trade chip.
Thus continuing the Granderson trade at the deadline
sorry curtis
At least he doesn’t have to spend a big portion of his year in the city of Milwaukee
Said someone who hasn’t spent time in Milwaukee for at least a decade.
Man the market is brutal as even Grandy can’t get a major league deal from a horrid team after he still hit righties well last year.
Did you even see him play last year? The guy is a terrible outfielder. He should be a DH. marlins will use him a PH off the bench. He can still hit but his defense is very bad.
I see him starting over Austin Dean vs righties.
His bat held up after the trade. Not sure why you’re so focused on his fielding. Not like the Marlins are contenders but have a path for Granderson to get ABs. That’s it.
The game I saw he misplayed 2 catchable fly balls. When you have young pitchers giving up extra runs can make a easy inning into a tough situation. i feel that is the reason nobody offered him more than a minor league deal. At this point in his career he is a DH or PH bench player.
2019 version of Rusty Stain with the ability to DH in American League parks until either he’s released or more likely traded near the 07/31 or 08/31 deadlines.
RIP Rusty Stain
Absolutly! Nice guy with a great porfolio. Truth is he is a smart piece for the youngsters and off the bench. I would so enjoy watching him rake. He was great! Key being . . . you know.
@arc
That’s true with older pitchers too.
Prime example of someone that looks at what they did long ago to not what they are now.
He had a 116OPS+ last year that’s solid.
Over 100 strike outs. Under .790 obp 0.9 war 38 rbis about 80 hits.
It is very hard to take your comments seriously. His OBP last year was HIGHER than his career average and his OPS+ was right at his career average.
It’s bad enough when somebody brings up hits, rbi’s, and strike outs into the conversation, but you’ve taken it to a whole new level by not even mentioning how many plate appearances he had.
Mike Trout strikes out 150+ times over a 162 game average, so I guess he’s awful.
I think .790 is an unfair benchmark for OBP, as exactly nobody has reached that in any significant amount of at bats since the inception of baseball.
.790 obp would beat Bonds’s record
You seem to be begging reality to be some thing different.
In today’s market, the standard value of a win is $8 million dollars. So if he provided .9 WAR last year, his market value was $7.2 million. Considering he was paid $5 mil, that means he provided excess value.
At $2 mil, anything more than a .25 WAR and Grandy is well worth it, before considering he is a General in the clubhouse that will guide a team.
If Granderson’s value was based on what he did as an all-star he wouldn’t have been available or acquired on the cheap. He is, without question, one of the greatest mentors a team could have. And he still has a bat that plays off any bench in the majors.
Absolutly. Sports heros die young. We have a tough time letting go. Reality is solid,(mostly). And that year with Detroit! Man! So we must let him be what he is not was! Dang!
It might be a slow moving market,but 38yr old platoon players weren’t ever really hot commodities
the grandy man can…the grandy man can
The Yankees got his best seasons and thankfully let him go at the right time. He is a shell of what he used to be
On a team that is not even a shell of what it used to be.
He had pretty much the same output for the Mets as he did with the Yankees though….
Yep his 2015 season was easily one of his best.
“The Yankees got his best seasons and thankfully let him go at the right time. He is a shell of what he used to be.”
Dude, the man is 38 years old.
His sharp decline started right after he left the Bronx
Except it didn’t. What stats are you looking at?
The Tigers got his best seasons as he could still run and play D and hit for average at that point. In NY he became a one dimensional short porch lofter..
Exactly. I’m a Yankees fan and remember that he just got to pull happy. Hitting 30+ homer’s was great, but that .230 average and high strikeout total was what had me wanting to ditch him. He had a good couple years in the Bronx, but those other two years.
So sorry that it has come to signing with The Marlins Grandy
Must be strange getting signed by the guy with whom you won a WS
Grandy man wasn’t with us in 09, he was aquired in 2010
So, when did you join the team?
Well he’s probably about the biggest lock to make an MLB roster among minor league signings. Coming off a 115 OPS+ season and the Marlins only have Brinson penciled in among outfielders.
This is a great move for a team like the Marlins and for Grandy. He is a team leader who should make the opening day roster and get enough playing time.
great move and Marlins dont belong in the same sentence.
Don’t be a hater. This is the first time we’ve had an owner that genuinely cares about long term winning.
