Francisco Alvarez

Mets Expect To Activate Francisco Alvarez, Jeff McNeil On Friday

By Steve Adams | April 23, 2025 at 1:50pm CDT

The Mets are planning to reinstate catcher Francisco Alvarez and infielder/outfielder Jeff McNeil from the 10-day injured list on Friday, manager Carlos Mendoza announced to reporters (video link via SNY). Both players will be making their 2025 debuts. Each will play in one final rehab game today.

Alvarez, 23, has appeared in nine rehab games thus far and taken 40 plate appearances. He’s out to a middling start, but the nature of his injury — a fractured hamate bone that required surgery — has a tendency to dull offensive performance early on when hitters return. The slugging backstop has been the Mets’ primary catcher over the past two seasons, hitting a combined .222/.294/.422 with 36 home runs in 765 plate appearances. Alvarez has also emerged as a top-tier pitch framer, though his blocking and throwing abilities lag behind.

So far in 2025, the Mets have gone with journeyman Luis Torrens as their starter and homegrown 28-year-old Hayden Senger as their backup. Torrens hit quite well through his first 11 games but has fallen into a deep slump. The 28-year-old is just 3-for-27 over his past nine games, making Alvarez’s expected return all the more timely. It’s likely that Torrens will continue on as the backup in order to preserve catching depth; he’s out of minor league options, whereas Senger has a full slate of option years left and can be sent directly to Triple-A Syracuse without first needing to clear waivers.

McNeil has been out all year due to an oblique strain. The Mets have gotten him some looks in center field during this rehab stint, although he’s not likely to play the position regularly. Still, with Jose Siri sidelined for upwards of 10 weeks due to a fracture in his leg, the Mets took advantage of McNeil’s rehab stint and versatile defensive profile to get him a start in center.

In all likelihood, McNeil will return and see time at second base, at designated hitter and perhaps in an outfield corner. The Mets opened the year with Luisangel Acuña and Brett Baty sharing time at second base. Acuña has handled things well, hitting .275/.351/.373 and contributing solid glovework.

Baty, after a torrid spring performance, had a brutal two-week stretch to begin the season but has begun to turn things around. The 25-year-old former first rounder crushed a second-deck homer off Zack Wheeler in the Mets’ currently ongoing game against the Phillies and entered play today on a .280/.357/.440 heater over his past eight contests. He’s still hitting just .204/.246/.354, but it’ll take some time to recover from the .111/.111/.148 line he totaled through his first 27 trips to the plate.

Francisco Alvarez Out 6-8 Weeks Due To Left Hamate Surgery

By Mark Polishuk | March 9, 2025 at 11:00pm CDT

11:09PM: Alvarez suffered the injury while taking a swing during live batting practice yesterday, Mendoza told the New York Post’s Mike Puma and other reporters. Mendoza expects Alvarez to miss the full eight weeks due to the added wear-and-tear that catching duties will place on his left hand.

9:52AM: Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez will undergo surgery to fix a fractured left hamate bone, manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters (including Newsday’s Tim Healey). Alvarez will miss the next 6-8 weeks recovering from the procedure.

It’s an unwelcome development for both Alvarez and the Mets, and it marks the second straight season that Alvarez has suffered an early-season injury to his left hand. Last April, Alvarez suffered a torn thumb ligament that required surgery, and he ended up missing a little over seven weeks’ time. He returned in mid-June and hit .237/.311/.411 with 10 home runs in 283 plate appearances over the rest of the regular season, but Alvarez struggled to a .577 OPS over 47 PA in the playoffs.

Considered one of the game’s top prospects during his time in New York’s farm system, Alvarez has posted almost exactly league-average production with a 99 wRC+ over his 779 career PA at the Major League level. These numbers are still quite respectable for a catcher that just turned 23 last November, plus Statcast has given his defense (particularly his framing) above-average grades, even though his blocking left a lot to be desired in 2024.

If Alvarez is going to make the jump from solid regular to star in 2025, it’ll now have to wait until at least the latter half of April. Hamate fractures or breaks are common enough that the 6-8 week timeline is more or less set in stone for most players, though naturally complications can arise when dealing with any hand-related injury. Such normal actions as gripping a bat could take a bit of re-familiarization, and Alvarez’s left hand will also be tested by regularly catching pitches.

