Heyman | Why aren’t Mets addressing catcher situation?

The New York Mets did a great job adding key pieces over the winter. But to this point, they have been oddly unaggressive in addressing the catching situation.

It isn’t easy to make a good trade this early in the season, and that’s especially true when other teams sense desperation. But the Mets haven’t seemed as desperate as they should be.

Rival executives suggest they don’t have enough to make a serious run at Marlins star catcher J.T. Realmuto (the suggestion of Michael Conforto in this space two weeks ago didn’t go over big, so how about Brandon Nimmo plus others?), and it’s possible the Marlins may not be anxious to trade him after their ownership made such a point out of suggesting they aren’t taking and could actually contend (though everyone knows they can’t contend).

The other choices aren’t nearly as exciting – though they’d certainly be upgrades. The Met may not want to take on Wilson Ramos’ high salary. Word is the Diamondbacks don’t wish to break up their trio of Alex Avila, Jeff Mathis and John Ryan Murphy. And when someone suggested to the Indians that Yan Gomes or Roberto Perez might help the Mets, one Indians person is said to have retorted, “We’re not a farm team for the Mets.”

In the meantime, the Mets are trying to get by with journeyman Jose Lobaton and recently promoted rookie Tomas Nido, who are struggling on both sides of the ball. The hope is that Kevin Plawecki will be back in a couple weeks. But the reality is that he is unproven, too, and is no certain answer.

It might behoove the Mets to at least sign one of the remaining free agent catchers: one of Miguel Montero, Geovany Soto, Ryan Hanigan or Carlos Ruiz. They can’t be any worse.