According to reports, the Mets are apparently still on the fence about whether or not to break camp with catcher Kevin Plawecki on the major league roster or send him down to AAA Las Vegas. As a result, the team has been on the hunt for a replacement for Johnny Monell, with whom they are not enamored. They’re looking for a “4A” player, one better than Monell, to serve as Travis d’Arnaud‘s backup to start the season.
This is interesting because it was just last month that we were discussing how the Mets were going to use Plawecki as “more than a traditional backup.” The d’Arnaud/Plawecki combination has a real shot at being one of the most productive catching duos in baseball. So what happened to make the team at least consider having Plawecki start the season back in Vegas?
Well, it appears as though that “more than a backup” talk was simply that. It seems as though the team was as serious about it as they were about the two backstops getting any real time at first base this spring. The team’s decision makers can change their minds, of course, but was there something that triggered this change of heart?
Perhaps they never really intended on such a scenario occurring in the first place. If the team truly believes that Plawecki has starter potential, it does make sense to have him get more playing time in the minors. After all, he was pretty awful in 2015. His .219/.280/.296 slash and 60 wRC+ indicated that he was certainly not ready to step into the starter role that he was thrust into after d’Arnaud went down with multiple injuries.
They obviously shouldn’t stifle his development simply to have a good backup when he has the potential to be a good starter. The issue with this, of course, is that the team will need to figure out what to do with him at some point. They can’t simply stash him in Vegas until d’Arnaud (perhaps inevitably) goes down with an injury. Well, they could, but that wouldn’t be fair to him personally and that’s not really an efficient use of him as an asset.
If they’re comfortable with who d’Arnaud is, fragile he may be, they could craft a trade around Plawecki and probably get good value in return. Should d’Arnaud prove himself healthy this year, that just may happen near the deadline. Of course, he’ll need to show that he can handle himself at the major league level to build upon that value.
If we’re being honest, the actual reason that they want to start him in AAA is probably to delay the start of his arbitration years. They can achieve that by simply leaving him down there for the first few weeks. With expectations extremely high for this team, they may be simply looking to be financially prudent while not compromising their roster for a few weeks with a backup catcher with all of 35 games in the majors and a career wRC+ of 24.
Then again, we’re probably reading too much into this situation. It’s almost April and we’re talking about backup catchers. Let’s play some games that count already.
The big issue is that not only did he not hit in the majors last year, he didn’t hit in Las Vegas, either. In his brief time in Triple-A last year, he had a .608 OPS. Over parts of two seasons in the PCL, he has a .262/.318/.392 line.
It just floors me that there are people out there who believe that Herrera needs more seasoning but that we should dream up ways to get Plawecki into the lineup.
Herrera absolutely needs more minor league seasoning defensively. Tim Tueful recently outlined a bunch of defensive issues he needs to resolve.
The eyeball test also makes that abundantly clear to me since he got here he’s not defensively ready.
Exactly. I’m with you 100%. In fact I envision a scenario where come June or July, Dilson is hitting .360 in Vegas and Walker becomes easy trade bait.
The Mets have an incentive not to trade Walker. If they keep him the full season they can give him a Qualifying Offer and, like Daniel Murphy before him, hope he declines it. Then when he signs elsewhere the Mets would collect another supplemental 1st round pick. That’s a valuable commodity.
If David Wright’s back falters I imagine the team would consider moving Walker to 3B (he’s played there earlier in his career) and bring up Herrera to man 2B.
To the author – You seem confused.
That Collins doesn’t keep his word about who plays where and how much, is nothing new. It should come as no surprise the first base experiments haven’t happened. Flores has barely played there either when could have despite Cabrera’s injury.
Plawecki’s arbitration clock already started.
He has 73 games in the majors, not 35.
And if you’ve been watching, he has changed his stance and mechanics. Swinging better and better selective. Don’t expect another .219 season.
I don’t believe this has anything to do with clock. His began last season and wasn’t complete enough to gain a year of service time. Career amount is 0.147 They have control and affordability for years. This team’s catching situation will be resolved long before that.
