Last offseason, the Mets faced a tough decision with catcher Travis d’Arnaud. The once-heralded prospect had suffered through an injury-laden career to that point, and was coming off Tommy John Surgery. d’Arnaud had been a decent catcher when healthy, but was due $3.5 million in arbitration coming off a lost season, and the Mets already had Kevin Plawecki and were looking to sign another catcher.
The team decided to tender him the contract, and still signed Wilson Ramos and Devin Mesoraco anyway. With too many catchers at the inn, the Mets needed to clear some space, so they traded away Plawecki, but remained staunchly committed to d’Arnaud despite not knowing whether he’d even be ready for the season.