With Alvarez sidelined, Luis Torrens now becomes the top catcher on the Mets’ depth chart. Acquired in a trade with the Yankees last May, Torrens hit .229/.292/.373 in 130 PA with the Mets last season, which roughly matches his career slash line over 937 PA and parts of seven big league seasons. Torrens did a great job of throwing out baserunners (would-be stealers were only 12-for-23 against him) last year but isn’t considered a great defensive catcher overall.

Torrens and Alvarez are the only catchers on New York’s 40-man roster, and Jakson Reetz’s eight career MLB games make him the only other backstop in the organization with any big league experience at all. It seems exceedingly likely that the Mets will now look to acquire another experienced catcher or two to compete for playing time over the remainder of Spring Training.

These new faces could come in the form of players cut from other teams’ spring camps, or perhaps a club could be already be looking to trade a non-roster invitee catcher if the club knows this player won’t be part of their Opening Day plans. Looking to the free agent market, former Mets catcher James McCann is unsigned and could be brought back as a familiar face. Yasmani Grandal is also a known quantity to David Stearns, as Grandal played for the Brewers in 2019 when Stearns was Milwaukee’s president of baseball operations.

Alvarez’s hamate fracture is the latest in a series of injuries to have already hit the Mets this spring. The rotation has been thinned out since Sean Manaea (oblique strain) and Frankie Montas (lat strain) will both start the season on the injured list, and backup infielder Nick Madrigal is expected to miss the entire season after undergoing shoulder surgery. While Alvarez’s injury is comparatively less serious, the lack of catching depth makes his absence a trickier roster hole to address.

Mets Designate Tomás Nido For Assignment

By Darragh McDonald | June 11, 2024 at 1:50pm CDT

The Mets announced that catcher Francisco Alvarez has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list, with fellow backstop Tomás Nido designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Alvarez tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his thumb in April and went under the knife April 23. The club announced an expected absence of six to eight weeks and he has now returned right in the middle of that window.

He hit 25 homers for the Mets last year while also receiving strong grades for his glovework, cementing himself as the club’s franchise backstop since he was just 21 years old last year. He was looking to continue establishing himself in that role here in 2024, though the injury put that on hold for a bit. Now that he has healed up, that plan can get back on track.

While Alvarez was out, the Mets played a bit of musical chairs at the catcher position. Nido, Omar Narváez and Luis Torrens all got some playing time, while Joe Hudson was recently added to the roster and brought to London as an emergency depth option, though he’s now on optional assignment.

Nido was added to the roster when Alvarez went down and slashed .229/.261/.361, decent enough production given his reputation as a glove-first backup type. Narváez hit a dismal .154/.191/.185 and was released last week.

When Narváez was cut from the roster, the Mets acquired Torrens from the Yankees. Torrens has generally been considered more of a bat-first catcher and was hitting .279/.339/.468 in Triple-A at the time the Mets traded for him. In six games since that deal, he has hit two home runs and drawn walks at an 11.1% pace. His .313/.389/.750 batting line will surely regress somewhat, but it seems the Mets are going to roll with him as the backup instead of Nido. If Torrens last on the roster all year, he can be controlled for two more seasons via arbitration.

The Mets will now have a week to trade Nido or pass him through waivers. He is making $2.1MM this year as part of the two-year deal he signed with the Mets going into 2023. The Mets passed him through waivers last summer, just before he got to five years of service time. That likely wasn’t a coincidence, as getting to the five-year mark would have given him the right to elect free agency while keeping all of his money. Instead, he had to stick around in a non-roster depth role in order to keep collecting his paychecks.

But the injury to Alvarez allowed Nido to get back on the roster and cross that five-year mark. That means that, if he clears waivers again, he can keep all that money and become a free agent. In that scenario, any club could sign him for the prorated league minimum while the Mets would remain on the hook for most of the money.

Nido has hit just .214/.251/.313 in his career, production that translates to a wRC+ of 57, but he has a solid defensive reputation that could give him some appeal to other clubs. J.T. Realmuto of the Phillies will be undergoing knee surgery while Yainer Diaz of the Astros is banged up with a right index finger injury and Elias Díaz of the Rockies is dealing with a calf issue.

