Quote:
Originally Posted by IslandRed
At this point, I'm not even sure they look at it as having three catchers. It's more like two catchers and Designated Lefty Pinch-Hitter Guy, which is a useful thing to have in the NL, I'm just not as enamored with Valentin as they are.
If this deal ever happened, we could be looking at this a year from now:
C: Saltalamacchia
1B: Votto
2B: Phillips
SS: Gonzalez
3B: Encarnacion
RF: Bruce
CF/LF: Hamilton
LF/CF: New Guy
If EE's defense settles down for good, then we're looking at adding a right-handed power bat for left field, or maybe it's a leadoff-hitter type we don't otherwise have. But folks, that lineup looks pretty dadgum solid, both at bat and in the field. Gonzalez excepted, it's also young and with the career peaks still ahead. Which means, of course, we couldn't get so lucky.
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IslandRed, due to the FO's mandate of "Scrappiness", it is conceivable that the word New Guy could change to Freel and there are certainly a lot worse candidates.
The Braves know they have a strength at a position that 26 other teams will salivate over. Call me pessimistic, but I think the Braves will be bidding Salty's potential to the highest possible denominator. Unless the Braves really want Junior, the Reds need to find the highest available catcher in the draft and go for it.