The Mets made a somewhat surprisingly fast reactionary move this morning as the team has DFA’d Travis d’Arnaud and called up Tomas Nido.
D’Arnaud, 30, has been pretty dreadful thus far in 2019, hitting .087/.160/.087 with no home runs and two RBI to give himself a -29 OPS+ and -0.3 WAR. He also ranks 53rd out of 73 qualifying catchers in FRAA (Framing Runs Above Average).
Last night, d’Arnaud made a very poor decision in the seventh inning as, with the team trailing 6-2 after Amed Rosario homered in the previous at-bat, d’Arnaud hit a ball to left field that he tried to stretch from a single into a double. He got thrown out, and the Mets still managed to score another three runs in the inning, meaning the team could have tied the game had he just not taken the risk of trying to do that.
Nido, 25, has appeared in two games for the Mets this season in which he did not record a hit in six at-bats while he struck out twice. In 2018, he hit .167/.200/.238 with one home run and nine RBI over the course of 34 games at the MLB level. However, he ranked 24th out of 117 catchers in FRAA.
It remains to be seen whether or not the team will be able to outright d’Arnaud to Triple-A Syracuse or if the catcher will latch on with another team via release from the Mets or even by trade.
Rene Rivera, who the team has in Triple-A Syracuse, could get called up to the big league level given his experience with the team from 2016-2017. However, that would require that the team add him to the 40-man roster.