You’re clearly a Ryan Braun burner account, so obvious with a name like that, you should try using your time more wisely now that you can’t cheat to be good.
But also you make a good point
Marlins could use a good clubhouse presence while they get assaulted this year. Grandy could be a good fit for what they need right now.
Appears that Jeter got into something he couldn’t afford. Marlins appear to be the K-Mart of the majors.
I’m so HAPPY!!
Pl play until you Ichiro’s age, Grandy. Excellent role-model
His name is Granderson
His name is Curtis.
Curtis Granderson, Jr. if you want to get specific.
You pulled same cra.p with mikeyank55. “Cashman”… “Cash” (?)
His name is Grandy Man. or Grandy.
He played for Yanks first, and also had a successful stint there, much like Detroit.
Had Grandy not gotten hit by pitch forearm (twice!) on 2 separate occasions, his season wouldnt have ended prematurely and he wouldve been out of the Coupons’ price range.
Look at you trying to knock the Mets on comment that has zero to do with them. You Stankee fans are all the same. Easy to dislike.
The cute nicknames are just silly coming from an adult. It’s all too much like Mac’s Love Letter to Chase Utley from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
John Sterling gave Granderson that nickname, so it’s really not like the Chase Utley thing at all
It was love hate for me with Grandy as a Mets fan. Struck out a lot, but also had a lot of big hits too.
I hope he makes the big league roster eventually. 2nd best smile in the game behind Brandon Nimmo!
If they’re trying to reassemble the 2016 Mets they should go full on with it. Get Lucas Duda and Eric Young Jr too!
I don’t think EY was on the Mets in 2016, but I approve of the joke anyway
Is Sid Finch still pitching? Marlins can use Sid Finch. I don’t care how old he is. Heck, how about some Jesse Orozco. I’m sure he can still get some lefties out.
I actually retired shortly after George Plimpton’s passing…
Sid Finch is one of the best characters ever. Realmuto would really insist on a trade if he had to catch Finch’s throws
Class guy. Nothing but respect for him as a person. His playing days are drawing to an end, though.
I wonder if he’d retire if he doesn’t make the team out of spring training.
I doubt it. Apparently no contending team had any interest, which is too bad; guy’s been a class act wherever he went.
But the last time I looked in my checkbook, 1.75M was a lot of money. And there’s a possibility that if he produces, he can get flipped, and go play some games that mean something.
If he doesn’t make the team out of spring training, he doesn’t get that $1.75 million though
True. But I think Jeter realizes that Anderson’s offensive profile fits better at 3B, where he becomes a Matt Duffy kind of guy (not a bad piece). I can easily see Grandy on the 25-man. And he’s not going to build any trade capital in New Orleans.
Veteran presents for all.
Not a bad assembly of players to surround the young guys.
CF Brinson
1B Neil Walker
C Realmuto
RF Anderson
2B Castro
LF Granderson
3B Prado
SS Rojas
Bench: Dean, Holaday, Cooper, Riddle
Seems like a better lineup then last year as long as everyone stays healthy. Although JTR trade could’ve change everything.
That has got to be one of the 3 or 4 worst starting lineups in the game. With Realmuto.
Hard to argue with you.. although, I never mentioned that it is one of the better lineups in the league…
For sure, sorry, should have worded it better – didn’t mean to make it sound like I was disagreeing with ya! Cheers
Peter O’Brien doesn’t make the roster now? I thought people were saying he was the first baseman of the future? Lol
Honestly, though one of O’Brien, Cooper, or Dean is going to be redundant.
Cooper and O’Brien are interchangeable. Marlins are higher on Cooper.
it’s very much likely O’Brien’s 2018 numbers were a fluke.
Peter Obrien is a low avg hitting, SO machine, who’s streaky with his main tool, which is obviously power. How any one can think that guys got a future in majors at this point, is beyond me?
If this were 2008, I’d say nice sign
Anyone think he has a HOF case? more than 300 homers and 150 stolen bases is a start
Great player, but no. If Larry Walker can’t get in, Grandy might not make it past the first ballot. Looking forward to seeing what he can accomplish in his post-playing career, though.
He is a one and done
Nah. He will slip into obscurity, except for a generation that remembers him. Dug that Detroit year with 20 of every thing!
Class act and a great mentor on a young team.
I’m hoping he gets to 2,000 hits. It might be a long shot at this point though. Guess we’ll see.
