The Mets are a week from the trade deadline, and Francisco Alvarez has become one of the more interesting names in their decision-making.
On the surface, the 24-year-old catcher has put together a respectable season at the plate. He’s batting .260 with 12 home runs, 26 RBI and a .781 OPS in 70 games.
But the numbers underneath the surface tell a different story. Alvarez owns an OPS+ of 106, which puts him only a little above league average, and his defense has slipped enough to drag his overall value down to just 0.6 WAR.
That matters because Luis Torrens, despite an ugly .604 OPS, has produced 1.3 WAR in 64 games thanks to his work behind the plate. The Mets recently extended Torrens for two years, and that gives them some flexibility to live with his bat if they can improve elsewhere in the lineup.
That’s where Alvarez enters the conversation. He still has three years of club control after this season, and in a market that is short on catching, he could bring back a serious return if the Mets decided to listen.
Saturday night may have sharpened that thinking. The Washington Nationals made a surprising move with the Boston Red Sox, sending Curtis Mead to Boston for Connelly Early.
Mead had hit .254 with 17 homers, 48 RBI and an .852 OPS, but Washington still turned that half-season into a pitcher who started in last season’s Wild Card series for the Red Sox. That kind of return is the kind of reminder that a catcher with Alvarez’s profile can carry real trade value.
That doesn’t mean the Mets should deal him just to deal him. Moving a 24-year-old catcher for a pile of prospects would be a mistake. But if the goal is to improve the roster for 2027, Alvarez could be the best chip they have.
The Minnesota Twins are one possible match, especially if they move Ryan Jeffers before the deadline. They do have Victor Caratini and Alex Jackson as a workable platoon, which could open the door for the Mets to ask about ace Joe Ryan in a deal built around Alvarez.
Ryan is a free agent after next season, so he would give the Mets a front-line starter with a chance to be extended this winter. That kind of move could also free up prospect capital for another swing, perhaps a run at Baltimore Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman.
Rutschman is also a free agent after next season, and the Orioles may not view him as essential long term with Samuel Basallo already on a long-term deal. If the Mets ended up with Ryan and Rutschman instead of Alvarez, they could be better positioned for 2027 than if they simply held onto their current catcher.
With Hunter Goodman unlikely to move, Alvarez may end up as the second-best catcher available behind Jeffers. If the market pushes the right way and the Mets can land a meaningful upgrade somewhere else on the roster, they’d be hard-pressed not to at least explore it.
In Other News...
Mets Just Gave A Top Young Arm A Bigger Test
Jonathan Santuccis rise through the Mets system has taken another step, with the left-hander moving up to Triple-A Syracuse after spending the season at Double-A. Ranked by MLB Pipeline as the organizations second-best prospect, Santucci has kept building his case with a mix of results and growth, putting together a 3.57 ERA while showing the kind of strikeout stuff that has made him one of the more intriguing arms in the pipeline.
The promotion gives the Mets a bigger stage to evaluate him against more advanced hitters, and it comes at a time when his recent work has started to look sharper. Santucci has been missing bats in bunches, including a season-high 13-strikeout outing and another start with double-digit punchouts, and his last stretch at Double-A suggested he was ready for the next challenge. If he keeps trending in that direction, he could start forcing a real conversation about where he fits in a future major league rotation. [Read more 🡒]
Mets May Finally Have A Way Out Of Sean Manaeas Contract
Sean Manaeas contract has become one of the more interesting roster questions hanging over the Mets this summer, and the reason is simple enough: he is expensive, the club has been looking for ways to create flexibility, and the rotation picture keeps evolving. Moving him would not just trim payroll, it would also open another lane for younger arms to push into the mix as the team keeps sorting out its next wave of starters.
The possibility is still only a rumor, but it has enough smoke to make the idea worth watching closely. Any deal would likely be driven more by the Mets desire to clear salary than by the kind of return that changes the organizations outlook, and that is the part that makes this situation feel unfinished. For now, it is less about a completed trade than about whether the Mets finally have a realistic path to getting out from under the contract. [Read more 🡒]
Mets May Have An Exit Path From Costly Jorge Polanco Gamble
Jorge Polanco was supposed to help stabilize first base for the Mets after arriving on a two-year, $40 million deal, but the move has not come close to paying off. Signed despite limited experience at the position and brought in as the replacement for Pete Alonso, Polanco has spent much of 2026 battling his body as much as opposing pitchers, opening with an Achilles issue and then landing on the injured list in mid-April with a wrist injury that wiped out nearly three months before his return before the All-Star break.
The bigger problem for the Mets is that the production has not followed the health. In 25 games, Polanco is hitting .149 with one home run and a .431 OPS, a line that makes any kind of midseason escape route complicated even before the contract is factored in. If the Mets are going to find a way out of the gamble, they may need a market willing to bet on a rebound rather than the player he has been so far. [Read more 🡒]