While the New York Mets got a dose of bad news on Tuesday, optimism-inducing news emerged on Wednesday.
Catcher Francisco Álvarez was one of the team’s bright spots during a disappointing 2023 season. He played about as well as you could ask a catcher to in 2023, hitting .208/.284/.439 on the way. So it might be good news for Mets fans that he’s reportedly considering a contract extension.
MLB Trade Rumors wrote that Álvarez “is interested in discussing a long-term extension with the Mets.” The original report came from Newsday’s Tim Healey.
Catcher Francisco Álvarez is interested in discussing a long-term extension with the Mets, reports Tim Healey of Newsday. The club’s new president of baseball operations David Stearns spoke positively about extensions of young players in a general sense but declined to speak about an Álvarez extension specifically.
Stearns said he hopes they will have “a number” of players like Álvarez whom they can talk contract extensions and who are still young and on the path.
Extending young players has become a feature lately in Major League Baseball. Teams have inked players like Julio Rodriguez, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Corbin Carroll to long-term deals even before they get tenure. It’s always good to see the young guys get paid, and in Álvarez’s case, he may be next in line.
New York has spent on the low this offseason, acquiring players like ex-Yankees pitcher Luis Severino. They didn’t get Shohei Ohtani and may not be brazen enough to get Yoshinobu Yamamoto, either. So it will prove interesting to see where the team continues to go en route to the 2024 MLB season.
