Sandy Alderson broke his silence on a few key issues for the Mets Tuesday afternoon. However, the biggest news might have been revealed about his plans for the catching situation next year. He said that he “feels pretty good” about going into next season with Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki as his catching tandem. Alderson also said that the two are both “above average catchers.”
This might not have been music to many fans ears, but it certainly is a logical decision. Not many options set to hit the free agent market this off-season offer a ton of upside. Jonathan Lucroy is going to be coming off a season where he had a WAR of only 0.6 according to FanGraphs. Alex Avila has had a very good season, but his career numbers suggest he is very likely to regress and is certainly not worth any sort of long-term commitment.
However, Alderson’s statement that d’Arnaud and Plawecki are both above average catchers is just plain wrong. d’Arnaud has been barely replacement level this season with a 0.0 WAR. Kevin Plawecki has also spent the majority of the season in the minors, so there is nothing certain about that. Despite this, Alderson was probably going towards the idea that they could possibly deliver above average production next season behind the plate.
This is more plausible given Plawecki’s numbers since returning from the minors. He has hit .314 in his 35 at-bats since returning with only three strikeouts.
d’Arnaud has left us with a lot to be desired, though, with his meager .230 average and sub-.300 OBP this season, the first of which he has actually appeared to stay healthy. In 2015, though, he hit .268 with 12 homers, so there is the possibility he could halt his regression path and deliver a solid season in 2018.
Whatever the case, it appears the Mets are not going to be shopping for a catcher this off-season. However, Alderson has often said one thing and done another. He does have many other needs to address this off-season, so nobody should count on him changing his mind on this approach. Kevin Plawecki and Travis d’Arnaud very well might be the Mets’ catching combo next season.
