Reese Kaplan -- Can the Mets Catch a Break?

It’s safe to say that the Mets’ biggest positional problem for a long time has been catcher.  Of course, even adding Johnny Bench in his prime wouldn’t necessarily propel the team into the playoff picture due to other needs and the overall lack of direction from the owners and the front office. 

There are a few interesting names on the free agent front this coming year, including Yasmani Grandal of the Dodgers who is currently hitting .233 with 22 HRs and 63 RBIs.  However, you want Grandal more for his defense which, with the staff the Mets have, should be a much higher priority than it has been.  He’s going to be turning 30 next year and is currently earning $7.9 million.  Signing him requires no chips, just money. 

Wilson Ramos was a gamble coming off some major injury which is why Washington let him walk away after a season in which the previously light-hitting catcher turned it up several notches and finished the year with 22 HRs, 80 RBIs and batted .307.  He was slow working his way back in 2017 from injury but this year between Tampa and Philly he’s hitting .310 with 15 HRs and 64 RBIs in just 345 ABs.  I guess he was a late bloomer.  Defensively he’s not quite in Grandal’s league but he’s still better than the throwing challenged duo of Kevin Plawecki and Travis “Mr. Glass” d’Arnaud.  He’s a year older and will be 31 in the 2019 season.  He’s also a free agent.  He went from a $4 million payday in 2017 due to his injury to a $10.5 million salary this year. 

After that the pickings get mightly slim, but I’d throw an interesting name in there to consider.  Right now the Phillies are playing Jorge Alfaro behind Ramos due to his bat being a work in progress, but he has a Howitzer of an arm.  His offense is certainly not bad -- .269/14/47 for his career over 449 ABs.  Prying him loose from the Phillies would be extremely difficult unless they decide to hang onto Wilson Ramos. 

There are two youngish catchers that are solid over several years and might be worthy trade targets.  Kansas City’s Salvador Perez and Miami’s J.T. Realmuto are the kind of franchise-shifting catchers worth opening the player vault to obtain. 

Perez is still just 28 years old, has made six straight All Star games and is a lock to hit 20+ HRs per year while handling the pitching staff with aplomb.  This year his average is down at .233, but he’d still take a mega offer to even get the Royals to take the call.  He’s got three more years on his deal for an average of $13.2 million per year before he becomes a FA in 2022. 

J.T. Realmuto is much more well known to Mets fans as they see him many times per year when they play the Marlins.  All he’s done in his career is average .282 with 18 HRs and 74 RBIs per season, but he’s improving each year.  At age 27 he’s only earning $2.9 million now and is under financial control for two more years before hitting the free agency period. 

I’ll throw one more name in there to consider, Francisco Mejia.  He got moved mid-year shockingly from the Indians to the Padres for Brad Hand.  (See how trades SHOULD be done?)  Mejia has a cannon for an arm and has hit .293 for his minor league career but produces little power.  Twice he’s hit 14 HRs but at 5’10” and 185 he’s not a prototypical slugger.  What he does do is make contact, does not strike out and has even managed to pilfer 18 bases.  Since he’s been moved once already, the uber-prospect might be obtainable.

Now here’s where I’m going to lose many of you.  When the subject came up about trading Jacob deGrom or Zack Wheeler or Noah Syndergaard for top prospects, everyone was up in arms about giving away known quality for unknown potential. 

Now the shoe is on the other foot and if you want to make a trade to obtain any of the non-free agent catchers, perhaps the name you would dangle is Peter Alonso.  I know, I know…I cn already hear the screeching and howling out here in El Paso.  “How could you possibly move a guy coming off a 36 HRs, 119 RBI season between AAA and AA?” 

Do you remember a year before when Dom Smith was the next sure thing, coming off a .330 batting average with some home run power?  How’d that work out for ya?  That’s the thing about prospects – you never know what you’re going to get.  Some guys make barely a ripple on the prospect sheets like Jeff McNeil and T.J. Rivera while others come with great fanfare like Gavin Cecchini and don’t progress as expected.

So with that in mind, would you consider moving Pete Alonso, striking while the iron is scorching hot, if it meant bringing back a J.T. Realmuto or a Salvador Perez?  Remember, the flavor of the week Alonso hit .260 in AAA and is the second coming of Aaron Judge.  Dom Smith hit .258 and most people would trade him for the proverbial bag of balls.  

In this case, the risk/reward equation gets transferred from the Mets to either the Marlins or the Royals.  I can see them coveting both for different reasons --- Perez because Dave Eiland knows him from his K.C. days, and Realmuto because they know him as the opposition.  Realmuto would be the better bet from a business standpoint as he would be less expensive.  I posed that question to Mack and although he is a big Grandal fan, he thought that would be an equitable deal for Realmuto.

Of course, you could simply look to acquire one of the free agents for money alone and keep Pete Alonso until you deem him ready to take over at 1B.  Since the Mets don’t currently have a plan, what would you do?