Mets Notes: Baty, McNeil, Alvarez, Senga

By Steve Adams | June 8, 2024 at 8:44am CDT

TODAY: Senga won’t return prior to the All-Star break, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza told DiComo (X link) and other reporters today.

JUNE 7: The Mets and Phillies face off this weekend in MLB’s London Series, and both clubs will be afforded a 27th man for the overseas event. For the Mets, that’ll be infielder Brett Baty, who was recently optioned to Triple-A Syracuse in a move designed to help him get back on track but also to get hot-hitting Mark Vientos a legitimate audition at third base.

While Vientos is clearly outplaying his fellow corner-infield prospect at the moment, it seems the Mets are open to ideas that could keep both in the lineup, even with a full-time designated hitter (J.D. Martinez) and with Pete Alonso entrenched at first base. Baty told the Mets beat this morning that the team has informed him he’ll likely begin taking reps at second base soon down in Syracuse (X link via Newsday’s Tim Healey). It hasn’t happened in a game setting yet, but the Mets approached him about the possibility when he was optioned on May 31.

The potential addition of second base to Baty’s skill set comes at a time when longtime second baseman Jeff McNeil is struggling through the worst results of his career. McNeil, the 2022 National League batting champion, is hitting just .227/.296/.320 this season — about 16% worse than league-average, by measure of wRC+.

The 32-year-old McNeil is in just the second season of a four-year, $50MM extension and thus isn’t in jeopardy of being cut loose, but this is the second straight season his offensive output has declined in notable fashion. McNeil still has elite bat-to-ball skills (11.2% strikeout rate, 87.6% contact rate), but he’s hitting more fly-balls than ever before, which is having an adverse impact on his results. (Fly-balls — at least those in play — are the easiest type of batted ball to convert into an out.) There’s still surely some poor fortune in play, as McNeil’s fly-ball rate is only a few percentage points higher than when he won his batting title, while his .246 BABIP checks in 70 points shy of his career mark. But clearly the Mets have some level of concern, and clearly they’re also still looking at ways for both Baty and Vientos to factor into the long-term plan (particularly if the club ends up re-signing Pete Alonso and thus removing a Vientos-to-first base scenario).

Baty has never played second base in his professional career. He’s logged 250 innings in left field and otherwise spent every defensive inning since being drafted at third base. But with Vientos viewed more strictly as a corner infielder and also batting an outstanding .333/.392/.621 through his first 74 plate appearances this year, the Mets will take a look at the possibility of Baty slotting in elsewhere on the diamond. Baty hit just .225/.304/.325 in 169 turns at the plate prior to being optioned, so he has some obvious work to do on the offensive side of things as well — but it’s nevertheless interesting to see the Mets experimenting with the defensive alignment in a manner that could accommodate two of the organization’s longtime top prospects who have previously had the same primary position.

Both Baty and Vientos have the potential to emerge as cornerstones in Queens, and if they’re able to do so they’ll likely slot in alongside catcher Francisco Alvarez in forming a young core of hitters around which president of baseball ops David Stearns can build. Alvarez has been out since mid-April, when he required surgery to repair a torn ligament in his thumb. He’s been on a minor league rehab assignment and had been slated for a return early next week. However, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports that Alvarez’s return will be delayed by at least a few days. There’s no setback or new injury, but Alvarez has flown home to Venezuela to tend to a family matter.

At this point, there’s no indication Alvarez will be delayed long. A return in latter half of next week still seems feasible. The 25-year-old has already appeared in five minor league games but could get a few more under his belt before being activated. He hit .236/.288/.364 in 16 games before incurring his injury but swatted 25 homers in 123 games (423 plate appearances) last season. Alvarez has hit for a subpar .212 average in 496 big league plate appearances but makes plenty of hard contact, draws a roughly average number of walks, has clear plus power and has made substantial defensive improvements in the past couple years.

In further Mets injury news, there’s some optimism with regard to Kodai Senga’s lengthy rehab process. He’s slated to throw a bullpen session next Monday or Tuesday, tweets Mike Puma of the New York Post. Originally placed on the IL due to a moderate capsule strain his right shoulder, Senga has encountered multiple setbacks along the way. He progressed to facing live hitters by late April but was scaled back to try to get his mechanics back in order. While going through that step, Senga sustained a triceps injury that necessitated a cortisone injection and another five-day shutdown period.

