The Mets are desperate to find power at minimal costs this offseason and at no position more than catcher, where their five homers last season were by far the fewest in the majors, says Joel Sherman in his column for the New York Post.
One name to keep an eye on is Miguel Olivo. who is someone they are eyeing this offseason. When the Mets made their priority trade list in July, the Rockies’ Ramon Hernandez was on top for catchers, but Olivo was among the secondary candidates along with Kelly Shoppach, whom they ultimately obtained. But the indications I have received are the Mets are unlikely to retain Shoppach.
The Mariners recently announced they would not pick up Olivo’s $3 million 2013 option. He is far from a perfect candidate; his .239 on-base percentage last season was the worst in the majors (minimum 300 plate appearances) since Corey Patterson’s .238 in 2008.
Still, playing in a tough home park for long balls the past two seasons in Seattle, Olivo hit 31 homers. He has reached double digits every season since 2006, a period when only Brian McCann (151) and Mike Napoli(120) have more homers by a catcher than Olivo (112).
Olivo lost playing time to Jesus Montero and John Jaso last season, buy has averaged 16 home runs with 53 RBI over the last seven seasons and has a .427 slugging percentage over that span. The 34-year-old has some decent pop for a backstop and would help.
The Mets recently added Anthony Recker for some minor league depth. There’s not much in the way of options at catcher in free agency and I was hoping this would be one of those upgrades they would make via a trade.
