Throughout the offseason, the Mets have steadfastly maintained that they are going to stick with Travis d’Arnaud as their starting catcher for the 2017 season. So far, nothing has or will change that.
That includes seeing some surprising names like Welington Castillo being non-tendered by the Arizona Diamondbacks. The non-tender was surprising as Castillo was coming off a solid year at the plate with him hitting .264/.322/.423 with 14 homers and 68 RBI in 113 games. Behind the plate, Castillo threw out 38% of base stealers, but was also one of the worst pitch framers in all of baseball.
While there has been some fan interest, the Mets are not interested in Castillo. Adam Rubin of ESPN New York reported on Sunday, that despite Castillo’s surprising availability, the Mets are still going to go with d’Arnaud at catcher.
In fact, the Mets are not going to pursue any of the other catching free agents like Alex Avila, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, or Kurt Suzuki.
The Mets recently agreed to a one year deal worth $1.7 million with backup catcher Rene Rivera and avoided arbitration. The 33-year old veteran batted .222/.291/.341 with six home runs and 26 RBI last season.
D’Arnaud, 28, is coming off a trying year where he batted .247/.307/.323 with just four homers and 15 RBI in 75 games.
