According to Adam Rubin, Mets outfielder Michael Cuddyer has decided to retire despite having one year left on his contract.
Got confirmation: Michael Cuddyer retiring
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinESPN) December 12, 2015
Cuddyer was set to make $12.5 million in 2016, but will reportedly hang up his spikes for good. Earlier today, the Mets transaction page listed that he had indeed retired, but after various screenshots wound up circulating on Twitter, the page was quickly changed.
While the Mets have yet to comment, which only increased the speculation, both Rubin and Marc Carig have independently confirmed the news.
In 15 seasons in the Major Leagues, Cuddyer posted a career slash line of .277/.344/.461, along with a wOBA of .349, a wRC+ of 112, and cumulative fWAR of 15.9. It's unclear why he's decided to forego the final year of his contract with the Mets, but an educated guess would be that it has something to do with his nagging injuries. Over the last two seasons, Cuddyer has only played in 166 games.
The biggest takeaway from this news (assuming there isn't anything seriously wrong with Cuddyer, or another situation entirely), is that the Mets now have a extra money to play with this offseason. They unfortunately missed out on their number one priority, Ben Zobrist, but New York could now potentially make a run at one of the remaining free agent outfielders.
As of now, the Mets have Michael Conforto, Juan Lagares, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, and Curtis Granderson set for outfield duty, according to their depth chart. They were seemingly comfortable with that alignment going into 2016, but with extra money to spend, it's fair to wonder if they might pursue an option that wasn't realistic until now.