While announcing the Craig Kimbrel signing that had already been reported upon, the Mets also revealed another low-stakes acquisition of a veteran player. The team has inked long-time Dodgers catcher Austin
Barnes to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training.
The 36-year-old Barnes had spent over a decade in the Dodgers organization, dating back to being acquired in a trade from the Marlins in 2014. He made his big league debut in 2015 and—outside from an outlier 2017 season in which he put up a 142 wRC+ and 3.7 fWAR—has largely served as a glove-first backup catcher. He was finally released by Los Angeles last May and was subsequently signed by the Giants the following month. Barnes had a brief unremarkable stint in San Francisco’s minor league system before he was released by them in August.
Now Barnes will try to find a new home with the Mets. Of course, assuming Francisco Alvarez and Luis Torrens remain healthy, the odds of him breaking camp with the team are virtually non-existent. Barnes will instead likely be battling with Hayden Senger—himself a glove-first backstop with little to no offensive prowess, but one who has the benefit of youth—to serve as the team’s third catcher option in case one of their top two guys go down at any point. If he does not win that battle, then he may well ultimately find himself being released by a third team in the near future.
