The Mets are not planning to trade Luis Torrens on deadline day, narrowing the catcher market around a player they still view as one of the best defensive catchers in the game. With several teams looking for catching, that stance leaves Francisco Alvarez as the more plausible Mets catcher to move.
That matters because the Mets have been active in adding minor leaguers during the MLB trade deadline period, but the returns so far have been underwhelming. No player the Mets have acquired has entered their top 10, which is why a deal built around Alvarez would carry a different kind of weight than the moves they have already made.
Torrens, who was extended for two more seasons, is the steadier piece of the two. Alvarez was once regarded as a top prospect in the sport, and he has grown into a really good and powerful hitter. This season, he has also shown signs of being far more well-rounded, which only makes the decision more complicated if the Mets decide they need to turn a catcher into trade value.
There is still a clear reason Alvarez keeps coming up. The market is pushing teams toward catching, and the Mets have no plans to move Torrens even with that demand in place. That leaves the younger catcher as the name that makes more sense if David Stearns decides the club should turn one of its catchers into the kind of prospect return he has been waiting to add all summer.
The problem is that the Mets have already learned how thin the deadline market can be when they are trying to add. A trade built around Alvarez could bring back the sort of package they have not yet landed, but it would also mean moving on from a player who has spent this season showing more of the complete game that made him such a prized talent in the first place.
So the question now is less about Torrens than about how far the Mets are willing to go to change the shape of their roster before the deadline closes. If they do make a catcher move, all signs point to Alvarez being the one at the center of it.
