According to Marty Noble, the Mets will go with Omir Santos and Henry Blanco at catcher and use the money they would have spent on Bengie Molina elsewhere. But according to Mike Francesa on WFAN today, the Mets could be targeting Diamondbacks catcher Chris Snyder in a trade.

I don’t necessarily believe either of them, following my standard procedure of not really believing anybody. But I kind of hope Francesa’s right in this case, because Snyder would be an intriguing pickup.

Snyder, you may recall, was rumored to be dealt to the Blue Jays earlier this offseason, but ultimately sent back to Arizona when the Jays vetoed the deal over concerns about Snyder’s surgically repaired back. So that’s bad. Put that down under “bad.”

And Snyder — possibly due to the bulging disc in his back that ultimately required surgery — struggled in 2009 and lost his starting job to Miguel Montero. He hit .200 with a .333 on-base percentage and .352 slugging. More for the “bad” column.

But before that, Snyder appeared to be one of the better young catchers in baseball. As the Diamondbacks’ regular backstop in 2007 and 2008, Snyder posted OPSes of .775 and .800, well above average for a catcher, and by all accounts played competent defense.

Snyder will be 29 on Opening Day, so if he’s healthy it’s not unreasonable to expect him to return to form. Of course, it does seem a bit risky to go out and acquire a catcher coming off back surgery, especially one another team has already vetoed the same offseason.

I have no clue how well Snyder handles staffs, but Brandon Webb did not appear to have any trouble dominating National League hitters under Snyder’s guidance in 2007 and 2008.

Clearly, Snyder would be worth taking a flyer on if it were just that. But of course, it’s not just that.

I have no idea what it would take to land Snyder. The deal with the Blue Jays that fell through was for Lyle Overbay, but since it fell through, I have to assume Snyder would cost the Mets something less valuable than Lyle Overbay.

The Diamondbacks were said then to be looking to part with Snyder’s contract — he is owed about $10.5 million over the next two seasons — to free up payroll to sign other players.

I can’t speak to whether they have any more budget flexibility, but it does appear they could still use some depth in the starting rotation behind Webb, Dan Haren and Edwin Jackson (a mighty trio, no doubt), so I wonder if Arizona will be tempted to move Snyder to be able to lock down a familiar innings eater like Jon Garland.

Still, even under those circumstances, teams don’t give away 29-year-old catchers one season removed from two productive years for free, and I have no idea what the Diamondbacks would want from the Mets for Snyder. A prospect? A relief arm? (Fingers and toes crossed) Luis Castillo??

Snyder is definitely someone the Mets should be targeting, but obviously it’s impossible to just say “go get him” without considering the cost. He’s probably a safer bet than Santos to be an effective starting Major League catcher in 2010, though, so it can’t hurt the Mets to inquire.