That latter setback came in late May, but the silver lining was that his ailing shoulder looked to be healed on that MRI. It seems both the shoulder and triceps are now approaching a point where he’ll be cleared to throw. There will still be multiple steps to check off before Senga is a realistic option to return to the Mets’ rotation. He’ll likely need multiple bullpen sessions, followed by live sessions against hitters and then a minor league rehab assignment that figures to last multiple starts (with a full slate of rest between each, of course). It seems unlikely he’d be able to check all those boxes by the end of this month, making a July return far more likely.

Senga, 31, is in the second season of a five-year, $75MM contract. The former NPB standout made the All-Star team last year in his rookie season. He also finished second in NL Rookie of the Year voting and seventh in NL Cy Young voting after pitching 166 1/3 innings of 2.98 ERA ball with a 29.1% strikeout rate, 11.1% walk rate, 44.7% grounder rate and 0.92 HR/9.

NL East Notes: Sanchez, Marsh, Alvarez, Fujinami, Fletcher

By Mark Polishuk | June 2, 2024 at 10:11pm CDT

The Marlins placed right-hander Sixto Sanchez on the 15-day injured list today (retroactive to June 1), with right-hander Emmanuel Ramirez was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move. Sanchez is dealing with inflammation in his throwing shoulder, and something seemed awry when his velocity was significantly down in his start against the Rangers on Friday.

Given how multiple shoulder surgeries (amidst other injuries) kept Sanchez from just a single inning of minor league ball from 2021-23, it isn’t a good sign that the former top prospect is again dealing with any type of shoulder problem, even if some inflammation or soreness might be expected given Sanchez’s long layoff. The righty made his return to the big leagues this season and has a 6.06 ERA over 35 2/3 innings for Miami, starting seven of his 14 appearances. While Sanchez has always been more of a grounder specialist than a strikeout artist, Sanchez has struck out only 10.5% of batters faced this season.

Mets Notes: Senga, Peterson, Houser, Alvarez

By Mark Polishuk | May 25, 2024 at 9:06am CDT

Kodai Senga underwent an MRI on Friday and was diagnosed with triceps inflammation, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters (including Dan Martin of the New York Post). Senga received a cortisone shot to deal with the issue and will be shut down from throwing for the next 3-5 days.

The news represents another setback for Senga, who has yet to pitch this season after suffering a moderate posterior capsule strain in his right shoulder during Spring Training. Senga’s rehab process didn’t have any formal timeline attached, as the most recent reports indicated that he was first working on his mechanics before embarking on any clear ramp-up regiment. Senga was supposed to toss a bullpen session on Friday before the triceps discomfort shelved that plan.

If there is any silver lining, Mendoza noted that Senga’s shoulder and elbow looked good in the MRI scan, so the triceps area seems to be the only concern at this point. However, Senga and the Mets will now have to wait out this shutdown period before again re-evaluating the righty’s status.

Senga is already on the 60-day injured list and obviously won’t be activated when he hits the 60-day threshold this coming week, and it would now seem like he might not make his 2024 debut until perhaps after the All-Star break. Assuming he emerges from this shutdown period feeling better, Senga’s rehab assignment will still take at least a month given that he has to essentially start his preparation from scratch after missing all of Spring Training. From the Mets’ perspective, surely they weren’t going to take any risks with their ace righty’s health anyway, but there’s even less of a rush to get Senga back onto a big league mound since New York is 21-29 and doesn’t look like a contender.

An inconsistent rotation has been a big reason behind the Amazins’ lackluster record, as only five teams have a worse rotation ERA than the collective 4.59 posted by Mets starters. Some potential help could be on the way since David Peterson is nearing the end of his 60-day IL stint, and he made his second and potentially final Triple-A rehab start last night. Peterson has a 2.79 ERA over 9 2/3 innings in those two rehab outings, tossing 81 pitches in his first start and then 89 pitches last night.

