Is Cuban infielder Yulieski Gourriel the best option to replace New York Mets third baseman David Wright? Yoenis Cespedes sure thinks so.
Mets’ captain and third baseman David Wright opted to undergo surgery to repair a herniated disk in his neck. This comes a season after he only played 37 games due to spinal stenosis. This surgery requires a minimum of three months to recover, so likely 2016 is over for Wright.
The Mets’ have a few options to replace Wright but none steady. Wilmer Flores has been seeing most of the time and there has been talk of moving Neil Walker over and bringing up Dilson Herrera to play second base.
According to the New York Daily News, Yoenis Cespedes has another idea– Yulieski Gourriel.
“As a person, he is a great quality person. As a human being, he is an incredible teammate,” Cespedes said when asked about Gourriel. “He’s a five-tool player and can help any team he is with.”
Gourriel is the next big thing coming out of Cuba. He hopes to follow in the footsteps of players like Cespedes, Jose Abreu and Aroldis Chapman. It is no secret that Cuban-born baseball players have had success in America but what makes people think that Gourriel will adjust just as easily?
Gourriel is batting .335 in his career and has only batted under .300 twice in his career. He will not be a cheap signing but the Mets need more than a few week replacement at third base. Wright has not played a full season since 2012 but the captain still has four years left on his contract where he is owed $67 million over that time.
The Mets are win-now team and they need to make a move to show the fans that they will not just sit on their hands and wait for Wright to return.
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Gourriel is likely to sign with a Major League team and teaming up with Cespedes can be a selling point for him. It makes sense for the Mets to take a chance on the Cuban infielder.
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