The Mets and Travis d'Arnaud have avoided arbitration ahead of Friday's deadline, as the catcher signed a one-year, $1.875 million deal, according to a report from Jon Heyman of Fan Rag Sports.
The deal is the largest of the 27-year-old's career, but still a cost-effective option for a team that's been acting a bit cash-strapped since signing Yoenis Cespedes.
D'Arnaud turns 28 next month and is coming off the worst season of his four-year career. He had a slash line of .247/.307/.323 in 75 games and consistently lost playing time to Rene Rivera down the stretch.
The Mets are hoping for similar production from his 2015 campaign, where he batted .268, with 12 home runs and 41 RBIs in just 67 games. He's also one of the best pitch framers in baseball, according to FanGraphs, though he's slightly below average when it comes to throwing out base-stealers. He threw out 22 percent last year (the league average is around 29 percent), and has averaged 23 percent in his career.
The Mets clearly had every intention of betting on d'Arnaud after passing on Matt Wieters in free agency, despite the fact that d'Arnaud has suffered from injuries for the majority of his career. D'Arnaud had a broken hand and a sprained elbow in 2015, and strained his rotator cuff last year.