They also have have catching prospects in the lower minors who will eventually be major league ready.
Per Alderson, the catcher the Mets are seeking is back up to AAA starter, not back up to D’Arnuad.
If you’re going to pick up major league catcher, you don’t wait till week before opening day leaving him little time to learn the staff.
Any catching addition to the major league team requires burning a 40-man roster spot.
Split the catching duties 4-3, which would keep both fresh and fair for both.
Thanks for reading and commenting. No confusion here. You’re right, it should not come as a shock to anyone that what Collins says and does are often two different things. However, the first base thing was not just Collins. It appeared likely, what with the show of d’Arnaud getting his first base glove and really the roster construction itself. At this point who is the backup first baseman? If not primarily Flores, then it looks like Campbell.
Yes his clock started, that would be the point of holding him in AAA for a few weeks in that context. It would delay getting him that first full year of service time, thereby delaying his first year of arbitration.
Also, Monell has played 35 games. That’s what the number was in reference to, but I can see how the sentence is structured that it might not have been entirely clear. Being financially prudent (send Plawecki down) and not hurting the roster (by keeping Monell and his awful 35 games) while looking for a new backup option.
As for whether they are looking for a major league backup, this quote from Adam Rubin: “Team officials are not enamored with Johnny Monell and have been looking for a “4A”-type catcher who is better than Monell to open the season as the major league backup.”
For what it’s worth, I’d personally just keep Plawecki on the opening day roster and send Monell down.
I’d start season with Plawecki in AAA. Then adjust accordingly. I think he’s a backup catcher. A Vance Wilson type. The idea is to do what is best for the NY Mets. To that end, I think all would benefit from some extra development. If he needs to step in, it would be good if he’s ready (relatively). However, if Monell is unsatisfactory, then KP should be the guy. To sum that up: If MLB can afford it, they should let KP develop in minors. If Mets need him as a competent backup, then that’s his role. There are rings to win.
I do believe that if Plawecki is going to see improvement, to the point of being a starter or simply a career backup, it’s as likely to happen at the major league level as it is in AAA at this point in his career, even knowing that catchers tend to take more time than other positions. I’d keep him up and send Monell down to Vegas.
I think Kevin Plawecki is going to be a better than average major league catcher. I also think he should be sent to AAA to start the season. The Mets have every Thursday off in April. They have “two true back to back night to day games where a backup catcher would start.” Catchers don’t usually pinch hit. d’Arnaud shouldn’t be rested needlessly so that Plawecki gets at bats. Let Plawecki get some much needed at bats in AAA and before you know it he will have hit himself back to the majors. It would also be a good idea to give him some starts at first base out of the New York spotlight. He might be able to get more RHB first base at bats in the future. There is also the valid business point of delaying his arbitration. d’Arnaud will be a free agent in 2020 but Plawecki won’t be one until 2022. Let Plawecki develope and maybe the option would become to trade an expensive d’Arnuad and keep Plawecki.
I believe he’s at least 90%-95% to the point that the next level of development can only happen at the mlb level…that’s an opinion based on watching him play. The demands on a young catcher are suck that the initial bat production is a very rough measure…although he certainly struggled.
The issue with Plawecki at AAA is to get his bat settled and raise his trade value. Stopping his clock is somewhat more minor—-he will spend meaningful time at the mlb level.
Plawecki needs to go to AAA and rake. His hitting is weak & everyone knows it.
Scouts, opposing teams, etc, etc. If he hits, he comes back. If Travis gets hurt, he comes back. If he hits, then he is also bait for a July move that springboards the team to more glory. If David Wright goes down, Flores is the 3b by default.
It won’t be Walker as some have mentioned. Walker will be with the team if he is an improvement over Murph. If not, he too will be gone at the trade deadline in his walk year, and Dilson Herrera will be up here sooner rather than later.
We should not be surprised if the second half of the year the infield is more like: Flores 3b, Cabrera SS, Herrera 2b, Duda 1b, Travis c, with lots of Matt Reynolds sprinkled in. The hope is that this is a good enough defensive infield that helps the Mets starters win the close ones, of which there will be sure to be many.