The Mets avoided arbitration with catcher Travis d’Arnaud, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (via Twitter), agreeing to a $3.515MM salary for 2019.
MLBTR’s Matt Swartz projected d’Arnaud for a slightly higher salary at $3.7MM, though in any regard, d’Arnaud will only earn a minor increase on his $3.475MM salary from 2018 due to yet another injury-plagued season. The catcher played in just four games last season due to a partial UCL tear in his throwing elbow. This was the latest in a long list of health problems that has limited d’Arnaud’s ability to stay on the field, as he has played in just 258 total games over the last four seasons.
As it stands today, d’Arnaud will be competing with Kevin Plawecki for the backup catcher position in New York, though he could be converted into more of a utility type. As Mike Puma of the New York Post reported yesterday, the Mets are shopping both Plawecki and d’Arnaud, though they are said to be willing to move forward with both on the 25-man roster backing up starter Wilson Ramos. There has been “significant” trade interest in the Mets’ backups, though Plawecki might be the easier to move given that d’Arnaud is coming off Tommy John surgery.
This is what’s wrong with baseball. A guy plays 4 games and gets a raise the next year.
Dude you’re gonna spur David to go off on a tangent about the NFL players contracts.
Travis d’Arnaud is a former first-round pick who spent six years in the minors before earning a league-minimum salary for his first three years at the MLB level.
Perhaps that’s what’s wrong with baseball.
Typical liberal ^
^ Typical moron – bringing politics into a non-political discussion
The MLB structure represents the near-antithesis of a free market system.
agreed
Idiot
Let’s keep in mind that “league minimum” is more than most people who watch MLB will make in 10 years.
But most people are subject to a free market while MLB players are not. Given the revenue the sport generates, they are underpaid. Not apples to apples comparison.
At any given point the league minimum applies to only 750 of the nearly 8,000 players in MLB-affiliated professional baseball.
One alternative would be to abolish the minimum league salary and make every player a free agent with the ability to negotiate a lawful rate of pay with any prospective employer.
That’s how most industries operate.
What would you like to do? Make it a complete free enterprise then watch the Yankees and dodgers win 130 games every year?
You can’t compare this to a “free market”.
One pizzeria doesn’t care if all the other pizzerias go out of business cause they suck
Baseball and all sports rely on their competitors being competitive
Not so in the real world.
What most people who watch MLB earn in one year probably is 10 times what a majority of people on earth will earn in one year.
Does that make MLB watchers undeserving?
I do not advocate a pure free market system for MLB.
However, I question a system that arbitrarily suppresses the salaries of productive players with less than six years of MLB service (after minor league servitude)..
The answer falls somewhere in-between.
Well said
@Muskie
Change your name to clueless! Baseball is not “most industries” and by the way even “most industries” implies that many other industries are different moron
Minor league servitude? If there is anyone dumber than you I would like to know
@muskie
Perhaps he spent 6 years in the minors because he was not good enough at those times to be in the majors.
Man people like you amaze me. You think he has some “right” to be in the major leagues?
I suppose you want everyone in the minors “freed” too. Wow. Incredible.
I would agree that the system is broken. But given that the broken system is reality at least 4-game Travis and the Mets settled without going to arbitration.
Brodie Van Wagenen, best general manager in baseball, or too soon to say? Word is that yankees are already looking to hire Scott Boras as their GM next year after BVW’s stunning reign of success.
Oh so close to the Padres moves a few years back, and where did that leave them? Mariners are still toasting having gotten rid of Cano’s contact..cheers mate!
I’m pretty sure the original comment was just sarcasm
Boras for Nats gm
He already is!
There is nothing stunning about BVW moves.
Waste of money.
Send him back to Toronto.
Look at all the signings lately guys over 32 getting 2 to 3 years 8 to 12 million per year this guy serves a need at a reasonable price giving him a slight bump is nothing compared what they would have to pay his replacement
TDA always needs a replacement.
These are the kind of heists you get when a professional negotiatior is at the helm
I think it would be smart to trade the most valuable between d’Arnaud and Plawecki for either a bullpen arm, a 4th of capable of playing C.F. or a utility IF. I won’t have any specific targets in mind until BVW signs another player in an area of need.