Peterson underwent hip surgery last November, necessitating a season-opening stint on the 60-day injured list given the procedure’s recovery timeline of 6-7 months. It seems as though Peterson has gotten through his rehab in good form, so barring any last-minute health issues, the left-hander appears to be on track to be activated from the injured list this week.

Over four seasons and 333 innings for New York, Peterson has a 4.51 ERA while starting 64 of his 80 appearances. While nobody expects Peterson to step in and be a savior for the struggling rotation, Peterson might at least represent an upgrade over Adrian Houser, who Mendoza said could be moved back to the bullpen. Houser has a 7.88 ERA in 37 2/3 innings this season, starting his first six games before a shift to the relief corps, and was then inserted back into the rotation as the Mets moved to a six-man staff during a busy stretch of the schedule. Things didn’t go smoothly for Houser in his return to starting duty, as he allowed six earned runs over five innings in the Mets’ 10-4 loss to the Guardians on May 21.

In another injury update, catcher Francisco Alvarez is expected to take batting practice today for the first time since undergoing thumb surgery back on April 23. (MLB.com was among those to report the news.). Alvarez was given an eight-week recovery timeline, so it’s a good sign that he is already feeling better enough to face any sort of live pitching. He has also been taking some pitches behind the plate, catching with a splint inside of his glove — a process that is likely to continue for at least some time after Alvarez returns to action. The former top prospect was hitting .236/.288/.364 in 59 plate appearances prior to his torn thumb ligament, and this lengthy injury rehab has already drastically reduced what was supposed to be Alvarez’s second full Major League season.

Francisco Alvarez Expected To Miss Roughly Eight Weeks After Thumb Surgery

By Anthony Franco | April 23, 2024 at 8:41pm CDT

Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez underwent surgery to repair the UCL tear in his left thumb, the team announced. The club suggested the procedure tends to require eight weeks before a player can return to game action. Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase reported shortly before the team announcement (on X) that the young catcher expected to be back at some point in July.

That’s at the longer end of the timeline which the team provided over the weekend. New York announced on Saturday that Alvarez was going under the knife. At the time, manager Carlos Mendoza loosely floated a recovery timetable in the six-to-eight week range, although he noted the team would have a clearer picture after the surgery.

New York initially placed Alvarez on the 10-day injured list. It’s likely that he’ll be moved to the 60-day IL once the team needs to open a spot on the 40-man roster. It’s a tough loss to the Mets lineup, as Alvarez is one of the team’s better power threats. He hit 25 homers last year as a 21-year-old rookie. He’d only connected on one longball in his first 59 plate appearances this season, hitting .236/.288/.364 over 16 games.

The Mets selected Tomás Nido onto the major league roster after the Alvarez injury. He’ll back up Omar Narváez for the foreseeable future. They’re the only healthy catchers on the 40-man roster. Narváez, who is likely to get the majority of the playing time, has struggled since signing a two-year free agent deal. The veteran hit .211/.283/.297 in 49 games last season. He’s out to a .179/.233/.214 start over his first 10 contests.

Francisco Alvarez To Undergo Thumb Surgery

By Mark Polishuk | April 20, 2024 at 11:00pm CDT

6:49PM: Mendoza told reporters (including Mike Puma of the New York Post) this evening that the youngster actually suffered a torn ligament in his thumb that will require surgery. Mendoza added that Alvarez’s timetable for return is not year clear but that he’s “confident” that the 22-year-old will return to action at some point this year. Puma adds that Alvarez indicated to teammates that his timeline for return is between six and eight weeks.

1:02PM: “We know for sure it’s going to be more than 10 days” for Alvarez’s recovery, Mendoza told MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo and other reporters. The catcher is still undergoing further testing to check for any ligament damage or further injuries beyond just a sprain.

11:39AM: The Mets placed catcher Francisco Alvarez on the 10-day injured list due to a left thumb sprain, and selected the contract of catcher Tomas Nido from Triple-A. In another corresponding move, left-hander Kolton Ingram was designated for assignment to open up a 40-man roster spot for Nido. Earlier today, Mike Puma of the New York Post (X link) wrote that Nido was on his way to Los Angeles, as Alvarez was expected to require an IL stint after leaving last night’s 9-4 Mets win over the Dodgers.

