I’m sure many of us are excited to see the Mets’ catcher of the future, Travis d’Arnaud, take the field this spring.

Sure, he likely won’t head north with the big club right away, but all reports indicate that he is the real deal.

I don’t know about you, but I am definitely seeking the reassurance that d’Arnaud has what it takes to be a Major League catcher. Luckily, I received that reassurance a few days ago.

I had a conversation with Anthony Iapoce, an Astoria native and the new special assistant to the general manager of the Chicago Cubs.

He spent the last few seasons as the roving minor league hitting coordinator for the Toronto Blue Jays, and that’s where he was able to provide expert analysis on d’Arnaud.

“Travis is a gamer and a great teammate,” Iapoce said. “He can handle the bat and knows how to play the game.”

These are certainly encouraging words from someone that has seen him play. Many of the reports we’ve all read on d’Arnaud were from the Mets’ beat reporters, who likely will be seeing him play live for the first time this spring.

Iapoce went on to say that the young catcher is a leader and a rare talent as an offensive-minded catcher. He said the Mets are very lucky, and fans will be excited to see this kid develop.

One concern that Iapoce mentioned, however, is that d’Arnaud has spent time on the disabled list in each of the past few seasons, with his major injury – a torn posterior cruciate ligament last summer – shutting him down for several months.

If d’Arnaud can stay healthy, he’s going to be fun to watch and will hopefully contribute to some competitive Mets’ teams in the near future.

Certainly, Iapoce’s words have me really excited to see the 23-year-old stud in action.

Sherman said that Martin is already used to playing in New York and that the Mets are “desperate to add power, and Martin’s 21 homers were eighth among catchers in the majors this season.”

You can look at Martin’s gritty attitude and intangibles and the fact that he’s a three-time All-Star, but in the end, we better not see Martin in orange and blue in 2013.

Even Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton on WFAN this morning thought this idea was ludicrous. Why on earth would the Mets want to spend upwards of $7 million per season on a deteriorating catcher?

Not deteriorating, you may think? Well, just look at the stats from his days with Dodgers. He was a legitimate offensive threat in Los Angeles, but he has a combined .224 batting average in his two years in the Bronx.

Since reaching his career-high batting average (.293) in 2007, he’s progressively decreased in hitting each successive year before hitting a career-low .211 this season.

You may also be saying that Martin has tremendous power for a catcher. Well, he’s been the beneficiary of the short left field porch at Yankee Stadium. He hit 13 of his 21 homers at home this season.

Martin’s lack of offensive production has been overshadowed in a Yankees’ lineup that features eight other All-Stars. He usually hits eighth or ninth, and any offense from him is considered a bonus rather than an expected contribution.

Martin would be a defensive upgrade at catcher for the Mets, but frankly, the Mets would be better off saving the money than worrying about defense.

In the Mets weak lineup, Martin would most likely be hitting sixth and would be expected to be a run producer, which is something he’s not.

The Mets would be wise to stick with what they have over adding Martin. Kelly Shoppach’s career numbers are slightly below Martin’s, since Shoppach has been primarily a backup. However, Shoppach’s 162-game home run average (20) is higher than Martin’s (16).

While this move definitely doesn’t make sense for the Mets, letting Martin walk would make even less sense for the Yankees. With Jesus Montero in Seattle and prospect Austin Romine playing in just 31 games this season, there’s really no other potential starting catcher than Martin in the Yankees’ system.

But knowing the Yankees, they’ll probably let Martin walk then pull off a blockbuster deal for Buster Posey (obviously unlikely, but you get the point).

A Shoppach/Josh Thole platoon may not be the answer, but it’s a safer bet then gambling on Martin.

The Mets were gauging whether or not Shoppach would fit in with the team philosophy, and hopefully bring a little more thump to the lineup. Shoppach was with the Mets for a little over a month, and already has more home runs (3) than Thole did all season (1). Shoppach has also had a few clutch hits for the Mets, but I think everyone would agree that his offensive production was not much better than what the Mets were already getting from the catcher position in 2012.

The most amount of games Shoppach has ever started in a season was back in 2008, when he started 94 for Cleveland. That was his most productive offensive season, batting .261, and hitting 21 home runs. He also has thrown out 29% of base stealers over his 8 year major league career, which is slightly better than Thole’s 27%.

