Mets, Travis d’Arnaud avoid arbitration

The Mets and catcher Travis d’Arnaud settled for $1.875 million, avoiding arbitration in his first year of eligibility. d’Arnaud is looking to bounce back after a down season, during which he hit a very modest .247/.307/.323 over 75 games.

Fans looked for d’Arnaud to solidify his offensive capabilities after an injury-marred but encouraging 2015 season in which he hit .268/.340/.485 with a 130 wRC+. Last year didn’t go much better for d’Arnaud in terms of health, as he missed 50 games with a rotator cuff strain.

There seemed to be some doubt as to d’Arnaud’s future with the team after it was speculated he would be traded before the trade deadline last year for then-Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy. The Mets seemed to commit to d’Arnaud as their starter for 2017, despite the possibility of adding free agent catchers Wilson Ramos or Matt Wieters.