Jets reuniting with Geno Smith would be like the NY Mets trading for this ex-player

Some sports headlines make fans celebrate. Others make fans stare at their phones for a second, wondering if the front office is secretly filming a prank show. That was the mood around New York today when the Jets reunited with Geno Smith. This move prompted parts of the fan base to react with disbelief and more than a few sarcastic jokes about whether the team had quietly decided to punt the season before it even started. Even the New York Mets fan base knows that particular brand of sports sarcasm.

For Mets fans, there is a perfect baseball version that can illicit that feeling. A player acquisition that makes a fan base throw its hands up and laugh in that “of course this is happening to us” kind of way. Not anger. Not outrage. Just the exhausted sarcasm that comes from a fan base that has seen a few too many confusing decisions over the years.

Mets fans can picture the reaction if Travis d’Arnaud suddenly returned to Queens

Keith Hernandez actually summed up the mood perfectly during the Mets broadcast earlier today. When the Geno Smith news came up, Hernandez turned to Steve Gelbs and joked, “Steve, are you OK? I can take over for you for a half inning if you want.” The booth cracked up because the joke captured the exact tone Jets fans were showing online.

Mets fans watching did not need much explanation for why the line landed. Longtime baseball fans know the feeling Hernandez was poking at. Every organization has had highly regarded prospects who arrived with big expectations but never quite became the player everyone imagined. That is the type of situation the comparison points toward.

Back in 2012, the Mets thought they were landing their catcher of the future when Travis d’Arnaud arrived from the Blue Jays in the trade that sent R.A. Dickey to Toronto. He came with real buzz, too. D’Arnaud was MLB’s No. 17-ranked prospect and widely viewed as the best catching prospect in baseball, a player expected to bring offense to a position that rarely produces it.

Instead, Mets fans mostly got a crash course in patience. Injuries kept interrupting his time in Queens, and the playing time never quite stabilized. From 2014 through 2018, d’Arnaud played more than 100 games only twice. The toughest stretch came in 2018 when he appeared in just four games before needing Tommy John surgery.

When he was on the field, the results never matched expectations. Over seven seasons with the Mets, d’Arnaud posted a .242 batting average with a .303 on-base percentage and a 97 OPS+. He finished that span with 47 home runs and 164 RBIs. Useful production, but not exactly the star catcher many imagined when the trade happened.

Of course, Mets fans know how these stories sometimes twist after a player leaves Queens. D’Arnaud resurfaced with the Atlanta Braves in 2020 and promptly hit .321 with a .909 OPS in the shortened season. In a funny way, that part even mirrors Geno Smith a bit, who managed to put together a couple of solid seasons in Seattle after his time with the Jets.

David Stearns trading for D’Arnaud from the Angels and installing him as the starting catcher would bring the same chorus of groans. The kind where Mets fans throw their hands up, fire off a few choice words in the group chat, and start wondering if the front office is trying to torpedo the season.