Since Jason Castro was signed by the Twins to a 3 year, $24.5 million contract, practically nothing has happened in terms of catchers this offseason. The only other big catching news was literally the opposite of a signing, when the Diamondbacks non-tendered Welington Castillo.
Castillo joined Matt Wieters as the two best free agent catchers on the market. While Wieters has put up better offensive numbers in his career, Castillo has a slight edge over him with his age (29 vs 30).
Other notable names on the market are Nick Hundley, Alex Avila, A.J. Pierzynski, Dioner Navarro, Kurt Suzuki, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Despite those big names (Salty’s being literally the biggest), the market has been relatively quiet with few teams seemingly active.
There had been rumors that Castillo was going to the Orioles, Matt Wieters’ long time home, however those talks seem to have disintegrated. The Rays and Braves had been tied to him previously, but with the Rays’ signing of Wilson Ramos, it is now unlikely they bring in Castillo.
The Mets catching squad currently consists of Travis d’Arnaud, Rene Rivera, and Kevin Plawecki. While Plawecki’s name was floated around during the Winter Meetings as a possible trade piece, Sandy Alderson has said many times that he plans on having d’Arnaud as his everyday catcher. According to many sources, d’Arnaud has been working all offseason long on both his swing with Kevin Long as well as his throwing with new catching instructor Glenn Sherlock.
Also coming up through the ranks is prospect Thomas Nido, who you can learn more about here.
While Sandy has said d’Arnaud is his every day catcher, he is a resourceful man. If he can bring in Castillo or Wieters for a cheap price, he might jump at the opportunity.
