Catcher Omar Narváez has exercised his player option with the Mets, as first reported by Will Sammon of the Athletic (X link). He’ll return to the club on a $7MM salary.
The decision comes without much intrigue. New York signed the left-handed hitting catcher to a two-year, $15MM guarantee last offseason. Narváez didn’t produce much during his first season in Queens, hitting .211/.283/.297 with a pair of home runs in 49 games. He missed a couple months early on with a strained left calf.
That was a second straight down year for Narváez, who hit .206/.292/.305 during his final season with the Brewers. The consecutive mediocre showings made it unlikely he’d secure a salary nearly as strong as the option value. As a result, he’ll return as the #2 catcher behind second-year player Francisco Alvarez before becoming a free agent during the 2024-25 offseason.
The Mets have two additional option decisions over the next few days. Right-hander Adam Ottavino holds a $6.75MM player option, while the club has a $6.5MM provision on southpaw Brooks Raley.
Billy. Eppler. Ugh.
Believe a lot of Mets fans are going to be really disappointed this offseason.
This was probably the easiest decision of Omar’s life lol. I get why Eppler did this signing but still just why? Atleast put an out clause or an appearance minimum.
$1m per RBI
$3.5 mil per home run.
Believe it or not, I actually didn’t mind this signing at the time. I even gave Billy Eppler credit for it, except that I thought he was a bit overpaid. The organization clearly thought Alvarez was not ready defensively (they were wrong). I’d rather have Nido over Narvaez at this point. Narvaez hit just the same as Nido, and he basically threw out nobody. This is all on Eppler as he was responsible for not only tendering Nido a 2 year deal before the start of the season but also had a heads up view on Alvarez’s development. Mind you we are still paying James McCann’s contract as well. That makes 4 catchers on the payroll, 3 of which are more expensive and provide nothing compared to our first option in Alvarez. A classic Billy Eppler signing
Jared Porter signed McCann or more like sandy alderson. Classic stupid Mets fan, doesn’t even know their own team.
Actually more like sandy alderson. But, you stupidity still stands. You probably forgot Porter was even your GM
Speaking of stupid, where did he mention that Eppler signed McCann, other than stating the Mets have McCann on payroll? And Eppler was the one who traded McCann and signed Narvaez, essentially paying for two catchers on one roster spot.
Now go apologize.
For those who say ‘it’s only x million, it’s Cohen, who cares…’ even Cohen has a salary maximum, and every million wasted on a deal like the one for Narvez, or for James McCann et al, that’s a million not spent on productive players.
There is a definite cost to this foolishness.
Had one good season in Brew town. He ripped the Mets off. I would not pay him 7 but a deal is a deal, even if bad!
Mets basically paid $34M ($15M paid to Narvaez and $19M of McCann’s salary eaten for the Orioles) to replace McCann with Narvaez! Got to be one of the stupidest roster moves in the history of baseball.