Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud has been placed on the 10-day DL, the team announced. He has been diagnosed with a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, Tim Britton of The Athletic tweets.
Needless to say, that’s not good news for the backstop, who has dealt with a long run of injuries in his relatively short MLB career. Youngster Tomas Nido has been called up to take his spot on the active roster.
At the moment, it isn’t clear just what the course of treatment will be for d’Arnaud. But it is possible he’ll require surgery, per Britton. If it turns out he needs a Tommy John procedure, it would likely cost d’Arnaud the remainder of the season.
UCL injuries are not as devastating for position players as they are for pitchers, of course. But a full replacement would still mean a lengthy rehab timeline. Miguel Sano, for instance, missed the rest of the 2014 season after undergoing a TJ fix at the beginning of March.
At times, d’Arnaud has shown plenty of promise in the majors — especially with a .268/.340/.485 slash in his 268 plate appearances in 2015. But he has never returned to that level of productivity with the bat. In the three seasons since, d’Arnaud carries a .244/.297/.393 slash.
Entering the current season, the plan was for the Mets to share time between d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki. Now, the latter figures to occupy the primary duties behind the dish. He, too, has shown promise at times but hasn’t fully established himself as a regular to this point.
For the time being, at least, Nido will have a shot to show he, too, belongs. The former eighth-round pick, who turns 24 on Thursday, is said to be profile as a quality defender but has a less-than-certain offensive profile. Nido touched the majors last year but spent most of the season at Double-A, where he hit .232/.287/.354 over 404 plate appearances.
It’s possible that the Mets could eventually turn to Jose Lobaton, a veteran of eight MLB campaigns. The switch-hitting career reserve is available at Triple-A after signing a minors deal over the winter. Of course, he is also coming off of a brutal (.170/.248/.277) season at the plate.
The injury certainly casts some doubt on d’Arnaud’s future in the organization — particularly if it spurs a UCL replacement. He is earning $3.475MM this year with one more season of arbitration eligibility remaining.
the Mets will forever be doomed by UCL injuries.
Take out the “UCL”.
Is that supposed to be bad news? Now they finally have a catcher on the roster who might be able to throw out a runner
This just in, Mets trade for Miguel Montero.
Please no
Plenty of good pitchers on the Mets to blame for him Sucking!
Time for a band aid blue and orange. It’s the Mets universal size, “Treat one injury to create the next one”.
Too bad. Just as you were getting giddy the injury bug comes back to bite you. “It’s only an isolated situation”.
Right.
It’s foreshadowing.
Next….
You are such an idiot. Every post. Your family must be so proud of you!
This is very good news
Let’s see what Nido brings….
Injuries are never a good thing
Is that the repair Christian Vasquez came back from? He’s as good as new.
Yes but he was out for an entire year.
Poor Travis…and after he’d gotten through last season more or less unscathed.
Disgusted, but not surprised, by the “yay, great news!” comments.
You can call Detroit and trade for McCann who has a cannon for an arm but he’s a .250 hitter with 12-15 homer potential (12 last year). Tigers have a ton of young catchers to replace him albeit a year early. You only need to fork over an 18/19 year old lottery prospect because our guy AL loves the young guys with “potential” so nothing at AAA or AA will be necessary. High A ball will be enough.
the mets have a lot of in house options, no need to pull the trigger on an trade like this
They have plenty of in house options, however none are really appealing. At least now nobody can cry about Plawecki never getting a chance.
very true, let’s at least see what Nido does, and worst case scenario he bombs and you have to find other options
Jeff – Cots lists the d’Arnaud 2018 arb award number as $3.475m as opposed to $6.95m. I’d guess if Cots is correct it’d increase the chance the Mets might tender an offer this off-season though even at $3.5m for 2019 it’s an open question pending his rehab progress.
Might be it for Travis as a Met. He’d be non-tendered and maybe a midseason trade if Lucroy will happen.
“UCL injuries are not as devastating for position players as they are for pitchers, of course.”
This is a bit misleading. UCL injuries are much more devastating for catchers than for other positions.. 18 catchers have gotten TJ surgery. 17 of them saw their useful careers end shortly after, the 18th is Christian Vasquez.
Remember Wieters? Hundley?
Sorry, forgot the source
si.com/mlb/strike-zone/2014/06/17/matt-wieters-tom…
JT Realmuto would be cool on the Mets
so would Mike Piazza
How about Tebow for Realmuto? Sounds like a good deal for the fish lol lol lol
So would Jerry George
Jerry Grote
Idiot
There will be a new catcher on the Mets by July . They won’t put up with Plawecki batting .200 for a lengthy amount of time. They don’t have any viable options after him to begin with. Nido is not a major league catcher.
Plawecki will not sport a 214 babip all season, and over the last calander year he has still produced a line around-to-better than should be expected from TdA
They may grab themselves another catcher, but I think it will likely be of the backup variety
Yet another Chris O’Leary prediction proven correct. Travis throws behind the plate with a heavily exaggerated wrist twist, and ucl problems followed. Happens time and time again.
This guy is made of glass.
Any decent catchers out there that are in a last year situation that maybe could be swapped for with Harvey if Harvey shows he is on the right track come July?
Too predictable. TdA isn’t physically up to being a big league catcher. He’s going to get hurt every few months, sometimes serious sometimes less so. This might be OK if he could play the position (he can’t). This position needed to be upgraded in the offseason. Maybe Plawecki can show something with regular playing time. Either way, no crying about “bad luck” with injuries. One could bank on this. Now, will the cheapskates spend some money to bring in a real catcher, or try and carry the position.
Mets seemed to have pledged allegiance to this guy years ago no matter what happens. It was time to move on 2 years ago. Let it go and get a catcher who isn’t injury prone and can perform at above replacement level when he isn’t injured.
Agreed. I don’t think they really like him (tried to move him in a deal for a real catcher twice, and not straight up). But he was once a prospect and he’s still cheap, so they sell him to the fans as hope. Look how long it took them to acknowledge David Wright isn’t coming back before getting a 3b. When you build around a young pitching staff, it’s imperative to have a good defensive catcher or at least a veteran who understands that aspect of the job. TdA has to be concerned about his own inability to throw and hit to really be of much assistance. He’s too small (build) and lack physicality to stay healthy at that position. But, on the positive side, they did finally take care of 3b. Probably wouldn’t have it TJ Rivera hadn’t gone down.
Jose Lobaton may be the best option for the Mets. He’s a mature defense first catcher and more ideal for a Mets pitchers-first type team. This may be a blessing in disguise. The Tiger’s James McCann doesn’t have the type of pitcher report the Mets need.