Braves sign d'Arnaud to 2-year, $16M deal
The Atlanta Braves have signed free-agent catcher Travis d'Arnaud to a two-year, $16-million contract, the club announced Sunday.
D'Arnaud will make $8 million in each year of the deal.
The 30-year-old found his groove this past season after being dealt to the Tampa Bay Rays in May following a brief five-day stint with the Los Angeles Dodgers. D'Arnaud started the 2019 campaign with the New York Mets, for whom he had played his entire MLB career, but was released May 3.
He slashed .263/.323/.459 with 16 home runs and 67 RBIs in 92 games with the Rays and helped the club make the postseason. Tampa Bay was in talks with the catcher about a new contract before he joined Atlanta, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.
D'Arnaud finished last season in a tie for fifth in FanGraphs' defensive rating among American League backstops with at least 300 plate appearances.
Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos is familiar with the seven-year veteran. He acquired d'Arnaud in 2009 as the GM of the Toronto Blue Jays in the deal that sent Roy Halladay to the Philadelphia Phillies. He then traded the catcher to the Mets a few years later to acquire right-hander R.A. Dickey.
Anthopoulos said d'Arnaud was "right at the top" of the Braves' list and someone they were "pursuing for quite a bit of time," according to Topkin.
The Braves have spent $69 million during the offseason with the signings of d'Arnaud and relievers Will Smith and Chris Martin.