Chirinos has been bothered by an ankle injury for much of the season, and ultimately had a 10-day stint on the injured list to completely recuperate prior to returning to action last week. Its safe to presume that Chirinos awful.119/.224/.143 slash line over 49 PA is at least partly the result of that ankle issue, as the 36-year-old backstop has been a far more powerful player over the last 6 seasons with the Rangers and Astros. Chirinos hit.235/.331/.445 with 84 homers over 1953 plate appearances from 2014-19.
The Mets have acquired catcher Robinson Chirinos and infielder Todd Frazier in a set of trades with the Rangers, The Athletics Ken Rosenthal (Twitter links). Texas will receive a player to be named later in return for Chirinos, according to MLB.coms Mark Feinsand (Twitter link). The Rangers have officially revealed the offers, revealing that they will also get a player to be named later for Frazier, and some cash will be sent to New York to complete the Chirinos offer– Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reported that those money factors to consider will amount to $360K.
Chirinos might also be on the Mets radar for 2021, as the catcher has a $6.5 MM club option on his services for next season ($ 1MM buyout). Its a reasonable cost based on his past performance history, though Chirinos will need to get on track at the plate or else the Mets may decline to work out that choice and seek a less-expensive catcher on the free market. (Or, speculatively, possibly a far more costly catcher if a change in ownership implies the Mets have more dollars to invest in big-ticket skill like J.T. Realmuto.).
Anything near to that kind of production would be a good boon for the Mets, who have received little bit from Wilson Ramos at the plate this year. With Tomas Nido on the IL, the Mets were thin on alternatives behind the plate, and now could utilize both Chirinos and Ramos in something of a timeshare in September.
Of note, J.D. Davis has actually been hindered over the last couple of video games with a small hip issue, so Fraziers addition could be a specific depth include for third base if Davis has to miss out on any significant time.
