After signing Craig Kimbrel to a one-year minor league deal a few days ago, the Mets are taking a flyer on Austin Barnes, a 36-year-old catcher who spent last August in the minor leagues but brings a winning pedigree to Queens. Stearns loves a good scrapheap find, and these two come with enough jewelry to fill a safe.
Kimbrel is the headline name because he’s a future Hall of Famer with 440 saves and a resume that includes more All-Star appearances than most players have healthy seasons. Last year was a weird one for him.
He was a disaster in Baltimore, got dumped, then somehow found a second wind in Houston with a 2.25 ERA over a small sample. Does he have anything left in that right arm? Probably not enough to close games over Devin Williams, but on a minor league deal, who cares? If he’s cooked, you cut him in March and move on.
The Barnes Insurance Policy
Then there is Barnes. The Dodgers finally moved on from their long-tenured backstop last May, and a brief stint with the Giants organization didn’t exactly scream “renaissance.” He hit a meager .214 in his final 44 plate appearances in Los Angeles before falling off the map. You look at those numbers and wonder why the Mets are even bothering.
The answer is simple: Francisco Alvarez is the franchise, but his health is a massive question mark after that injury-plagued 2025 campaign. Behind him, Luis Torrens is a reliable enough backup, but one foul tip to the mask changes the entire depth chart. Barnes is essentially a human insurance policy with two World Series rings. He brings a career 85 wRC+ that, while underwhelming for a corner outfielder, is perfectly serviceable for a guy who knows how to navigate a pitching staff through a pennant race.
Depth Over Everything
People forget that Barnes was once an elite pitch framer. Even at 36, his ability to steal strikes and communicate with a veteran rotation is worth the invite to Port St. Lucie. He’s currently buried behind Hayden Senger, not to mention Alvarez and Torrens, but experience has a way of rising to the top when the pressure of June and July starts cooking. New York isn’t asking him to be Mike Piazza; they’re asking him to be the adult in the room if the wheels fall off the younger options.
The Mets are clearly building a roster meant for a deep October run. You don’t sign Kimbrel and Barnes if you’re rebuilding. You sign them because you’ve seen what happens when a team runs out of veteran arms and steady hands in the final two months of the season.
It’s a gamble on pedigree over recent production. If even one of these guys contributes ten meaningful innings or five solid starts behind the dish, the minor league deals will look like a masterstroke.
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