Marlins: This is what we’re offering
Granderson’s agent: But the Blue Jays gave me $5-mil last season
Marlins: AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA……
If Granderson has to settle for a minor league deal then it’s tough to argue Adam Jones deserves one
I feel like Adam Jones might retire. Judging by his Instagram, he doesn’t seem to care about baseball anymore.
Get the feeling he will go international to keep playing. Marlins about as low as it gets for a vet
Cubs. Should have been the Cubs inking this deal. I know the cash spigot has been slowed to a trickle on the north side, but they could have afforded Granderson. He has the experience and makeup they needed to complete the outfield corps in Wrigley.
Good signing for the Marlins. I would have liked to see Granderson go an AL club where he could DH every so often though. Guy still has something to offer at the plate — has a little pop and is solid at drawing walks.
As a Marlins fan, I love this signing. Place him platooning in LF, get his veteran leadership, protects a kid like Anderson (or Brinson), and push or keep an OF spot warm for the OF prospects that are almost ready to come up. And if he gives any production that is tradable, then we got another warm body prospect coming our way in a deal as we can ship him out as we move one of the prospects up. So what if Grandy can’t move or catch anything. I doubt it’ll change much of our 95+ losses this year. And if anything, it helps us getting closer to the higher pick..
Keep adding vets.
Oh yea, and get this Realmuto trade over with already. Tired of Mike Hill stalling to make it look like he ended up getting the best he could’ve got.
It’s looking very likely that Hill will grossly f*** up the Realmuto trade. Especially if India/Barnhart is all they get.
As he usually does more often than not.
Agreed. This whole Realmuto thing looks more and more everyday like it has been mishandled. Anything short of a major return, if it nets essentially what could have been acquired months ago, then this was mishandled because moving Realmuto sooner could’ve allowed the Marlins more time to look at the rest of the roster and handle needs.
Somehow it’s starting to feel like Hill knows this may be the deal that makes or breaks his future with the Marlins, so the master of self-preservation is dragging this along so he can pretend that he netted the best he could’ve gotten, along with being able to justify not making other roster moves because everything was focused on the Realmuto saga.
I think Jeter and Co. are starting to understand why everyone in South Florida from Marlins fans to beat writers to the many other parts of the South Florida sports community have no clue how Hill kept his job through the ownership change. People can bash Jeter and Co. for many moves and decisions that are debatable at best, but the one thing that can’t be justified or understood was keeping Hill.
Jeter said in the past that Hill needs to show that he can do his job. Well, Hill’s been given the opportunity by the current ownership, and it’s clear that he can’t cut it, and was a bigger part of the previous regime’s ineptitude than Jeter and Co. realized. If Hill maintained his job by throwing everyone in the previous regime under the bus, including Dawson, Perez, Conine, and McKeon, I think it’s safe to see where another major front office problem was when he’s the main remaining piece.
So what was the offer that was turned down that you thought was enough to accept?
It isn’t so much any specific offer, but it is the likelihood that when Realmuto is traded, it won’t be much more, if more, than what could’ve been had a long time ago. That is where the problem lies. Hill has overplayed his hand. With the delays, he’ll once again be exposed as incompetent when the return he eventually takes is in line with the offers he has refused so far.
This whole thing is being mishandled.
Are you serious, SFG couldn’t afford Granderson? He probably doesn’t want to play there
When it comes to minor league deals, it’s usually a matter of where the player would prefer to go as opposed to what anyone can afford
When I was young, my dad always used to root a little more or the older guys who were able to hang around and I never knew why. Now that I am in my mid 30s I understand. Go get em, Grandy Man!
kind of a big splash by the jeter/marlins i’d fully expect them to deploy him 162 games
Was always a fan of Granderson on and off the field, even though he played for a team I dont like for a while. Marlins Park actually has a slightly shorter than expected RF porch, that he could take advantage of. That being said, I would prefer the Marlins take longer looks at the several OFers they have, but I’m fine with it, as it isnt really a big deal
Marlins love those ex-Yankees, wonder why?
This guy is a class act and can still play ahead of a few OF’s in the Majors now.
Would have been nice to see his smile back in Detroit, if just to provide a little nostalgia for the fans. Could have moved between LF and DH and provided some pop off the bench. Oh, well.
Best of luck In 2019 Grandy, except for when you play the Tigers.
Miami Marlins “where you go play when your career is dead, and you settle for last place”