Mets to sign Rod Barajas

MLBTradeRumors.com is reporting the New York Mets have come to a contract agreement with free agent catcher Rod Barajas. Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com was the first to tweet about this deal.

The agreement is reportedly a one year deal with a base of $1 million. It will also include up to $1 million in incentives, which apparently seem easy to attain.

The Mets had been among a number of teams to offer Barajas a minor league deal but recently decided to upgrade it to this major league deal. Barajas was apparently offered a major league deal from the Rangers worth $1.5 million, but he is taking the smaller deal from the Mets.

The Mets finished last season with the leagues worst offensive output from the catching position. Is Barajas an upgrade? His numbers last season with the Blue Jays are actually worse then the Mets output from last year. Mets catchers combined to finish the year with a stat line of .256/.305/.380. Barajas hit .226/.258/.403 last season.  He hit 19 home runs for Toronto.

Barajas joins a group of catchers all battling for the starting job. His main competition will likely be Omir Santos.

Barajas is a career .238 hitter. His best season was in 2005 when he hit .254 and 21 home runs.