How about Ryan Doumit? His face is in the dictionary next to “injury prone”, and his defense is somewhere between not good and really bad, but he did post an OPS+ of 128 last year. There’s some value there.
It doesn’t look likely that the Pirates will pick up his 2 year / $15.5 million option, so even if he didn’t qualify for your list yet, he will soon.
Jorge Posada is medically unable to catch at this point, given his concussion history.
His 89 wRC+ is also the result of a deep platoon split; he had a 116 vs. RHP. He would make a great platoon DH/backup 1B for someone, though personally I hope he retires a Yankee.
Yeah but! Doumit is the worst defensive catcher in the league by almost any metric. So he’d have to go in that Baltimore/Seattle scrum where he could DH too I think.
But yeah coulda put him in I guess. Wanted to go with definite free agents.
fwiw, I expect the Phillies to go with career minor leaguer Erik Kratz. He’s entering his age 32 season and has posted an OPS over .800 for four straight seasons – almost entirely in the International League. He ranks out as above average defensively too. You could see a couple other career minor leaguers get their shot in this laughable free agent class.
The Nats are awash in catchers. Ramos isn’t going anywhere, Jesus Flores is still arb-eligible, and the human walk Mr. Derrick Norris is alive and well in the minors. They’ve already told Ivan Rodriguez that he’s welcome back as a coach :) so I can’t see why they’d sign an equally tepid retread to take his spot on the roster.
Norris derives most of his value from a walk rate that hovers around 20%. He’s not going to walk at that clip in the majors. Meanwhile, he strikes out a lot and doesn’t feature elite BABIPs. In the minors, a low BABIP can indicate that the player’s skills might not translate well to higher levels. He also receives poor grades on his fielding.
He has an interesting mix of plate discipline and power, but all signs point to another full season in the minors.
Flores looked bad last season. The Nationals have an eye on contention in 2012 so they might want a more stable asset as the back up. Flores probably fits better with a second division team hoping the catch lightning in a bottle.
Without league adjusting his line, his slash would have ranked 4th between Butler and Damon.
You could also include Michael Young, Paul Konerko, and Josh Willingham ahead of him since they all got a pretty substantial number of DH ab’s.
And then there’s the other guys who do DH duties like Kubel, Thome, Hafner, and Dunn. If you forced me to choose a DH between Dunn and Hernandez for 2012, I would answer Dunn without hesitating.
I’ll make the case that Jose Molina should be more than a backup. Over the last two years, he has put up 2.2 WAR in under 400 PA; he’s regarded as good with pitchers and a capable defensive catcher. He was recently identified by Mike Fast as the best pitch framer in the Majors. Put all that together, and someone should give him as much playing time as he can handle. The Angels would be far better off, as would the Astros and the Mets.
He does have some good supporting arguments, especially on the defensive side. The reason I left the Angels off, for the most part, was because I wonder if Scioscia is just unreasonably hard on all catchers and if he’d even agree to sign a free agent. The Astros and Mets both seem like rebuilders with cheap catchers in place. But Molina might actually be the best of the rest.
Well, if Scioscia can’t deal with a catcher with Molina’s defensive cachet, he’s completely hopeless, but you may be right. One sort of suspects that Jeff Mathis has proof positive of some horrible crime committed by Scioscia: it’s the only logical explanation for his continued career.
You’re right about the Mets, but the Astros don’t have a major-league caliber catcher, nor even a particularly young one, and even rebuilding teams would be advised to win a few games. It’s not as if it would break the bank to sign Molina.
I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer Jose Molina over Barajas: there isn’t a huge difference offensively, and Molina is definitely the better defensive catcher.
Is that really so? Posada caught several innings as recently as September 10, when the Russell Martin got injured and the only other available backup Jesus Montero was in the game as DH.
The Royals ought to keep Brayan Peña, since he’s a switch-hitter who is better from the left side of the plate, and use Sal Pérez as the starter for 110-120 games while substituting Peña against weaker right-handers. Don’t want to wear Sal out by age 24.
If they do release Peña, your team might want him. He’s not an awful hitter and his defense is slightly above average. You also might ask Dayton about Manny Piña, who ought to be a pretty decent backup catcher. Neither of these guys has upside, but they’re not clowns and get the job done.
Jorge had some neurological tests done after the 2010 season, and the results were sufficiently horrifying to the FO that there was no way he was going to catch except in that emergency.