I feel a bullpen arm is the easiest to sign, so TDA or Plawecki for a Wilmer Flores/Chris Taylor type of player males sense
If both players would net roughly similar returns, I would prefer to move Travis, especially since Ramos isn’t exactly a model of health behind the plate. Having two catches on the roster who have trouble staying healthy wouldn’t exactly be ideal. Plus, Travis just hasn’t been very good in recent years even when healthy while Plawecki at least has made some modest progress offensively.
In any event, I agree on the type of players the team should be targeting. You figure BVW will make one more notable addition via FA, and given his recent comments regarding the bullpen, I wouldn’t expect it to be in the pen. The most likely bet would be for an outfielder, which would leave the infield bench as the most likely target via trade.
On a somewhat related note, one area of the roster people seem to be glossing over, and which I think we need to address, is the starting rotation. One year of relatively good health in the rotation does not wash away our injury sins, and I’d prefer not to have Vargas be our 4th starter or be forced to move Lugo into the rotation in the event of an injury. We also have little depth in the minors should we need to dip into our options there. If we could get an innings-eater type through trade, I would welcome that as well.
I just commented about this on the Stroman to Padres thread. I was looking at good buy low candidates for the rotation to try and acquire and Stroman would be perfect. A long island kid coming off a bad year, with proven #2 starter upside. Would make a great #4 on the Mets. Maybe a package of Smith,TDA/Plawecki and Anthony Kay could work for Stroman.
Getting another starter can push Vargas to be the lefty in the pen we need and make our rotation the deepest 1-5 in the League (health permitting of course).
I would love something like that (also forgot Stroman is from LI). However, I’m a bit concerned nothing will happen on the rotation front since, to my knowledge, BVW has never referenced it when discussing areas of need. The way I see it, strengthing the rotation would also strengthen the pen, and as much as we’ve improved the bullpen with the additions of Diaz and Familia, it could still use some significant bolstering, either directly or indirectly. Bringing in another starter would kill two birds with one stone in a sense.
I’m also tired of us entering each season with limited pitching depth. Yes, some of that has been due to bad injury luck, but it seems that once one or two injuries strike, we have to patch up either the rotation or bullpen with minor league retreads. Minor league retreads are not depth, nor should they be pitching dozens of innings for a major league team that fancies itself a contender, as was the case this past season. We need better depth, pure and simple, and acquiring it shouldn’t cost too much.
Two pieces of trash the Jays don’t need and a decent, but by means, top prospect? I’m sure the Jays would be all over that.
Dont the Mets have Plawecki who makes the mlb minimum and plays more than Darnaud as a backup to Wilson Ramos.
Wilmer Flores would have been a better use of that roster spot. Stupid move by Brodie.
Wilmer was going to get paid too much money to be a bench guy, and he’s not a good enough hitter to justify that type of commitment. We all love Wilmer, but if we could get similar value in a bench piece for half the cost or less, you have to do it.
d’Arnaud is not a “similar value” to Flores. d’Arnaud sucks and he’s made of glass. He’s not worthy of a roster spot on any MLB team with aspirations of being competitive. I have no problem with not offering arbitration to Flores. I could see the Mets easily resigning him now for less than what he made last year. What I have issue with was the decision to offer arbitration to d’Arnaud. Now, he’s going to get overpaid while wasting a roster spot that could have gone to more useful player such as Flores. Made absolutely no sense to offer him arbitration when they knew they had Plawecki as their backup C, and they knew they were going to target a starting C in the trade or free agent markets. Now, the Mets are probably stuck with d’Arnaud, or they will have to trade Plawecki who is a much better, much more reliable backup C.
@Top Jimmy
There’s a case to be made for keeping either backup.
TDA is the better athlete with the better bat who could see time at the infield corners as well as left field. A healthy elbow may be a difference maker in throwing out runners, I’d be happy with a league average CS from TDA which would be an accomplishment.
I think the Mets want to see what a healthy TDA could be before they opt to let him go. Remember, he was one of the very best prospects in the minors before injuries and bad habits got in the way.
Regarding Flores, great guy, great in the clutch but he’s a major defensive liability, is very slow and perhaps you’ve forgotten he was shut down for the season with arthritic knees. Mets let him go to improve the bench. He could be replaced in house or from outside with a faster, more athletic, better defender, a utility player who also plays outfield.
