With teams looking for catching help at the trade deadline, the New York Mets could find a new home for Devin Mesoraco.
While the big names in the New York Mets organization continued to get rumored in potential trade deadline deals (Steven Matz, Zack Wheeler, Noah Syndergaard), Devin Mesoraco’s play in New York could be a name that brings the organization some more minor league depth as he will be a free agent next year.
Since coming to New York from the Cincinnati Reds in the Matt Harvey deal, Mesoraco has a slash line of .242/.331/.450 with seven home runs and 18 RBIs in 39 games. While his passed ball numbers have gone up (five), he has thrown out six of 18 runners trying to steal against him this season.
Pitching has been the storyline of this trade deadline season, but there are a good amount of quality catchers on the market this July whether it be J.T. Realmuto of the Marlins or Wilson Ramos of the Rays. There are plenty of teams that can use help at catcher.
For example, the Houston Astros have Brian McCann on the disabled list with a knee injury, the Boston Red Sox just lost Christian Vazquez to a fracture in his finger, and the Washington Nationals could use a backup catcher to help out Matt Wieters when he returns from injury.
Mesoraco is not up there with Realmuto and Ramos, but there’s something to say about a catcher that came into the organization midseason and has been able to learn the pitchers on the fly. He has provided some stability behind the plate for an organization that needed it in the worst way.
Most of Mesoraco’s power has come in the latter stages of games this year and that could provide value for any team in postseason contention. His six home runs in the seventh inning or later this year is tied with Asdrubal Cabrera for the most long balls on the team.
Since the Reds are paying the rest of Mesoraco’s salary this year, then any team will be looking to take a flyer on him and the Mets could at least get a decent prospect in return. On Friday, John Ricco talked about how they are looking to get players in the upper levels of minor league systems. Here is what he told Laura Albanese of Newsday on Friday:
In a “perfect world,” he said, the Mets would be looking at players from Double-A and up, with an eye toward players who can contribute almost immediately. “Our goal is not to have the best farm system,” he said. “Our goal is to have the best team.”
Last year, we saw the New York Mets get mainly relievers at the trade deadline and their goal this year should be to try to replenish the upper depth of the farm system so they are more prepared when injuries happen. Plus, a trade for Mesoraco would allow Tomas Nido to catch more in the second half so the organization can see if he’s the future or if they need to go in a different direction this winter.
With Mesoraco a free agent at the end of the year and costing very little in terms of money to another club, the Mets need to find a way to get some value for Mesoraco between now and the July 31 deadline.
