3
2011
Catchers Market Shrinking Fast
An article by 72MetsFan
Mets interested in former Red Sox catcher, Jason Varitek
Despite the Winter Meetings still days away, the market for catchers has shrunk by more than 50% in the first four weeks of free agency. As you will see in the chart I created below, only seven of 15 catchers initially available remain.
In addition to the catchers that signed already, several have been moved in trades with the most recent, Chris Iannetta, being traded from the Colorado Rockies to the Oakland Athletics.
Other catchers that have swapped uniforms this offseason include Taylor Teagarden now with the Orioles and John Baker now with the Padres.
Sandy Alderson said on Thursday while speaking to reporters on a conference call that one of his goals this offseason was to try and upgrade the catching position and as recently as yesterday rumors circulated that the Mets were pursuing Jason Varitek.
Last season, Varitek batted .221 with 11 home runs and 36 RBI in 222 at-bats for the Red Sox, but his defensive skills were in serious declined and he ranked as one of the worst defensive backstops.
If your goal is defense, Kelly Shoppach in the best of the bunch followed by Ivan Rodriguez, but Shoppach batted an atrocious .176 last season in 221 at-bats for the Rays.
The best options at catcher were scooped up early and not much remains at this point.
About the Author: Drew Staley
On June 1, 2012 Johan Santana officially became my favorite current Met! I'm a Queens native who grew up in the shadows of Big Shea. I was a huge Ron Darling, Dave Magadan and John Olerud fan. Honored to be a part of such a great site for Mets fans. Ya Gotta Believe!
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 41 | 28 | .594 | - |
| Nationals | 34 | 34 | .500 | 6.5 |
| Phillies | 33 | 37 | .471 | 8.5 |
| Mets | 25 | 39 | .391 | 13.5 |
| Marlins | 21 | 47 | .309 | 19.5 |
Last updated: 06/16/2013
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Bring in Kelly Shoppach to catch Mike Pelfrey. Of use Mike Nickeas. Thole and Paulino can’t do the job.
36 yo Rod Barajas for $4 million?! I just choked on my granola.
That Rod’s dollars have increased over the past few years tells us there is a shortage of good catchers who can hit. When Rod went from the Mets to the Dodgers he got a raise. Now with the Pirates he gets another raise.
P.S.: The Mets blew it by letting Henry Blanco leave. He’s a stud defensively compared to what we now have.
Mets need an experienced catcher in the worst way. The idea that Barajas is 36 years old is completely irrelevent and only matters to those who abide by a philosophy.
My philosophy is trying to win and Rod Barajas at 4 million would’ve been a good get for the Mets. He would’ve helped Thole, improved the pitching staff immensely, and provide leadership in a team that needs it. Those factors alone would create more wins and that’s the only thing it’s about. He also hits with power and drive in runs at the bottom of the order and who knows..maybe working with Hudgens he would improve his hitting.
4 million for Barajas SHOULD have been done and the Mets could’ve moved on already. I’m sure they can find an extra couple million from somewhere for that purpose and since we don’t have an exact budget number you can try and tell me the Mets wouldn’t have it but you’d be no more in the know than me.
How would age, especially for a catcher, be completely irrelevant?
what in god’s name is wrong w/people around here these days? You need me to tell you that in the Mets case this is the right thing to do. Maybe not for somebody else but for the Mets certain situation here – getting a veteran catcher with good credentials and veteran leadership for this season? And maybe the help he can give Thole that can make him a better player which in turn helps his career and the Mets in general?
My God, this belief in a philosophy has F’ed up so many people’s ability to just think in terms of competition, getting better and what your team needs to fill their specific needs only. NOT relative to anybody elses need or to any RIDICULOUS league average – just their own situation. It’s unbelievable.
His age – in the Mets case – is COMPLETELY UNIMPORTANT.
Everybody is so enamored in trying to be as clever and frugal as possible they’re losing site of what’s important. They are losing the forest for the trees.
Ivan for one year.
Ivan isn’t the same defensive catcher he was five years ago, but he can stop some of the wild running on the basepaths. He’s still got a good arm and a quick release. Rodgiguez in, Paulino out!
Considering that the Mets already have a backup catcher (The no hit, no field Josh Thole) another backup doesn’t strengthen the position.
How does Bard compare with the field? Or Snyder?
Terrible year for free agent catchers, this is an awfully weak class.
Seligman — Given their collective lack of talent and the bucks they’re getting, we might say it’s a good year for free agent catchers. It’s a bad year for the teams that have to fork over the bucks. lol.