In the top of the second inning, Alvarez hit an infield grounder, and Dodgers catcher Will Smith lobbed his throw over the head of first baseman Freddie Freeman. Alvarez made it to second base on the error, but put his left hand on the ground to brace himself after stumbling on the turn around first base. Mets manager Carlos Mendoza told SNY and other media that the thumb problem occurred on this play, and Alvarez was replaced behind the plate by Omar Narvaez for the bottom of the second inning. Alvarez underwent an MRI after the game, and Mendoza said the team was “pretty concerned” about the situation.

After hitting .209/.284/.437 with 25 home runs over 423 plate appearances in 2023, Alvarez was looking to follow up his first full MLB season with another step forward this year. The former star prospect has hit only .236/.288/.364 with one homer in 59 PA to date, and it now might be a while before he can improve on that small sample size. We may learn more when Mendoza addresses reporters later today about the severity of the sprain or what kind of a recovery timeline awaits Alvarez.

Narvaez and Nido will handle catching duties in the meantime, and in Nido’s case, the selection of his minor league contract will allow the veteran backstop to take part in his eighth Major League season. Nido’s whole career has been spent in the Mets organization, and he signed a two-year, $3.7MM extension prior to the 2023 campaign.

The catcher is still owed $2.1MM on that deal for this season, and Nido will also reach five full seasons of MLB service time after he amasses 11 more days on an active roster. Once he hits the five-season threshold, Nido will be able to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, while still retaining whatever is is still owed on that guaranteed salary. When New York designated Nido for assignment and outrighted him last June, he would’ve had to walk away from his salary if he had opted to turn down the outright assignment and become a free agent, which undoubtedly impacted his decision to remain in the organization.

Ingram was claimed off waivers from the Tigers back in February, and the left-hander has struggled badly over four relief appearances for Triple-A Syracuse this season. Over just five innings of work, Ingram has already issued six walks and allowed five hits, en route to a 7.20 ERA. While control has been a concern for Ingram for much of his minor league career, this spike (albeit in a small sample size) in walk rate obviously jarred the Mets enough to expose the southpaw to DFA waivers.

It isn’t out of the question that another organization might put in a claim, as Ingram already switched teams twice this offseason via the waiver wire — before going from the Tigers to the Mets, Detroit first claimed Ingram off waivers from the Angels. It was with Los Angeles that Ingram made his MLB debut with 5 1/3 innings in 2023, and he also amassed some solid numbers over his three seasons in the Angels’ farm system. Ingram had a 30.21% strikeout rate in the minors prior to this season, but that number also plummeted to 9.5% in his brief time with Syracuse.

Rimas Sports Agency Facing MLBPA Sanctions

By Steve Adams | April 12, 2024 at 5:15pm CDT

5:15pm: Reporter Francys Romero relays that Ronald Acuna Jr. hired Rimas Sports as his agency in recent days.

2:20pm: Rimas Sports, the fledgling baseball agency launched last year by rapper and singer Bad Bunny, is facing sanctions from the MLB Players Association for violating the MLBPA’s agency regulations, as first reported by Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic. ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Alden Gonzalez and Jorge Castillo have also reported on the unfolding controversy. Per the ESPN report, Rimas’ lead agent, William Arroyo, has had his agent certification revoked.

Multiple other agencies have filed complaints against Rimas, alleging that the firm has offered large sums of cash and gifts to players as incentive to leave their prior agencies and join Rimas — a violation of the MLBPA’s code of conduct for agents. Ghiroli writes that some players have allegedly been given new cars. She adds that Rimas has had employees who are not certified as agents but have nevertheless represented themselves as such and acted in that capacity. Those employees had been seeking certification but are now expected to have their requests denied, per both Ghiroli and ESPN.

Rimas issued the following statement on the controversy:

“At Rimas Sports, we uphold the highest standards of professionalism and integrity of our industry. Out of respect for an ongoing process within the context of the MLBPA Agent Regulations, we will refrain from making any comments at this time. We remain committed to continue serving our clients with excellence.”

While decertification of a firm’s lead agent is obviously rare and noteworthy, violations of this manner are hardly unprecedented. Former MLBTR writer Zach Links and I wrote spoke with various agents about client poaching as far back as 2014.

