The Boston Red Sox were intrigued by the thought of having now New York Mets outfielder, Curtis Granderson patrolling centerfield at Fenway Park next season. So much so that they contacted the former Yankee shortly after the club had won the World Series, which surprised Granderson according to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com.
In the end, the asking price that Granderson laid out proved to be too high for Ben Cherington at 4-years, $60 million. Granderson admitted that the two sides had talked a couple different times this off-season, shortly after the World Series and then again when Jacoby Ellsbury flew to the dark side.
The 32-year old would have been a nice fit for the Red Sox at centre who could have left Shane Victorino on the right side of the outfield. His age is within reason when looking at a 4-year deal and his annual salary of $15 million can also be considered to be accommodating for the Red Sox. Cherington would have had to dump some salary to make room for Granderson if they had pursued him and with a starting pitcher likely to be moved before Spring Training, it will likely happen anyway.
Interestingly enough, Granderson did make the comment that the Red Sox “had some other moves they wanted to go ahead and take care of first.” Of course this should be taken at face value given it’s coming from the free-agent and in fact the Sox had other priorities they wanted to shore up first.
But did they miss out on Curtis Granderson? It’s hard to say yes when he only signed with the Mets last week and after Boston had learnt about Ellsbury flocking to New York.
It was believed that the fourth year is what Granderson was after and while it’s pure speculation, it wouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that Cherington refrained from going that long.
The Sox GM did mention that they contact a plethora of free-agents during the off-season and they use it to gain an understanding of where the market is. In this case, it sounds like there was genuine interest with Granderson but in the end the asking price may have been too high.
A missed opportunity or a wise decision to hold back on bringing the Grandy Man to Boston? His batting average over the last two years doesn’t make him overly appealing but his power from the left side is just dead sexy. Is he worth $15 million a year? Some will say yes, others will disagree and now we’ll need to settle on the debate that will surely rage on.
Did the Red Sox miss out on Curtis Granderson? You be the judge and take part in our daily poll.