When looking at Shoppach’s 2008 stats, the offensive potential is there. Plug him into the eight-hole in the lineup, and turn him loose. Maybe we get a .250 average and 20-25 home runs out of him if he starts 100 games in 2013. For that reason, a voice says and says lock him up for 2013. But there is another little voice whispering not so fast my friend.

Shoppach’s 2008 season is awfully similar to Scott Hairston’s 2012 campaign. Eerily similar…their offensive numbers are practically identical. On the surface, the numbers say one thing, but the things you see occurring in games keep reminding you why they were never really everyday players. The numbers are promising, but you just don’t feel confident having them as everyday players.

Regardless of how you feel about Shoppach, I think he has shown enough to bring him back for 2013. I don’t know, there just seems to be something about him that makes it easy to cheer for him. Maybe it’s because he seems like a throwback, blue-collar catcher to me. He has the full grown beard, and just fits the mold. I like that he provides a heck of a lot more pop than Thole as well. Like I said earlier, stick him in the eight-hole and let him swing for the fences.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, the Mets have so many question marks facing them this off-season you would think the Riddler was the general manager. There are outfield questions…bullpen questions…and catcher questions. Robin might be confused when posed with all these questions, but Batman would solve the catcher riddle by re-signing Shoppach.

The Mets are looking at signing Ronny Paulino to back-up Josh Thole which would form the catching tandem for the 2011 season.

I know this post might be a little off topic with all the Hot Stove murmurings going on, but I felt that it would be a good time in lieu of the Mets possibly signing a catcher to remember the career of Mike Piazza.

Piazza burst onto to the scene with Los Angeles Dodgers and won the NL Rookie of the Year award in 1993. He put up big numbers for the Dodgers through five full seasons.

Then on May 22, 1998, the improbable yet remarkable happened for Met fans. The Mets sent Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnall and Geoff Goetz to the Florida Marlins in exchange for Piazza, who had been traded to the Marlins only a week earlier.

Todd Hundley had gone down with an injury so the Mets desperately needed a catcher. Piazza arrived with a bang and immediately became a fan favorite.

The Mets locked him up to a seven-year, $91 million contract in 1999, which was a huge contract at the time.

In eight years with the Mets, Piazza hit .296 and clubbed 220 home runs, second on the all-time Mets list to Darryl Strawberry. He was a hero to so many Mets fans, young and old.

He wasn’t exactly a defensive wizard, especially throwing out runners, but he more than made up for that with his potent bat.

Sadly, time caught up with Piazza. His body could no longer take the beating of a catcher, so the Mets experimented with him at first base. It didn’t go so well, and after one more year behind the dish, the Mets let him walk.

He actually put up decent numbers at age 37 in his one season for the Padres. He retired as the all-time home run leader among catchers, a feat he accomplished with the Mets. His legacy will never be forgotten.

So that leads us to the question: How have the Mets went about filling Piazza’s enormous shoes?

They acquired Paul LoDuca from the Marlins before the 2006 season, and he turned in an All-Star caliber season, hitting .318. He never had the power of Piazza, but he held his own at the plate and brought much needed fire to the team. But even LoDuca began his decline in 2007, signaling the end of his Mets tenure.

The Mets saw Brian Schneider as the answer at catcher and traded Lastings Milledge to acquire him and Ryan Church. Schneider was a good defensive catcher but was a very weak hitter.

Granted, the Mets constructed their offense so that they didn’t need Schneider to produce, but after seeing Piazza for so many year, we fans grew accustomed to seeing production out of the catching position.

Ramon Castro was a good backup to Piazza and a good backup to Schneider. Omir Santos chipped in nicely in 2009, but the Mets never saw him as more of an insurance plan.

They brought in Rod Barajas and Henry Blanco for last season, and in the beginning, those deals looked great. Both guys got some big hits in big spots.

But Blanco began wearing down and Barajas hit a cold spell, forcing the Mets to promote Josh Thole. Thole is a solid contact hitter and could develop some pop.

He and Paulino would form a serviceable tandem for 2011, if they are both healthy. Paulino always seemed to get a big hit against the Mets when he played for the Marlins so hopefully he would continue that, just against the other teams.