Rimas Sports most notably negotiated the seven-year, $63.5MM extension for Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar earlier this year. Included among their other clientele are Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez, Mets infielder Ronny Mauricio, Nationals outfielder Eddie Rosario (who only hired Rimas this offseason), Giants infielder Wilmer Flores, Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio, Reds infielder Santiago Espinal and Dodgers catching prospect Diego Cartaya (among others). The MLBPA has informed all of Rimas’ clients about the purported transgressions, per ESPN and The Athletic.

Francisco Álvarez Open To Extension With Mets

By Darragh McDonald | December 13, 2023 at 1:45pm CDT

Catcher Francisco Álvarez is interested in discussing a long-term extension with the Mets, reports Tim Healey of Newsday. The club’s new president of baseball operations David Stearns spoke positively about extensions of young players in a general sense but declined to speak about an Álvarez extension specifically.

“It’s something that every organization has to explore and requires both sides to have interest,” Stearns said. “And certainly, as we go forward, hopefully we’ll have a number of players in that second and third [year] where it makes sense to talk to them about it.”

Álvarez, 22, has just over a year in the big leagues and has carried himself well. He has 26 home runs in 128 career games. His 26.1% strikeout rate is a tad high but he’s also walked at a reasonable 8.2% clip. His .208/.284/.439 batting line amounts to a wRC+ of 98, indicating he’s been just barely below the league average hitter overall, though that’s better than par for a catcher.

In addition to that solid performance at the plate, he was graded well behind it. Each of FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus and Statcast considered him to be one of the top five pitch framers in the league this year. Defensive Runs Saved gave him a grade of +7 in 2023, a mark that only seven catchers bested that season. FanGraphs considered him to be worth 2.7 wins above replacement on the season overall.

Since he debuted before his 21st birthday, Álvarez is currently slated to reach free agency at a relatively young age. He has just over one year of service time at the moment, meaning he would hit the open market after 2028, his age-26 season. That will give him some leverage in contract talks, as he could simply go year-to-year and cash in at that point. But signing a deal now would allow him to lock in some life-changing money and avoid the risk of an injury sapping some of his earning power. As Healey points out, Álvarez could give the Mets an extra couple of years of control and still become a free agent in his late 20s.

The Mets have been one of the most aggressive spenders in recent years, with owner Steve Cohen having shown little regard for the bottom line since purchasing the club. That presumably gives them the ability to lock in any player they decide they want to keep. They have some significant contracts on the books in the short term, some for players no longer on the roster, but extensions for young players generally ramp up over time, with smaller salaries in the early years.

By 2028, only Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo have guaranteed contracts. Between now and then, significant deals for Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, James McCann, José Quintana, Luis Severino, Kodai Senga, Starling Marte, Edwin Díaz and Jeff McNeil will have wrapped up. But if the club makes a bold move, such as signing Yoshinobu Yamamoto or extending Pete Alonso, then that would obviously change things.

But given Cohen’s willingness to spend when he decides it’s warranted, they should be able to make something work with Álvarez if they consider him a core part of their next competitive window. It’s been signalled that 2024 will be a bit of a transition year as the club targets another full throttle push in 2025 and beyond. Álvarez is on pace to qualify for arbitration after that 2025 season so the club might like to get some cost certainty by agreeing to something earlier.

Extensions for players early in their careers are becoming more common. Luis Robert Jr., Eloy Jiménez and Jackson Chourio got notable guarantees before even reaching the majors while players like Corbin Carroll, Julio Rodríguez and Fernando Tatis Jr. got nine-figure guarantees with limited MLB experience.

In terms of catchers, Keibert Ruiz signed an extension with the Nationals in March. He secured a $50MM guarantee over eight years while also giving the Nats two club options. Like Álvarez now, Ruiz was also between one and two years of service at that time but was a couple of years older, going into his age-24 campaign. His results prior to that deal were also bit below those of Álvarez, both offensively and defensively, so the Mets would almost certainly have to beat that Ruiz deal to get something done with Álvarez.

There’s no real rush for the club, as Álvarez isn’t slated to qualify for arbitration until after 2025. Even if they want to get something done this winter, teams generally prefer to focus on acquisitions in the earlier parts of the offseason and leave extensions for rostered players until closer to Spring Training.

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