The Atlanta Braves have agreed to a two-year, $16 million deal with free agent catcher Travis d'Arnaud, the club officially announced on Sunday afternoon.
D'Arnaud, 30, had an interesting 2019 season. He started with the Mets and was just 2 for 23 before he was released. The Dodgers picked him up and after just one plate appearance, sold him to the Rays.
With the Rays, d'Arnaud regained his footing as a big-league caliber catcher. In 92 games, he hit .263/.323/.459 with 16 doubles, 16 homers and 67 RBI. He was also slightly above average on throwing out would-be basestealers (28 percent with the league average being 27 percent) and settled just around league average in framing metrics.
In all, it's reasonable to expect d'Arnaud to settle in as a quality backstop for a full season with the Braves.
With Brian McCann retiring, it appears that Tyler Flowers and d'Arnaud will split time behind the plate and the hunch here is d'Arnaud is the primary starter with Flowers being the backup who gets the nod two to three times a week. Flowers is an exceptional framer, but is a sub-par hitter, led the majors with 16 passed balls last season and doesn't have a good arm.
The Braves have been the most active team this offseason by a mile. In addition to d'Arnaud, they've already re-signed relievers Darren O'Day and Chris Martin, while also agreeing to a three-year, $40 million deal with lefty reliever Will Smith.
The White Sox signed Yasmani Grandal last week, and d'Arnaud was one of the best catchers remaining on the free agent market. Robinson Chirinos is now the top catcher remaining and likely the last one that could be counted on as a primary starter. After Chirinos, it's Alex Avila, Yan Gomes and Francisco Cervelli].