Alejandro De Aza hasn’t brought much to the Mets over the first two-plus months of the season, but his opportunities also have been scarce.
To that end, manager Terry Collins said he wants to give the veteran outfielder more regular playing time in an effort to get him going offensively.
De Aza started in right field on Wednesday, giving Curtis Granderson a break. De Aza, who went 0-for-3 with a run, is scheduled to play left field on Thursday in the first game of a four-game series at Milwaukee, replacing Michael Conforto in the lineup. And Collins said he intends to give De Aza a start over Yoenis Cespedes in center field at some point this weekend.
Collins remains opposed to moving Neil Walker to third base as part of an infield transformation that would allow Dilson Herrera to be promoted from Triple-A Las Vegas to play second base. The manager conceded the Mets may reach the point at which shifting Walker (who had two errors at second base that each led to a run on Wednesday) to third base makes the most sense.
“I would like to not mess up the middle infield if I can,” Collins said. “[Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera] have played so well together so far, but that is certainly an option that is on the plate, on the table. We have talked about it. [Walker] is willing to do it, but it’s going to be a process if that ever takes place where we have to give him some notice.
“He’s not going to walk into the ballpark tomorrow and go play third base. We have to keep all our options open, and if one of them is Dilson Herrera down the road some time, we have to look at our options at third base.”
Granderson’s blast in Game 1 of Wednesday’s doubleheader gave him at least one home run in each of the 30 major league ballparks.