This offseason Callaway mentioned TJ Rivera who’s healthy now after TJ surgery in 2017. Rivera is excellent hitter and has been throughout his pro career and like TDA, may benefit from a healthy elbow on defense. TJ isn’t a great defensive player, but he’s certainly better and faster than Flores, can flat out hit, and is making close to minimum.
Mets going all in this year trading Kellenic and Dunn who were arguably their top two prospects, probably should have found a roster spot for Flores over a T.J Rivera or Dilson Herrera
@Showman
Flores will always be beloved and a great Met who bleeds orange and blue and is excellent in the clutch, but it’s time to let him go.
We need defensive and speed upgrade in utility player, and thus is time to part ways. We can’t have a utility player with arthritic knees, who runs poorly and is defensive liability basically everywhere but perhaps first base which is his best position yet gets over-exposed there too.
Best place for Flores is the American League.
@showman
Herrera doesn’t have 40-man spot.
yes but if no further additions were made to the roster, the bench would likely include Herrera and Rivera (perhaps Smith) as the reserve infielders. Plus, the Mets will have 3 extra roster spots for minor league invites to be added to the 40 come spring training since Cespedes will be out for most of the year, Kilome for all of the year, and Wright for the remainder of all time
Even as things stand now, McNeil will be one of those IFs, the next would need to fit at SS. Top inhouse options would probably be Guillorme, or Rivera (if finally healthy), but they’ll likely fill the role with a veteran not currently in the organization. Herrera’s a depth piece and is in line for a spot on the Syracuse roster, not the big league squad.
He played 4 games and only had 16 at bats making 3million? I can see why Mets fans included him in every trade rumored around here.
Could a trade of Kevin Plawecki + more for Corey Kluber be brewing?
It would need be A LOT more! So much that Plawecki becomes the “more” part of the trade.
hmm how about alonso plus gimenez plus matz and plawecki plus another prospect and the mets will also take kipnis off the indians’ hands
@showman
That’s a comment reeking of disgust, and mockery.
You know perfectly well Mets aren’t giving up that overpay for Kluber, nor would they take Kipnis , whose hit ..230 the past two seasons with bad OBP and barely 700 OPS – and isn’t needed.
ok, ok, we will throw in tim tebow as the 3rd prospect
Technically, yes, if by “more” you mean “much, much more.”
Good thing d’Arnaud got a raise after playing poorly for 4 games.
he was on fire for those 4 games…they were the stuff that legends are made of
Doesn’t this mean they can no longer release him to avoid most of his salary? Strange to do this now.
@Reflect
Yes they can release up to a certain date in spring training and thus only be liable for a small part of the contract.
It might be something like 20% but I’m not sure.
For a guy that’s decent when healthy and may have positional flexibility this is a good contract, not much loss financially if he is injured, I imagine there will be some sort of insurance policy to recoup some money if he spends majority of season on DL
@greencore
Team’s insure their big contracts. I doubt TDA is covered. He’s on one year , 3 mil something deal with big injury history and I never heard Mets getting any insurance back prior.
Compare to the 100 mil+ contracts of David Wright and Yoenis Cespedes, both insured.
Wasn’t aware that they only did that on big contracts. Still not much of a loss regardless!
@greencore
For a baseball salary, no.
Mets no doubt go into this knowing he’s injury risk. If they keep him, it’s a risk they’re willing to take banking on the upside of his bat and some additional positional flexibility they’ve been contemplating .
I just don’t get how a guy doesn’t do his job all year, gets a minuscule raise and there is a problem with the system. Seems like it works just fine, especially because it has been negotiated between the union and owners.
Watch how Wilmer F will flourish wherever he goes. He will hit 20-25 home runs. I dislike Darnaud. He is a waste of space. Like others mentioned Plawecki is i biable backup. Should of non tendered TD.
Wilmer to the Orioles …
This is just ridiculous. The guy has been living on the d.l. His entire career and gets rewarded based on “potential” with every contract. In his career, he’s hit over .250 once and had an on base percentage over .310 once. He’s a below average receiver and can’t throw anyone out. He can’t hit anything but an average fast ball anymore and that’s to right field. His hitting mechanics stink and he had failed to make any positive adjustments. I’m not even going to get into his injury history. Where else can you miss work 99.8% of the time and get a raise?