Any chance Craig Tatum is the Reds' long-term solution at catcher?

[M2]

If Paul Bako can turn a career .731 minor league OPS into an 11-year major league career, even Craig Tatum (.724 OPS) has value to somebody.

I wouldn't cast aside a 25-year old former 3rd round pick when the likes of Paul Bako and Chad Moeller are having no problems finding a job every year.

That's just the thing, you can always pluck a Bako or Moeller or Rod Barajas if you need one. The game abounds with journeyman backup catchers. Maybe Tatum will join their ranks someday, but all that means is you best not expect a lot from him or for him to hang around all that long before he heads to his next stop. It wouldn't make him the Reds' long-term solution at catcher, it would make him the team's short-term backup.

If he can become a backup option for the Reds in the coming years, I'm all for it, but I patently refuse to act like that's an exciting proposition.

[Blitz Dorsey]

M2 you just Debbie Downered this entire thread.

But I think you might be exactly right. Maybe I shouldn't be excited at all about Tatum. Now that I think about it, the Reds crappy catching situation since pretty much Johnny Bench has jaded me to the point that any so-so prospect looks good to me.

I will say that I do like that Tatum is good defensively and has some pop, but I understand people thinking that he is never going to be more than a Paul Bako type. Maybe he will find a good HGH dealer though. Who knows.

[roborobj]

Tatum is hitting .246/.313/.408 in AA. Unless we've slipped into an alternate reality, there's nothing vaguely "decent" about the season he's having. Bad franchises wait on flotsam like Tatum.

He'll be headed the way of Dane Sardinha and Miguel Perez soon enough. What major future he has is likely as a AAA catcher who gets called up during crisis situations.

Check out the stats for Chris Denove, catcher up from Sarasota. Looks pretty decent.

[Doc. Scott]

I don't think Tatum has the reputation for defense that Paul Bako does or did. Craig is closer to David Ross than he is Bako. And Ross has outperformed what you might have expected from him in, say, 2000 or 2001.

Ross might have never gotten a real shot in LA if he hadn't gone nuts in the launching pad of Las Vegas at the right time. Still, even after he hit 10 homers in 40 games with the Dodgers in 2003, he was gone a year later. And his value was pretty low two years later when the Reds got him.

Anyway, I look at Tatum and see a similarly developing power bat but considerably less plate discipline. Craig's never really drawn many walks, even going back to college. If he bumps that up a tick, expect his numbers to improve across the board.