Piazza has been sorely missed for the past few years, but if the other position players can produce, the production of Thole/Paulino would fly under the radar.

Let’s face it, every baseball fan loves opening day, not just because it’s a prelude to summer, but because every team is on a level playing field in the standings and anything can happen.  Well, anything can happen within reason. As Mets fans, we’ve seen bad baseball over the years.  Remember when the team was so bad that they needed to fabricate a slogan, “The Magic is Back?”  It was laughable, but at one point that team (I think it was in 1980?) reeled off like 10 or 12 wins in a row, and the players started to believe that slogan even though they were woefully over-matched on the field.

The 2010 team is very much like the 2009 team, but hopefully without all the injuries.  Still, there are a few holes—most of the starting rotation, parts of the bullpen, second base, catcher and first base are question marks.  But really, if someone offered you Jason Bay, Jose Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Johan Santana and K-Rod to start a team, you’d do that in a heartbeat, right?  We have to hope everyone stays healthy and plays to their potential–big ifs, but there could be big payoffs too.

Stranger things have surely happened, and I’m just glad spring is here and we’re talking real baseball again.  Now let’s do our best to strike some fear in the Phillies and the rest of the division.

With Brian Schneider becoming a free agent next year we now need a catcher for the 2010 season.  There are 26 catchers that are facing the prospect of free agency, 7 of which have team options and/or buyouts for their contracts.  There are some good catchers that will be available next year but the Mets find themselves in a somewhat of a dilemma when it comes to acquiring a catcher this off-season, that dilemma is named Josh Thole.

Thole is 22 years old, he had his cup of coffee this year in the majors and he impressed me with his offense at the plate finishing with a .321 batting average in 53 plate appearances.  He had a bit of 1-19 slump but he still showed promise in his major league debut.  Even though he was slumping Thole didn’t look foolish at the plate like outfielder Fernando Martinez.  Thole’s defense left a bit to be desired as he allowed 3 passed balls in only 17 games.  On the plus side he did throw out 2 base runners out of 6 attempted steals on him.  He also caught two really good games at the end of the season.  Having said this Thole does not belong on the team yet.  He needs to start 2010 in AAA Buffalo and work on his defense.  He needs to also learn about the intangibles of being catcher, such as slowing down the pace of a game or going out to talk to a pitcher who is struggling.  That is not a knock on Thole; those instincts will come in time.  It’s important to remember that he was not originally a catcher; the Mets converted him to catcher in the minors.  I believe that in 2011 Thole will be on this team as our starting catcher and there lies the dilemma: signing a veteran catcher to a 1 year deal and not completely overpay for said catcher for the one year he’ll be on the team.

There is one catcher that I would want and that catcher is Bengie Molina, who I think a lot of Met fans including myself would not mind seeing behind the dish for us in 2010.  Molina in his eleven year career is a .276 hitter but more importantly he is one of the best catchers in baseball.  Some could argue that out of his family he might be the best at calling a game and working with a pitching staff.  If you take Santana out of the equation the Mets pitching staff is full of head cases with Mike Pelfrey, John Maine and Oliver Perez.  Plus Jon Niese could be in the rotation, Niese is a young pitcher and Bengie works really well with the younger pitchers.  He knows how to slow down a game if the pitcher is moving too fast and he’s also good at defense.  He’s a gamer; he only knows one way of playing: playing hard!  If there is one drawback it’s that he’s a Type A Free Agent, meaning that the Mets would lose a top draft pick as well as a supplemental draft pick.  Ultimately if I’m the General Manager and I’m looking for an experienced catcher who plays good defense and works well with a young pitching staff, Molina is my guy.

The one catcher that I don’t even want to hear about this off season is Jason Varitek.  I have nothing against him on a personal level, he seems like a good baseball guy, a good teammate but his career is coming to an end.  His offensive numbers keep going down year by year and he is 38 years old.  I also believe that he will not come cheap.  A team will over pay him for his name and his past success with the Boston Red Sox.  I believe that it may be time for Varitek to call it a career and I hope Omar or whoever is making these decisions now a days stays far away from Varitek.

Are there any other catchers I’m overlooking readers?   Would Pudge Rodriguez who is a veteran catcher, a little older than Molina who will be a type B Free Agent be better?