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The New York Mets sit atop the National League East with an 11-7 record — best of any NL team not in the West division — but throughout the early stages of the season, the Amazin’s have dealt with an ongoing issue in center field.
Tyrone Taylor, a 31-year-old former Milwaukee Brewer, and 29-year-old Tampa Bay Rays refugee Jose Siri have split duties there, and have collected a mere eight hits in 69 plate appearances between them. Seven of those belong to Taylor, though Siri has taken four walks.
On Thursday, the Mets centerfield crisis took another discouraging turn when Siri was placed on the 10-day injured list with a fracture to his left tibia, a bone in the leg better known as the shin.
Siri suffered the fracture fouling a ball off his leg and will be “out for a while,” according to Mets manager Carlos Mendoza.
The injury would seem to hand the full-time job to Taylor, but also offers an opportunity for the Mets to take a more decisive measure.
With their top prospect Roman Anthony seemingly with nothing left to prove at the Triple-A level, the Boston Red Sox, already stacked with outfielders, will soon need to make room for another one.
The Mets need a centerfielder, and the Red Sox have one in 24-year-old Curaçao native Ceddanne Rafaela, who has already proven himself one of the top defensive players in MLB at the crucial position.
The third-year player posted a defensive runs saved number of 12 in centerfield last season, tying him for third in MLB among all center fielders with at least 600 innings at the position, according to Fangraphs. Jarren Duran, last year’s All-Star Game MVP, led all centerfielders with 17.
Rafaela also becomes an attractive trade candidate for any other team because he has already signed an eight-year, $50 million contract extension that keeps him under team control through the 2031 season.
With Duran shifted from center to left field to start the season — but easily able to shift back into center — and Anthony on the way, Rafaela appears expendable from the Red Sox perspective. The question for the Mets may only be what price in prospects they believe the elite defender is worth.
More MLB: Mets Trade Pitch Brings in $9.25 Million Outfielder to Fix Centerfield Disaster
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