Are 3 catchers better than 1 Daniel Vogelbach?

Omar Narvaez is expected to return from the IL early next week. The end of Tomas Nido on the New York Mets roster is approaching.

Or is it?

There has been some thought the Mets could carry three catchers. Narvaez and Francisco Alvarez can share the duties behind the plate with the other getting frequent at-bats as the DH. Nido would serve as the backup because when you have a catcher hitting in the DH spot you need some safety net in case of an injury.

This creates a whole new kind of question the Mets will have to answer within the next few days; are three catchers better than one Daniel Vogelbach?

The Mets can carry 3 catchers or 1 Daniel Vogelbach on their roster when Omar Narvaez returns

Vogelbach is redundant on a roster when two of your catchers are sharing the DH duties. One could argue he already is a bit useless. Any offense-exclusive player that doesn’t provide much offense and is a zero against left-handed pitchers needs to be something pretty special to remain on a major league roster. At the very least, he needs to have everyone else around him performing at a high level and picking up his slack.

This isn’t the scenario with Vogelbach.

Vogelbach has been dragged through the mud the last few weeks and for good reason. The frustration of seeing him look for a single reached a point where even Jose Reyes had to make mention of it on Twitter. In the right situation, Vogelbach can be useful. This isn’t it.

The debate here is whether or not the Mets are a better team with Nido essentially doing the same thing except providing even less offense. Burning a roster spot on a catcher you don’t want to play all that frequently has its own issues. Considering Michael Perez has minor league options and is currently sitting in Triple-A, it’s almost pointless to keep Nido around for the sake of a weekly start and more the moment one of the regulars gets hurt.

Choosing Nido over Vogelbach weakens the offense against right-handed pitchers. Picking Vogelbach over Nido limits the Mets in utilizing Alvarez or Narvaez as the DH at all.

How should the Mets decide here? It might come down to who they think is a better hitter, Narvaez or Vogelbach. They haven’t seen enough of Narvaez to really make a decision. With Vogelbach, they might already have their answer. Most fans do.