Gary Sanchez designated for assignment as Mets experiment ends

CHICAGO — Gary Sanchez, the Mets hardly knew you.

The veteran catcher’s fate was sealed Thursday, when team officials decided Tomas Nido was ready from reinstatement from his minor-league rehab assignment and the team didn’t have room for a third backstop.

Sanchez was designated for assignment before the Mets faced the Cubs at Wrigley Field, with Nido activated from the injured list.

The move only solidified the organization’s commitment to rookie Francisco Alvarez, who unlike Sanchez and Nido has minor league options remaining.

Sanchez, 30, appeared in three games for the Mets after the team last week promoted him to the major league roster to prevent him from exercising his opt-out.

The former All-Star with the Yankees opted out from his minor league deal with the Giants this month after he wasn’t promoted to the big leagues.

In his last appearance for the club, on Tuesday, Sanchez was shaky behind the plate — he was charged with a passed ball and missed a pop-up. Offensively he was 1-for-6 (.167) with one RBI.

“Gary tried to do some things while Tomas was out and now Tomas is back and we’ll go in a different direction,” manager Buck Showalter said. “We’re trying to make the club as good as it can be each day. I think it is now with Tomas back. … I am glad we went down that path and I am glad Tomas is back.”

Nido missed the past two weeks after receiving new contact lenses to deal with dry eye syndrome that had been affecting his vision. Another veteran catcher, Omar Narvaez, was set to begin a minor league rehab assignment Thursday for Single-A Brooklyn in his return from a strained left calf.

Nido owns a .118/.148/.118 slash line in 19 games this season and also has had a drop-off in his defense. The Mets are hopeful that the new contact lenses, which will help his eyes stay lubricated, will remedy his struggles.

The Mets will have to figure out how to proceed once Narvaez returns, but are probably about two weeks away from having to decide. Narvaez arrived on a one-year contract worth $8 million. The deal also includes a player option for next year worth $7 million.

But Alvarez’s emergence has all but eliminated the possibility he will return to the minor leagues. Alvarez has been among the club’s top offensive performers with a 1.046 OPS in May and he’s earned praise for his work handling the Mets’ pitching staff.

“I think that we all knew it was there,” Nido said. “It’s not a shock because we knew the potential and the talent and it was a matter of him kind of trusting that he belonged.”

Nido recalled speaking to Alvarez in San Francisco last month as the rookie was still trying to emerge from a slump following his recall from Triple-A Syracuse.

“He was going through a rough time and I said, ‘You belong here and you have to belong here and it’s a long year and things change quickly.’ Nobody is surprised by what’s going on. Everybody knew it’s there. If somebody is surprised it’s probably because they didn’t believe he could do it.”

But for now, Alvarez will remain ninth in the batting order.

“He is doing well down there — try to leave it there,” Showalter said. “They all have a chance to work their way up, but that sometimes would be at the expense of somebody else. We know how things ebb and flow during a season. I like the idea of having [Brandon] Nimmo hitting behind him.”