2) Omar Narvaez
From the start, this felt like the wrong move to make for one very clear reason: a player option for the second year. It’s not that Omar Narvaez was coming off of a poor season that had this already tasting bitter, but more so how the Mets felt the need to put the control in his hands. Signed prior to the 2023 season, Narvaez was meant to carry the catcher spot until Francisco Alvarez was deemed fully MLB ready. An early-season injury pushed Narvaez to the side and Alvarez was rushed to the major leagues where he performed well enough that when Narvaez was healthy he became the veteran backup.
Year one featured Narvaez hitting .211 in 146 plate appearances. His second season was even worse with a .154 batting average in 69 trips to the plate. He didn’t make it through the end of May during a period when the Mets made several major changes to their roster. A trade for Luis Torrens pushed Narvaez into free agency.
Most frustrating of all was how Narvaez couldn’t throw out runners. 33 stolen bases were successful against him and only 2 were caught; the first being a pickoff by Jake Diekman.
The Mets ended up paying him $15 million over two years to 77 games and hit .192 while being a liability behind the plate. It was bad on a one-year deal, made even worse by the failed foresight of realizing how ready Alvarez already was.