The Mets have signed Devin Mesoraco to a minor league deal with an invitation to major league spring training, th e team announced Thursday.

"Devin is greatly respected among our pitching staff and is extremely well prepared," Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen said in a statement. "We are hopeful he can contribute in 2019."

The signing of Mesoraco gives the Mets tremendous depth at catcher, since he currently projects as someone who would open the season with Triple-A Syracuse.

But while Mesoraco is a great depth piece, he's also capable of being the big league backup, which could potentially make Travis d'Anruad expendable now that he is the backup to Wilson Ramos.

SNY's Andy Martino has been reporting that the team is open to dealing d'Arnaud for a pitcher, and that's something that was true even before the signing of Mesoraco.

If the Mets don't trade d'Arnaud, they have the option of cutting him before Spring Training ends and only being on the hook for a small portion of the $3.515 million he is due this season in what is his final year of arbitration.

As far as the 30-year-old Mesoraco goes, he hit .222/.306/.409 in 66 games for the Mets last season after being acquired from the Reds for Matt Harvey.

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