Notice that they preferred to call Romine up rather than let EITHER Jorge or Jesus catch (scared to let them catch, but for different reasons).
Cervelli is the one with the concussion problems, not Posada. Get your facts straight. The Yanks didn’t want Posada behind the plate because he can’t throw anymore after the shoulder injury of 2008, that and he has never been a good staff handler.
Robbie314 says:
October 13, 2011 at 11:39 am
How about Ryan Doumit? His face is in the dictionary next to “injury prone”, and his defense is somewhere between not good and really bad, but he did post an OPS+ of 128 last year. There’s some value there.
It doesn’t look likely that the Pirates will pick up his 2 year / $15.5 million option, so even if he didn’t qualify for your list yet, he will soon.
section223 says:
October 13, 2011 at 11:48 am
The Twins should probably be mentioned in, at least, ‘The Rest’. Then again, I hear Drew Butera is really clutch.
Jonathan C. Mitchell says:
October 13, 2011 at 11:51 am
I was gonna say the same thing. Beat me to it.
Doumit might be the 2nd best option behind Hernandez.
cwendt says:
October 13, 2011 at 11:51 am
Jorge Posada is medically unable to catch at this point, given his concussion history.
His 89 wRC+ is also the result of a deep platoon split; he had a 116 vs. RHP. He would make a great platoon DH/backup 1B for someone, though personally I hope he retires a Yankee.
Eno Sarris says:
October 13, 2011 at 12:07 pm
Yeah but! Doumit is the worst defensive catcher in the league by almost any metric. So he’d have to go in that Baltimore/Seattle scrum where he could DH too I think.
But yeah coulda put him in I guess. Wanted to go with definite free agents.
Eno Sarris says:
October 13, 2011 at 12:08 pm
Yeah maybe I shouldn’t have put him here. But do think the potential destinations are the same.
Brad Johnson says:
October 13, 2011 at 12:25 pm
fwiw, I expect the Phillies to go with career minor leaguer Erik Kratz. He’s entering his age 32 season and has posted an OPS over .800 for four straight seasons – almost entirely in the International League. He ranks out as above average defensively too. You could see a couple other career minor leaguers get their shot in this laughable free agent class.
David says:
October 13, 2011 at 12:51 pm
The Nats are awash in catchers. Ramos isn’t going anywhere, Jesus Flores is still arb-eligible, and the human walk Mr. Derrick Norris is alive and well in the minors. They’ve already told Ivan Rodriguez that he’s welcome back as a coach :) so I can’t see why they’d sign an equally tepid retread to take his spot on the roster.
Eno Sarris says:
October 13, 2011 at 12:55 pm
Wasn’t sure of Flores’ health but agree and edited.
john says:
October 13, 2011 at 1:00 pm
These are the type of articles I come here for.
IvanGrushenko says:
October 13, 2011 at 1:02 pm
I don’t see why Hernandez is fit to be a DH in the AL. He’d be a pretty bad one. He’s a good enough hitter to be an NL PH though.
Jim Lahey says:
October 13, 2011 at 1:15 pm
That’s because you don’t realize how bad the DH position is at hitting.
Outside of David Ortiz, the .282/.341/.446 line he put up last year would probably rank what.. 2nd best? among AL DH’s
Brad Johnson says:
October 13, 2011 at 1:22 pm
Norris derives most of his value from a walk rate that hovers around 20%. He’s not going to walk at that clip in the majors. Meanwhile, he strikes out a lot and doesn’t feature elite BABIPs. In the minors, a low BABIP can indicate that the player’s skills might not translate well to higher levels. He also receives poor grades on his fielding.
He has an interesting mix of plate discipline and power, but all signs point to another full season in the minors.
Flores looked bad last season. The Nationals have an eye on contention in 2012 so they might want a more stable asset as the back up. Flores probably fits better with a second division team hoping the catch lightning in a bottle.
ralphhouk says:
October 13, 2011 at 1:27 pm
But if Posada’s lack of defensive ability isn’t enough to keep him off the list, it shouldn’t keep Doumit off the list either.
Doumit is likely catch way more than games than Posada next season, right?
Brad Johnson says:
October 13, 2011 at 1:28 pm
Without league adjusting his line, his slash would have ranked 4th between Butler and Damon.
