The Disappointing Mets Career of Travis d’Arnaud
The Mets designated Travis d’Arnaud for assignment on Sunday, likely bringing an end to one of the more disappointing Mets careers in recent memory.
d’Arnaud came to the Mets with much fanfare — the centerpiece of the trade with the Blue Jays for fan favorite and Cy Young award winner R.A. Dickey. We were told he was going to be the latest in a long line of All-Star catchers for the Mets. It obviously didn’t work out, and if the Mets did not get Noah Syndergaard in the deal, the trade would have been worthless.
Quite simply, d’Arnaud just could not stay healthy. He topped 100 games only twice in his seven seasons with the team, spending much more time on the former DL than on the field. And even when he was healthy, he was mediocre, at best. And his work behind the plate was nothing to write home about.
d’Arnaud should not have been tendered a contract at all following last season, one in which he played just four games before needing Tommy John surgery on this throwing arm. Instead, the Mets stuck with him for some reason, agreeing to pay him three and a half million dollars. Even during Spring Training when the Mets could have cut him loose and paid him a fraction of that salary, they stubbornly refused. Now they are on the hook for the entire thing, unless somehow another team trades for him. Major rookie mistake by Brodie Van Wagenen.
In any case, we have probably seen the last of Travis d’Arnaud in a Mets uniform. Sad, really, how it all played out.
Tendering him a contract was a smart move at the time. Without him, the team would have had Plawecki and Nido as their only catchers. D’Arnaud, when healthy, was better than Plawecki, so it made good baseball sense to tender him a contract. If he didn’t make it back in time, he could start the year on the DL until he was ready.
You had no guarantee that you could sign anyone better. And you couldn’t risk sending him down — he might not clear waivers.
Of course, it turned out to be a bad decision in retrospect, but no one knew that in November, so it was clearly a solid option. It just didn’t work out.