Writing a day or more ahead of east coast USA calendars it’s sometimes difficult to write things in a timely manner. Right now as I sit here starting to write it is Sunday morning on the other side of the world which corresponds to Saturday evening in New York. Many things could happen between now and the Monday morning scheduled posting time so I realize that some of what I describe could change between now and then.
What people are not noticing nor appreciating is that he went from a .209 season’s batting average back then to a career mark of .235. With power and average defense you could likely live with that batting average because catchers with rare exception are not middle-of-the-order hitters. This year, however, he’s up to .254 which is a roughly 40% improvement over his previous efforts. If the trade off from high power and low average to moderate power and higher average is real, then the team and the fans should be satisfied with that.
Some folks also seem to dismiss what he’s done without giving any credit to his young age of 24. Many rookies are just taking their first crack at the big leagues at this age and Alvarez has already had nearly 1200 ABs. The potential to become an even more effective hitter is most definitely there and the defensive aspects of his game should also continue to evolve.
If the Mets wanted to try to trade Torrens it would be a loss of quality but not as big a loss as Alvarez would be. A backup catcher, no matter how good he is, will not generate a top prospect in return. For minimal pay with an improving bat it would be wiser for Alvarez to become part of the corps of players that indeed comes back for 2027 and beyond. At ages 25 through 30 he could blossom.
9 comments:
Torrens and Alvarez have roughly the same # of career plate appearances. Alvarez has WAR in mid 4’s, Torrens in mid 2’s. Thats not bad. Keep both if possible. No in house replacements for either until 2028 or later. Suero has positives and flaws, and Parada has flaws and flaws. RORTVEDt not good enough. Shawn Ross and Hayden Senger? Ditto.
WITH Alverez , you get a LOT of passed balls.(He led the league last year, and is leading again this year).
Trade neither. For reason already stated.
As I've said repeatedly, there are a lot more pressing area to deal with than catching.
Kudos to Alvy's improved plate discipline
Least of their problems…
Polanco on the other hand…
The trade deadline is always dominated by trades of established veteran players on expiring contracts for prospects. There is logic for this type of trade, but it does not have to be the only type. Any trade that helps a ballclub is a good trade. With four catchers on the Mets' 40-man roster, there is clearly some planning behind the scenes that there will be less. Alvarez for a legitimate first baseman one-for-one would be a great trade, especially if that first baseman had a WAR around 4.
I would trade both of you got very good returns. Alvarez would definitely need a big lopsided return to be traded. In today’s last day of trade deadline the piranhas are biting in the catchers market.
Next year you have 2 better catchers available on the market. Here is what google said about each.
Ryan Jeffers provides superior raw power, isolation metrics, and defensive base metrics, while Tyler Stephenson offers a higher baseline batting average, superior durability, and elite modern skills like managing the automated ball-strike (ABS) challenge system.
If we can get either one of these or just go 2 defensive backstops that the pitchers feel comfortable with. Thats also a very important thing to remember, catchers are an extension of the pitchers in your system, do you ever hear our pitchers saying anything positive about pitching to Alvarez?
That assumes the Mets can get one of those catchers. Queens is on many players’ lists of places to avoid.
Polanco and Senga. Who could have imagined in January what those two guys have done this season. Are they baseball’s two worst of 2026?
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