Mets cannot afford to carry three catchers on Opening Day

Carrying three catchers on the Opening Day roster is a bad idea for the New York Mets and a roster decision they cannot afford to do.

The New York Mets may open the 2019 season with three catchers. Rather than use one of their bench spots for a typical combination of one catcher, two infielders, and two outfielders, they may go the route of employing three backstops.

The trio of Wilson Ramos, Travis d’Arnaud, and Devin Mesoraco are the men we would see make up the catcher core. Ramos is the unquestioned starter with d’Arnaud and Mesoraco competing for the backup role.

Mesoraco is on a minor league deal, which means optioning him to Triple-A is possible. The situation with d’Arnaud isn’t as easy. He’s on a major league contract and removing him from the 40-man roster is a bigger challenge.

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I, for lack of a stronger word, detest the idea of a team carrying three catchers. It’s a waste. In an era when teams will sometimes even carry an extra relief pitcher, having three catchers on the MLB roster is too much.

According to David Lennon of Newsday, Mesoraco was taking groundballs at first base and working there during infield practice. There are a few ways to look at this. One of them includes adding some more versatility to Mesoraco’s arsenal. As a catcher who can also play first base, he’s no longer technically limited to just one position. The team would have another option at first base which I’m not so sure they actually really even need.

The Mets already have Pete Alonso and Dominic Smith as healthy options for Opening Day at first base. If Todd Frazier can ever heal, he’s a candidate as well.

I find it interesting to see Mesoraco as the catcher the Mets are trying out at first base. The biggest reason why they brought him back, at least I thought, was because of how well he handled the pitchers in 2018. Specifically, it was the way Mesoraco worked with Jacob deGrom.

Mesoraco’s bat isn’t nearly strong enough to justify a first base gig. In his 8 big league seasons, he has one productive year at the plate with a batting average above .240. Even last year, with plenty of opportunities with New York, he stroked only .222/.306/.409 in 229 plate appearances.

My personal preference would be to move on from d’Arnaud, but I’m not confident the Mets will do so. Given this, I would prefer to see him work at first base and possibly even the other corner positions on the baseball field. If I had my way, though, he would have been non-tendered back in November and the Mets could enter the year with a more traditional-looking roster.

It’s all still speculation at this time and the Opening Day rosters hardly account for what the Mets will look like throughout 2019. Let’s not forget, Zack Wheeler and Brandon Nimmo both spent time in the minor leagues last year.

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Although the Boston Red Sox carried three catchers for most of 2018, none of them produced well at the plate and Blake Swihart played almost as much in the outfield as he did behind the plate. Because they couldn’t part ways with him, an ongoing storyline for the Red Sox was his roster spot. If the Mets do choose to carry three catchers, I expect the results to be worse because of their presence in the National League where it’s more important to have a strong bench for pinch hitters and double-switches.