You could also include Michael Young, Paul Konerko, and Josh Willingham ahead of him since they all got a pretty substantial number of DH ab’s.
And then there’s the other guys who do DH duties like Kubel, Thome, Hafner, and Dunn. If you forced me to choose a DH between Dunn and Hernandez for 2012, I would answer Dunn without hesitating.
Eno Sarris says:
October 13, 2011 at 1:29 pm
Oh no it wasn’t D that kept him off the list, it was his pending option. But I thought his D was worth mentioning.
Dreamin says:
October 13, 2011 at 1:37 pm
DBacks likely aren’t looking for a catcher. Both the team and Henry Blanco appear to be picking up his mutual option.
Edwin says:
October 13, 2011 at 1:57 pm
As far as trade markets go, do you think the Cubs will make Soto available, and if so, does that change the FA market at all?
gabriel says:
October 13, 2011 at 2:18 pm
I’ll make the case that Jose Molina should be more than a backup. Over the last two years, he has put up 2.2 WAR in under 400 PA; he’s regarded as good with pitchers and a capable defensive catcher. He was recently identified by Mike Fast as the best pitch framer in the Majors. Put all that together, and someone should give him as much playing time as he can handle. The Angels would be far better off, as would the Astros and the Mets.
Eno Sarris says:
October 13, 2011 at 2:21 pm
He does have some good supporting arguments, especially on the defensive side. The reason I left the Angels off, for the most part, was because I wonder if Scioscia is just unreasonably hard on all catchers and if he’d even agree to sign a free agent. The Astros and Mets both seem like rebuilders with cheap catchers in place. But Molina might actually be the best of the rest.
gabriel says:
October 13, 2011 at 7:15 pm
Well, if Scioscia can’t deal with a catcher with Molina’s defensive cachet, he’s completely hopeless, but you may be right. One sort of suspects that Jeff Mathis has proof positive of some horrible crime committed by Scioscia: it’s the only logical explanation for his continued career.
You’re right about the Mets, but the Astros don’t have a major-league caliber catcher, nor even a particularly young one, and even rebuilding teams would be advised to win a few games. It’s not as if it would break the bank to sign Molina.
I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer Jose Molina over Barajas: there isn’t a huge difference offensively, and Molina is definitely the better defensive catcher.
The Nicker says:
October 13, 2011 at 8:31 pm
Great article. I love Henry Blanco.
I also love that AJ Ellis, entering his age 31 season, is a “catcher of the future.”
The most important thing to notice is how similar all these guys are. I’d rather pull a 2010 Mets and sign 2-3 of them to minor league contracts.
Stringer Bell says:
October 14, 2011 at 12:51 am
Where art thou Jeff Mathis?
akas247 says:
October 14, 2011 at 2:42 am
angles’ fans have been asking that for years
vj says:
October 14, 2011 at 4:05 am
Is that really so? Posada caught several innings as recently as September 10, when the Russell Martin got injured and the only other available backup Jesus Montero was in the game as DH.
Mitch says:
October 14, 2011 at 10:26 am
what is Chris Snyder’s health status? Could be on the Mets radar if expected to be healthy. Would fit well as Thole platoon-mate.
Juancho says:
October 14, 2011 at 1:46 pm
The Royals ought to keep Brayan Peña, since he’s a switch-hitter who is better from the left side of the plate, and use Sal Pérez as the starter for 110-120 games while substituting Peña against weaker right-handers. Don’t want to wear Sal out by age 24.
If they do release Peña, your team might want him. He’s not an awful hitter and his defense is slightly above average. You also might ask Dayton about Manny Piña, who ought to be a pretty decent backup catcher. Neither of these guys has upside, but they’re not clowns and get the job done.
moebius says:
October 14, 2011 at 2:58 pm
Extreme emergency.
Jorge had some neurological tests done after the 2010 season, and the results were sufficiently horrifying to the FO that there was no way he was going to catch except in that emergency.
Notice that they preferred to call Romine up rather than let EITHER Jorge or Jesus catch (scared to let them catch, but for different reasons).
Tanned Tom says:
October 16, 2011 at 7:32 am
Cervelli is the one with the concussion problems, not Posada. Get your facts straight. The Yanks didn’t want Posada behind the plate because he can’t throw anymore after the shoulder injury of 2008, that and he has never been a good staff handler.