KC Royals just gifted the NY Mets a chance to improve a weak point on their depth chart

When the New York Mets lost Francisco Alvarez, we knew what it meant. A heavy dose of Luis Torrens was upon us with one or two starts a week from Hayden Senger. Senger is a fine third-string option, but when you see him too often, the weaknesses come out. The longer you have to turn to him for help, the worse off you are.

There are no other internal options who’d be any better than Senger. The Mets will have to look outward. We arrive at our destination, Kansas City.

The Kansas City Royals tried the three catcher thing with rookie Carter Jensen getting regular at-bats as a DH. Fed up with it, they’ve DFA’d Elias Diaz. An All-Star in 2023, Diaz was certainly, in some ways, aided by playing half of his season with the Colorado Rockies. Even with just a .227/.261/.591 slash line this year with 2 home runs, Diaz would give the Mets more than the automatic out they’ll receive whenever Senger steps up to the plate.

Elias Diaz is someone the Mets should seek out

Although he has landed on the waiver wire, other teams will gather to try and trade for Diaz. Sandy Leon and Chadwick Tromp are the healthy catching tandem for the Atlanta Braves right now. Their greater desperation should have them pushing a little harder to land Diaz if they feel it’s necessary.

Diaz would only be temporary for the Mets, lingering on the roster until Alvarez returns. Torrens already signed his extension and while the Mets were faced with a similar circumstance several times in the past, once with Torrens arriving and Tomas Nido getting DFA’d, it isn’t exactly the same. Torrens is a near-ideal backup catcher.

What Diaz does is bring an actual big league hitter to your lineup. He has actually been better defensively in some areas as he has aged. His purpose, however, would to simply be better than Senger at the plate and close enough behind it. That shouldn't be too challenging.

Meanwhile, Senger’s defensive abilities are highly-regarded and yet the bat, which is now hitting .175 in 88 MLB plate appearances, is holding him back from any extended playing time. It’s practically a guarantee he gets pinch-hit for at some point if the Mets are trying to win games.

Diaz wouldn’t be Gary Carter coming to the Mets nor would the team even think about giving him number 8 to wear. What he can do is give the Mets more flexibility at the catcher spot and help keep Torrens from getting hurt from being overused.

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