Francisco Alvarez Trade Rumors Cannot Evolve Beyond the Due Diligence Stage If Mets Want to Be Taken Seriously

[Michael Reed]

Image courtesy of © Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images

To most New York Mets fans, the thought of trading young catcher Francisco Alvarez never seemed like an option. That was until Will Sammon of The Athletic mentioned that evaluators around the league believe that the Mets could get a substantial return for the former top prospect at this year's trade deadline.

It is hard to label Alvarez as a bust, but he certainly has not lived up to the sky-high expectations that were put onto him. In 2023, the top three prospects in baseball were Orioles All-Star Gunnar Henderson, Diamondbacks All-Star Corbin Carroll and then Alvarez, who certainly has not been near the level of the other two. Later that season, both Henderson and Carroll won Rookie of the Year, and Alvarez did not receive a single vote.

Across parts of five seasons in the majors, Alvarez has a .234 average with a 106 wRC+. He has been constantly sidelined with various injuries throughout his young career, with his career high in games played coming in his rookie season with 123.

There are parts of his game that are still begging for improvement, namely in terms of plate discipline. He works his fair share of walks, but he's got a bad habit of chasing outside the zone, which leads to big swing-and-miss numbers. Alvarez does a good job of negating some of that with huge exit velocity numbers and a proclivity for meeting the ball with the barrel of his bat, but he still hasn't matured in the batter's box the way most have hoped.

With that being said, I am not sure now is the time to move Alvarez. The Mets need to look at themselves in a mirror and realize they need to rebuild. One thing you should not do in a rebuild is trade a 24-year-old former top prospect with three more years of control.

The Mets also do not have many catchers in waiting if Alvarez is moved. Kevin Parada can very well be labeled as a bust as he was recently emoted from Triple-A to Double-A. Yovanny Rodriquez has been good but he is still in rookie ball and at least three years away. Luis Torrens seems like the more likely trade candidate of the two. Torrens received an extension this offseason and is still one of the most undervalued catchers in baseball. He's an elite defender who should appeal to any contender in need of a veteran backstop.

Barring a huge return, all the Mets should be doing with Alvarez is their due diligence. He is an integral part of this team, both now and in the future.

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[The Hot Corner]

The Mets have enough holes to fill, that unless the return for Alvarez was to net them an established (or MLB ready) corner infielder or starting pitcher, I don't see it being worthwhile to move him.  Accumulating more prospects, that are 2-3 years away from being MLB contributors, does not help to improve this team for 2026.  

Regarding Alvarez, I believe that pitch recognition and cutting down on his swing appear to be the things he most needs to improve if he is to better fulfill the promise of his early prospect ratings.   He is strong enough that he does not need to swing so violently at every pitch.  I feel he should work on going with the outside pitch and hitting it to the RCF alley.