Just when most of us were all warm and fuzzy after the Dodgers 8-5 win over the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park on Friday night and decided to check Twitter one last time before hitting the sack, Twitter exploded. We’re talking a magnitude 8.0 explosion here.

At precisely 9:20 pm PT, the Dodgers PR Department sent out the following press release to members of the media, including ThinkBlueLA:

DODGERS ACQUIRE CURTIS GRANDERSON FROM METS

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers today acquired outfielder Curtis Granderson and cash considerations from the New York Mets in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations.

Granderson, 36, has a .254 career batting average with 312 home runs and 853 RBI in 1,760 games in 14 Major League seasons with the Tigers (2004-09), Yankees (2010-13) and Mets (2014-17). The three-time All-Star (2009, ’11, ’12) and 2011 Silver Slugger also won the 2016 Roberto Clemente Award for his community work. Defensively, Granderson has appeared 1,246 games in center field, 445 games in right field and 59 games in left field during the course of his career. He’s also played in 51 postseason games, tied for the 14th most among active players.

Granderson has posted a .276/.399/.603 slash-line in his last 71 games since May 21, going 55-for-199 with 40 runs, 13 doubles, two triples, 16 homers and 38 RBI in that span. Overall, he’s batting .228 with 19 home runs and 52 RBI in 111 games with the Mets, including a .282 mark with runners in scoring position.

To make room on the 40-man roster, Los Angeles designated right-hander Dylan Floro for assignment. Floro, 26, was claimed from the Cubs on Aug. 4 and appeared in three games with Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Like I said, a magnitude 8.0 explosion.

Within minutes – seconds, actually – rumors and speculation were running rampant on social media and the name Curtis Granderson was soon trending. Cellphones began buzzing, chirping and ringing with one common question being asked … Who goes?

Having spent nearly all of his 14 major league seasons as a center fielder with the Detroit Tigers (six years), New York Yankees (four years) and New York Mets (four years), and with a career slash-line of .254 / .340 / .474 / for an OPS of .814, the 36-year-old Blue Island, Illinois native and three-time All-Star figures to immediately fill in for struggling 25-year-old Dodgers center fielder Joc Pederson, who has a four-year MLB career slash-line of .222 / .345 / .437 for an OPS of .782, but more importantly, is currently mired in an absolutely horrendous 2-for-41 (.048) slump; this with exactly 42 games remaining in the 2017 regular season. As such, there is every reason to believe that the Palo Alto, California native will be optioned back to Triple-A Oklahoma City – not as punishment, but hopefully to get him back on track under the tutelage of his favorite hitting instructor Shawn Wooten, the OKC Dodgers hitting coach.

Although it is quite apparent that Granderson is on the downhill side of his illustrious 14-year MLB career, he has slugged 19 home runs and driven in 52 runs thus far this season with the NL East fourth-place Mets. In contrast, Pederson has 11 home runs and 32 RBIs thus far this season. Additionally, during the recently-concluded series between the Dodgers and Mets at Citi Field, Granderson slugged a monster 420-foot home run – the third of three hit by the Mets in the bottom of the first inning off of Dodgers left-hander Rich Hill to give the Mets an early (and brief) 3-0 lead over his new teammates in the eventual 7-4 Dodgers win.

Granderson hit the third of three home runs in the first inning off of Dodgers left-hander Rich Hill during the Dodgers recent three-game series against the Mets at Citi Field earlier this month. Hopefully he will now be hitting them for the Dodgers instead of against them. (Photo courtesy of metsmerizedonline.com)

But perhaps of greater concern for Dodger fans is what will happen with utility outfielder / infielder Chris Taylor with Granderson now on the Dodgers 25-man roster? If it is indeed Pederson who gets optioned back to OKC and it is indeed Granderson who replaces him, the Dodgers absolutely must keep rookie phenom Cody Bellinger in left field now that Adrian Gonzalez has returned from the disabled list. With Granderson taking over for Pederson in center field and Yasiel Puig permanently entrenched in right field, this leaves the smoking hot Taylor without a position to play. And while this won’t be a factor for the next two interleague games against Detroit, it most certainly will when the Dodgers begin a four-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday. All Taylor did on Friday night was go 4-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs while upping his season average to .310, second best on the team to Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner’s MLB-leading .345 and tied with reigned 2016 NL Rookie of the Year Corey Seager. In other words, Taylor absolutely must be in the Dodgers lineup every day – period.

Leaving all of this to the Dodgers decision-makers who get paid handsomely for making such decisions, the addition of Curtis Granderson’s powerful left-handed bat to an already insanely powerful Dodgers lineup can only be seen as a very good thing by Dodger fans. Such a move could be the difference between making it into and winning the World Series or not.

Because, as we all know, there is no second place in the World Series.