The Mets are going to have a large bundle of holes to fill this offseason and one of those might include a change of catchers behind the plate.
At the moment, the team is currently deploying Kevin Plawecki and Tomas Nido there, with Devin Mesoraco set to hit free agency in the offseason and Travis d’Arnaud currently representing a non-tender candidate after being out since late-April because he received Tommy John Surgery.
If the Mets deem the tandem of Plawecki and Nido not good enough to handle the job full-time in 2019, the organization will have to search outside for their answer.
One option on the free agent market for the Mets played opposite them last night, for the Philadelphia Phillies. That catcher was Wilson Ramos, who expressed his interest in working with the Mets vaunted pitching staff if given the opportunity to, as detailed by Mike Puma of the New York Post.
“I like to work with those kind of rotations they have because I feel like I can help with my experience. Every time I am behind the plate, I try to help my guys on the mound. I love when we put zeroes on the scoreboard. That is my priority.”
Ramos, 31, has split this season between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Phillies in which he has had a resurgence hitting .315/.365/.503 with 15 home runs and 68 RBI to give him a 138 wRC+ and 2.9 WAR.
However, he has had seasons like this before that didn’t end well for him as he was similarly strong with the Washington Nationals in 2016 before going down with a torn ACL two weeks before the end of the season.
As a result, Ramos’ value plummeted in the offseason and he ended up signing a two-year, $12.5 million contract with the Rays. He did not return until the second half of 2017.
Ramos now says that he is trying to avoid thinking too much about it because of this rough history that cost him millions of dollars.
“I was close to free agency, I hurt my knee and that made me feel so sad at home. I felt at that moment I was losing my career, so right now, I am concentrating on finishing my season healthy, strong, and we’ll see what happens after that.”
It remains to be seen whether or not the Mets pursue Ramos, but he does “know this division well” between his time with both the Phillies and Nationals. That being said, his injury issues, including some hamstring hiccups this year, could cause the Mets to balk if his asking price were to get too high.
I would fully expect to see, at the very least, some rumors connecting the Venezuelan native to the New York Mets this offseason.
