Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Should the Mets trade d'Arnaud?

Travis d'Arnaud's rookie season wasn't exactly mind-blowing, as he hit .202 with 1 home run and 5 RBI in 31 games. Of-course, it would be incredibly unfair to judge a player on 100+ plate appearances, so the idea of trading him does not relate to that. My thought process is: you have to give up something to get something, and d'Arnaud's value is still relatively high. 

Now, the Mets brought in d'Arnaud to fill the huge hole at catcher, so at a quick glance trading him would seem idiotic. However, I'm personally very high on a catching prospect by
the name of Kevin Plawecki, a 22 year old backstop who was chosen by the Mets in the 1st round of the 2012 Amateur Draft. Plawecki finished the 2013 season in Single-A Savannah, where he hit .294 with a .391 on-base percentage. The Purdue University product has a high ceiling, and the Mets will need to make a long-term decision about him. He'll like start the 2014 season in Double-A, and earn a promotion to Triple-A by the summer. While he doesn't possess the power stroke that d'Arnaud has, he is still a solid presence at the plate and an above average defender.

I did like what I saw from d'Arnaud in his first taste of the big leagues, but if the Mets want to make a splash this winter, they are going to need to trade a big named prospect. Whether that is d'Arnaud, Wheeler, Montero, or Syndergaard remains to be seen, but my point being is that d'Arnaud may be more expendable then we think. 


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