On December 17, 2012, the Mets acquired Travis d’Arnaud as part of the R.A. Dickey trade. Dickey had just won the 2012 Cy Young award. His value as a 38 year knuckle ball pitcher would never be higher. Before Dickey was traded, I was wishing with all of my might with my eyes closed tightly, that the Mets would trade him. He wasn’t going to be a long term solution for the Mets pitching staff. We needed prospects. I was afraid at midnight, if he wasn’t traded, that he would turn into a pumpkin. I was not disappointed. Dickey didn’t turn into a pumpkin in Toronto, but he was sure throwing them in 2013, where he posted a 14-13 record with a 4.21 ERA.
d’Arnaud started his career in 2007 at the age of 18 with the Phillies. As a highly regarded prospect, he was traded to Toronto in a 10 player trade at the beginning of 2010. In 2011, d’Arnaud was named the AA Eastern League MVP and Baseball America named him as the best defensive catcher in the league.
d’Arnaud was a terrific prospect. But, we all know what his Achilles heel is. Injuries have taken a big toll on him over the last several years. The Mets have never been able to capitalize on d’Arnaud’s talent because of injuries. Like Giancarlo Stanton, the question becomes, what now.
Before the Mets even acquired d’Arnaud, he was an injury risk. He had suffered back problems and missed the last two months of the 2012 minor league season with a torn ligament in his knee. These types of injuries do not bode well for a catcher.
In 2012, d’Arnaud missed the final two months of the AAA with torn knee ligaments. In his first season with the Mets in 2013, d’Arnaud suffered a fractured foot. In 2014, he suffered a concussion and had surgery to remove a bone chip from his elbow. Last year, he broke his hand and suffered a strained elbow. Early this year, he had a shoulder sprain. We don’t have to go into the stats to know why d’Arnaud has not played well over the last 3 ½ years. Catcher is a demanding position. d’Arnaud has never been able to be healthy enough to live up to his potential. This year in close to 200 AB, he is hitting .251 with an on base percentage under .300. He will be 28 years old next year and may be running out of time.
The impact to the Mets while he has been on the DL, is that they have had to play with catchers Rene Rivera, Kevin Plawecki, Anthony Recker and John Buck.
I am a big fan of strong defensive catchers. In 1969, the Mets won the World Series with a light hitting catcher with great defensive skills in Jerry Grote. Ivan Rodriguez set the standard for defensive catching with 13 gold gloves. Yadier Molina has 8 gold gloves. Molina has been a stalwart on the Cardinals for over a decade.
With a young pitching staff of Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler, the Mets need a really good defensive catcher who can manage a young staff, just as Molina has done for the Cardinals over the past 11 years. In his career, he has thrown out 43 percent of baserunners attempting to steal. He is the active career leader. Over the last 4 years, d’Arnaud has thrown out 31 percent of baserunners attempting to steal.
What may be best for d’Arnaud would be to either take off a year to regain his health or play for an American League team where he could play another position or DH. But, that leaves us with the need for a catcher.
Wilson Ramos is a free agent at the end of this year. He is having a fine year with a .300 plus batting average and will end up with 20 plus home runs and 80 plus RBI’s. At 29, he is the youngest of the free agent catchers, but after this year, his price tag will be much higher. Jonathan Lucroy will also demand a large contract. Ramos or Lucroy would be a great addition to the Mets, but would be a risk. I would not go more than 3 years on each player. We could also make it simple. Trade d’Arnaud straight up for Brian McCann. The Yankees want to get rid of McCann and d’Arnaud could be a part time catcher or DH for the Yankees. Although Kevin Plawecki has not played well in the bigs, he has had a fine year in AAA in hitting over .300. Plawecki could still be the catcher of the future, but he needs more seasoning, so for now we need a good veteran backstop.
So because Travis d’Arnaud is often injured the Mets should cut ties with him?
How about no.
What about the fact that d’Arnaud is still cheap?
What about the fact that d’Arnaud has shown signs in the majors at multiple times of being useful?
Why are we going to spend lots of money on a position where we have a player (albeit one who is as fragile as porcelain) when we have a gaping vacancy at third base?
Want to bring in Wilson Ramos as a 2nd catcher/RH first baseman to split with Duda?
Sure, that could work.
Spending money for minimal gain is rarely something I sign on for.
Ah, I love debates about roster moves. Yes, lets bring in Wilson Ramos on a three year deal. d”Arnaud will be a good PT catcher/DH in the AL. No, he will not platoon with Duda at first because Duda’s contract is up and the Mets are not going to resign him. Jose Reyes has played very well since returning to the Mets, so he will play 3B. Honestly, I love David Wright, but it is time for him to hang up the cleats. As you said, d’Arnaud is as fragile as porcelain, so do you want to have to rely on him for all of 2017 ?
While the plan of replacing d’Arnaud isn’t as bad as your plan of trading for, the all-time great, Mallex Smith. It’s still not really fixing the issue with the 2017 Mets and has little to do with the 2016 Mets.
d’Arnaud is a better option, in my opinion, than Ramos or McCann and the catcher position isn’t the first priority to improve the 2017 Mets.
Before anything in the offseason can be determined we need to know for sure if Cespedes will or won’t be back. Until that point there is no reason to really ponder these deeper questions.
Focus on 2016 until the season is over.
A whole lot of rant without offering much of a solution….
