So, essentially we lost both our catchers in the same day.
We received the news Thursday morning that Travis d’Arnaud tore his UCL in his right elbow. That night Kevin Plawecki was hit in the hand by a 100 MPH fastball. Initial X-rays came back negative, but an MRI today revealed a hairline fracture.
Kevin Plawecki is expected to miss 3-4 weeks with the injury. Additionally, Travis d’Arnaud opted to undergo Tommy John surgery so he will certainly miss the entire season. (His time with the Mets may be done as well.)
Uh-oh.
I wrote yesterday that Kevin Plawecki would need to either sink or swim. If nothing else, that would let us know if Plawecki is someone we can rely on at the position. Well, we are going to need to wait for that.
Tomas Nido is already here with the Mets, and they called up Jose Lobatòn from Vegas as well. (In a corresponding move, they recalled Brandon Nimmo and sent Jacob Rhame down.)
Lobatòn was awful last year with the Nationals. He hit .170 over 141 at bats. Let’s just call a spade a spade. Lobaton is not good. He sports a career .218 average. He is not the answer.
Is Tomas Nido the answer? Maybe. I’m intrigued by his defense to the point where I’d want him to start and hope his bat materializes at the professional level.
Play Nido. It’s not like we lost Buster Posey. We will have some excellent defense behind the plate for once, and it’s not such a ridiculous notion that Nido could put up comparable numbers to d’Arnaud and Plawecki.
The lineup for tonight’s game against Milwaukee has Josè Lobatòn catching and hitting 8th. Unfortunately, the Mets want to go the veteran route.
Rumor has it that the Mets have reached out to the Marlins today, inquiring about J.T Realmuto. Well, that’s something. I’m a huge Realmuto fan. That would definitely solve our catching problem.
What would the Marlins want though? If the Yankees were to call, Jeter might do it for Ellsbury. We would most likely need to give the Marlins a haul. Keep in mind the Mets farm system isn’t exactly stacked with top level prospects and it might be a little difficult.
So, I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. As of right now, we have Tomas Nido and Josè Lobatòn.
With that being said, I repeat, PLAY TOMAS NIDO. Let’s be real. With Lobatón in the lineup we essentially have two pitcher spots. Let’s play the kid with potential.