Whether the Mets trade him or not, Curtis Granderson has ‘made peace’ with possible retirement

The Mets are officially soliciting offers for both Curtis Granderson and Jay Bruce, although current reports say they would rather trade Granderson right now and extend a qualifying offer to Bruce in the offseason.

Whatever happens once the Mets start getting rid of various pieces for the best return possible, Granderson has already given thought to the upcoming end of his time with New York and possible end of his career.

In a conversation with the New York Post, the veteran was open about where he sees his career going after this, should it continue at all:

“I’ve made my peace with it. I’m going to enjoy this season. If an opportunity presents itself for me to play, that’s great. If not, I’ve had a great run and I enjoyed it.

“I’m 36 years old. I never thought I’d be playing this long. I thought I was only going to play two years and get released, and they kept letting me come back for 12 [full] seasons. We’ll see what happens, but there are other things I know I want to do.”

The 36-year old is hitting .228 for the Mets this year, where he’s in the last year of a four-year, $60 million contract, but he has a batting average of only .111 in July with nine strikeouts to go along with that dismal number.

While it wouldn’t be impossible for Granderson to find another home after this year for another season or two, the likelihood of him getting to go where he’s comfortable and can play often is slim. He’s sporting a WAR of only 0.9, down from last year’s 2.5. While that number isn’t the end-all-be-all of his career, it’s an accurate signifier of the precipitous drop of his statistics pretty much across the board.

He knows it too, explaining “I know that an extensive, long-term deal isn’t coming” and that he wouldn’t go to the minor leagues or to a team where he doesn’t fit just to continue playing the game he loves.

As to what he wants to do once he’s done with his time in the majors, whether or not his career wraps up in the next few months, Granderson answered:

“I’ll stay as far away from coaching as possible. I want to put more time and energy into mentoring others, and into my own education. I’ll still be around and involved in baseball, but whenever I’m done playing, I’m done.”

Never say never, but it looks like baseball fans should enjoy Granderson’s last days in the big leagues because he won’t be patrolling a dugout with a coach’s windbreaker on any time soon.