If you think tda is injury prone… Ramos is probably even worse. 3 consecutive years with under 88 games played and last year was his career high of 128 games. But while he was healthy last year, he also hit worse than what TDA is doing this year.
And then you just casually mention McCann without saying why he’ll be better or what kind of prospects we will get in return for taking on that terrible contract. I suppose they can take back Granny to offset the 2017 salary but we’d still need a boatload of prospects to cover the 2018 salary.
Yes, why not McCann. If Cespedes leaves, who is going to drive in runs ? Jay Bruce ? Without Cespedes, we will be in a world of hurt. If Cespedes leaves, that is $ 25 million off the books. McCann’s veteran presence behind the plate would be a plus for the young pitching staff. I also like your thought process of including Granderson. It would be a relief to get rid of Granderson now.
“Yes, why not McCann.”
Because he’s making $17 million over the next 2 years with a vesting option for a 3rd year at $15 mil. TDA should cost at most $15-20 over the entire 3 years.
“If Cespedes leaves, who is going to drive in runs ? Jay Bruce ? Without Cespedes, we will be in a world of hurt. If Cespedes leaves, that is $ 25 million off the books.”
What does any of this have to do with McCann?
“McCann’s veteran presence behind the plate would be a plus for the young pitching staff”
And how would McCann be better than TDA in providing this “presence”? Also, the pitching staff is not young at all. Besides Noah, all the other starters will be 26+.
Like i said earlier, you’re just ranting with little substance.
TdA is M.I.A……what a difference a year makes.
In 2015 he was the third best major league catcher with a 130 wRC+.
In 2016 he is the 24th ranked MLB catcher at 74 wRC+.
It is very difficult to see him struggle, and I would agree that an upgrade would be nice, but I am not sure I would spend my free agent money that way.
Kevin Plawecki has also put up some good minor league numbers in 2016. I don’t think he needs any more seasoning in 2017. He will be 26 yoa next spring training and has 1485 PA’s in 5 years of the minors. In 2017 the Mets will find out if he is a major league catcher or AAAA player. Even in failure he would probably win the backup role. There aren’t many offensive major league catchers to choose from.
Travis has been extremely frustrating this season, never once going on any kind of productive streak. It feels like a lost year.
It does happen. Players do have bad seasons.
I’m not ready to give up on him just yet, nor do I think the money warrants that kind of decision. Fans get angry and say, “Let’s dump De Aza!” and so on. Teams should think long and hard before they dump anybody. When that player is young and works for peanuts, it’s almost unthinkable.
Lacroy was the move to make this deadline, helping the club for the stretch run — more than even Jay Bruce! — and also in 2017. That ship has sailed.
I like pairing Travis with a defense-first catcher, like Rivera, rather than KP, who doesn’t really excell in any facet of the game (he’s blandly okay in most respects).
I’m sticking with Travis d’Arnaud . . . in part because I don’t see any clear upgrades out there. He could also have a strong September. I wouldn’t count that out.
I agree about moving on from TDA. Lucroy was a missed opportunity. He made so much sense for this team in the short and long term. I’d for sure like to bring back Rivera and try to find another veteran we can stash in AAA while we give Plawecki a fair shot. TDA is trade bait.
A young pitching staff could use a veteran catcher. The Mets traded for Gary Carter in December of 84 and won the WS in 86. In 2000, Piazza was behind the plate. In 69 and 73 the Mets had veteran Jerry Grote behind the plate. Even at an old age, I wouldn’t mind having Yadier Molina behind the plate. The Mets need to shake the tree, because they if they don’t, and lose Cespedes, Duda and Walker, they may set a record for fewest runs scored. So, lets get a veteran catcher and maybe trade for a highly regarded catching prospect and let see Plawecki and a new prospect battle it out.
Grote, Carter, Piazza, Molina.
You probably named the Mets all-time greatest defensive catcher in Grote, and three HOFers (not sure about Molina, haven’t analyzed it).
Yeah, let’s get someone like them.
In the real world, the options are not as clear. It would be swell to have someone better than Travis d’Arnaud, all things considered (cost, offense, defense, age). But on the hierarchy of team needs, combined with the dearth of obtainable upgrades, I just don’t see this as a compelling issue.
I can’t imagine why you prefer Plawecki over d’Arnaud. What is it based on? Travis has at least experienced a high level of ML success as a hitter, as recently as 2015. Even now, his BA is .250. A disappointment, but still light years beyond Plawecki’s feeble production. Defensively, there’s no great distinction between them.
Jimmy
I dont prefer either one. We need a new catcher. Trust me, I watched what Grote did for the Mets in 69 and 73 – no hit but great defense.
d’Arnoud has been a huge disappointment. He has absolutely sucked as
as defensive catcher, so much that 2 of the Mets starters don’t want to pitch to him
Last year when not injured he hit. This year he stopped hitting.
Other then the fact he can’t throw, call a game, play solid defense, hit, or hit with power he’s a great player.
You build your defense around your catcher, Grote was one of the reasons the Met’s were able to win with great pitching, defense and minimal offense. The catcher is the only player with the defense in front of him and able to control itl.
I expected much more from him. He’s had several years to prove he belongs, and he has squandered that opportunity. Send him down and let him try and learn to play another position. Otherwise, he’ll become a backup catcher at best.
Bob
You think like I do. We need a really good catcher to handle the staff. That is why I said, even in old age, Molina would be a good fit. Most comments are focusing on the hitting. I am looking at D.