Jacob deGrom has seemingly lost his “personal” catcher this week.
Noah Syndergaard may have gotten his back.
In a bizarre turn of events, Devin Mesoraco, who agreed to a minor league deal with the Mets, refused to play in the minor leagues. He is now threatening to retire, after the Mets attempted to demote him to Triple A Syracuse. The Mets plan to put Mesoraco on the restricted list, which would prevent him from joining another organization. Alternatively, the Mets could release Mesoraco from his minor-league contract
Tomas Nido was named the backup catcher to Wilson Ramos in the event that Travis d’Arnaud wouldn’t be ready for opening day.
Still looking for organizational depth at the catcher position, the Mets are working on signing Rene Rivera who previously served as a backup catcher with the club to a minor league deal. Rivera would be the number 4 catcher on the team’s depth chart.
Rivera was released by the San Francisco Giants two days ago. Rivera had a hot start to his first spring as a Giant, but he cooled off recently, finishing with a .258/.303./387 slash line.