After the Mets lost a brutal game to the Giants where an Anthony Recker bad throw to first base could not complete a strikeout of Angel Pagan helped lead the Giants towards a win, Travis d’Arnaud was sent down to AAA.
Roster note: The Mets option Travis d'Arnaud to Las Vegas (AAA).
— New York Mets (@Mets) June 8, 2014
Lets be honest folks, d’Arnaud has been basically over matched for most of his time here with the Mets.
Although his defense is certainly better than what most expected, his bat has been slow to develop to the level the Mets expected.
His slash line in just over 220 AB’s is .189/.277/.269/.548
Those numbers, in what is about a half of seasons worth of at bats, is pretty terrible. It certainly doesn’t mean that he can’t get better, he easily could, but for the time being he is going to try to get back on track at AAA instead of with the Mets.
I believe that the Mets rushed d’Arnaud to the Majors last season after their plan to have him get 300 or more AB’s in AAA were derailed by a foot injury.
He certainly hit well with a slash line at Vegas in the time he was there with both Toronto and New York with a slash line of.328/.402/.588/.990.
The problem from what I see is that he missed the 2nd half of 2012 with a knee injury and had less than 60 AB’s last season because of the aforementioned foot injury.
You miss nearly a whole year of AAA ball due to injury and then get the call up and are expected to be a big time part of the offense?
I think that is a pretty outrageous expectations and it is not shocking that he failed in his first go-round and is headed back to AAA.
So who will replace d’Arnaud?
Catcher Taylor Teagarden had his contract selected from Las Vegas (AAA).
— New York Mets (@Mets) June 8, 2014
Yeah, I honestly don’t even care enough to break down what Teagarden will bring to the Mets. He had an opt-out in his contract for June 15th and the Mets obviously didn’t want to lose him and figured d’Arnuad needs more time in AAA.
It has been a shame to watch the Mets catching situation become a black hole for this team since Mike Piazza left, but that’s the reality of the situation.
It sucks, but hopefully d’Arnaud can get himself back on track in AAA and in the majors, when he is ready.
