Mets Sign Catcher Rod Barajas to One-Year Deal

The Jose Molina signing with Toronto escalated the competition between the Rangers and Mets for catcher Rod Barajas. While both teams originally offered minor league deals, Texas bumped their offer up to a possible $1.5m, while New York offered a Major League deal worth a guaranteed ~$1m and an additional $1m in incentives. The guaranteed money and promise of more playing time won Barajas over, as he has signed with the Mets:

Barajas instantly becomes the favorite to start in New York over Omir Santos, Henry Blanco, Josh Thole and Chris Coste, and should win the job barring something unforeseen. The team will hope he can bump his OBP closer to .300, as his .258 a season ago was nothing short of disastrous, but between his power and ability behind the plate, he should nevertheless be able to offer a moderate positive contribution.

Yesterday news came out that the New York Mets had offered a minor league contract to free agent catcher Rod Barajas. Today, Jon Heyman reports that they’re not the only team in the mix:

The catcher position in Texas is open for the taking, as the favorite - Jarrod Saltalamacchia - is a question mark as he recovers from surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome. In addition to Barajas, the Rangers are also known to have interest in Jose Molina, and should they bring another catcher to camp, he will compete with Saltalamacchia, Toby Hall, and Taylor Teagarden.