Francisco Alvarez Giving Mets More Reason to Consider Winter Trade

One of the luxuries that comes with being a former top prospect in baseball is patience. Teams are more willing to wait the distance with highly touted players once deemed the very future of the sport. That's certainly been the case with Francisco Alvarez and the New York Mets.

Once deemed the No. 1 prospect in all of baseball, and the future franchise catcher of the Mets, Alvarez has yet to really live up to that lofty billing. Sure, he's shown flashes of his high-end potential, but he's also displayed a whole bunch of ugly warts. For instance, he has struggled to stay healthy throughout his Major League career, while he's also not produced at nearly enough of a consistent level.

Still, the Mets have never been willing to give up on Alvarez due to his ability to be a real X-factor for this team thanks to his raw power. That was proven at the trade deadline when the front office decided not to trade Alvarez despite there being interest. However, now mired in a prolonged and troubling slump, could the Mets be more willing to listen on their catcher come the offseason?

Would a fresh start be best for both the Mets and Francisco Alvarez this coming winter?

There are many people out there who still believe in Alvarez, and that same crowd felt strongly that the catcher was worth keeping at the deadline due to his undoubted ability. With that said, we do have to see that talent on a consistent basis at some point, and there's now a larger enough sample size to suggest that it may just never happen.

For instance, Alvarez is hitting just .145/.272/.246/.518 with one home run over his last 21 games. If you want a little more context behind just how pronounced the catcher's current struggles are, then he's slashing a lowly .065/.147/.097/.244 with no homers and one extra-base hit over his last nine games. That's more than a skid; that's a player clearly devoid of any confidence right now.

Then there are the strikeouts. Alvarez has struck out 28 times in his last 63 plate appearances, including seven times in his last three games alone. If you want to widen the lens a little further, Alvarez has struck out at least two times in 11 of the 17 games he's played in August, while striking out three times in five of those contests.

It isn't just striking out at a very high clip that is the problem; it is also how Alvarez looks while striking out so much that should spark real concern for the Mets. Despite now being an established Major Leaguer, the catcher lacks any kind of discipline at the plate. He swings at almost everything, he is no good when it comes to situational hitting, and he fails to show any ability whatsoever to adjust on the fly at the plate.

Furthermore, it isn't like Alvarez offers a whole lot of value behind the plate, either. He struggles to keep pitches in front of him, and he has regressed defensively as a catcher. His failure to consistently block balls in the dirt continues to be a real problem.

When you consider the upwards trajectory of Luis Torrens, who has proved incredibly reliable behind the plate while being able to offer consistent pop offensively, then it is fair to question just how long the Mets can continue to stomach Alvarez's hot and cold spells. While he does have the ability to take over games with his power, we haven't seen that in a while now and this current slump just continues to underline his many flaws.

Talent and potential in a young player is always intoxicating, and that's especially the case with Alvarez. However, if he can't halt this current slide and if Torrens continues to ascend the rest of the way this season, then maybe exploring a trade for Alvarez in the offseason would become more appealing.

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