Since Paulino was useless other then his opening game, whoever they get will probably be better. I see Kendall as interesting only becase Thole is a poors man Kendall, maybe Kendall would be a good mentor..just an idea, im not sure how Kendall is defensivly.
Also, there always the trade possibility, every team has their version of Nicklas and im sure it’s a better version so i think there a trade option is there and even if we start season Nicklas ther’s alway the insason move to upgrade as well..i also agree Blanco and Barojas would prob be fine so it prob wasnt the best idea letting them go..
The problem is, the best of the bunch are signing as starters. We’re apparently married to Thole, at least for 2012. No one is going to want to platoon on the short end for him. Anyone we can get is going to be a black hole in the line up when he starts.
I think our best bet is to find a world class coach to work with Thole and platoon him with Nickeas.
Has Thole really earned the right to get the lion’s share of the platoon? At best he’s a 50/50 split in my mind.
I don’t think he’s shown enough to be the starting catcher. However, I don’t see them making any moves to pick up any starting catcher that was/is available so that kind of tells me they’ll be giving Thole another shot.
Since Alderson said the payroll remains the same whether they sign Reyes or not….on the very off chance they do sign Reyes, I’m thinking Nickeas instantly becomes the 2nd catcher. They’ll be just about out of money and anything available left to spend will probably be spent on pitching then. Only other thing they can do in that case is trade for another catcher.
Not much available on the F/A market, but the trade market might net them something. The Reds, though they lost Ramon Hernandez, are said to be dangling Ryan Hanigan in trade. Hanigan has a decent enough bat and a career 36% CS rate behind the plate. They have depth in the minors with Yasmani Grandal and Deven Mesoroco rating as 2 of the best catching prospects in the game. Now, whether the Mets have the players to acquire Hanigan is something I don’t know. But Hanigan would be an excellent pickup for the Mets if they could get him.
Using Nickeas this year and working out a trade with the Reds for Yasmani Grandal, who will probably be ready for a call up to the majors this year is my preference. The Reds already have a top tier young catcher in Devin Mesoraco so maybe they part with Gandal and he comes up the second half of 2012. He is a switch hitter with plate discipline, power, and very good defensive skills. He was a stud at Univ of Miami and has a rep as a great defensive catcher in the minor leagues. He finished AA last year and is headed to AAA.
If he’s as good as you say, they aren’t going to part with him for anything less than a Harvey or Mejia or something along those lines. You willing to do that?
Then again, Maybe they could use Wright and we get your guy + another?
For a catcher like Grandal I would part with Mejia.Grandal is an excellent defensive catcher and can hit.I think Mejia has great upside potential but I worry about his durability.You have to give up something to get something.Harvey for Grandal I don’t think I would do.
Why not bring back Ramon Castro. He’s only 35 and he can hit.
Can he Hit??? Can he play a role model?? Is he a team player?? Has he butted heads with the Coaching staff and managment? Do you want him as a team leader? Do your pitchers have confidence in him?
I liked Castro a lot. He had a laid back attitude. But if memory serves me correctly, the coaching staff thought Ramon didn’t like to play through pain and that he was lax. He was a good hitter for a reserve catcher.
Not that it makes a difference to the Mets 2012 season, but I’ve just did an analysis of Henry Blanco vs. Rod Barajas. I’ve focused on defense. (On offense, most fans would agree that Barajas is superior.)
The analysis is based on their 2008-2011 seasons, so it’s for the most recent four years. During that time Barajas played a lot more than Blanco, possibly because he is four years younger. Rod could fill in full time in case of an emergency, as shown by his almost 3300 innings over the last four years. During the same time, Henry has caught only about 1400 innings. If full time catching isn’t needed, this factor isn’t significant as they show similar durability.
Their PB percentages are roughly the same.
But here is a significant difference: Teams run less on Blanco per game. That’s likely because he has a 44CS%. Rod has only a 25.7CS%. To compare apples to apples, if 100 runners attempted to steal on each player, 56 would succeed against Blanco, but almost 75 would against Rod. As I’ve said, probably less would actually try when Blanco is behind the plate. Thus the disparity between Henry and Rod would be even greater. For a hypothetical full season behind the plate (which in both cases now is unlikely to happen) their current performance indicates that Rod will let opposing runners take about 30-35 more bases than Henry,
Rod is a better hitter so there is a tradeoff of offense for defense.