Reds sign Dioner Navarro

[bounty37h]

Since, one would assume, Corky Miller is going to be the first catcher recalled if something happens to either Hanigan or Mesoraco; then, essentially, Dioner Navarro becomes Corky's backup. And paying 800K to backup Miller seems excessive for a small-market team. While looking into Navarro's defensive abilities I ran across this article. Not very encouraging.

Here are a couple of the lowlights. The link follows.





http://articles.latimes.com/2011/aug...s-fyi-20110827

Here is another article from the LA Times.



And maybe he gets paid 800K to backup Corky Miller down on the farm.

Seems as if you are gonna sign a catcher to provide AAA depth you would want one with a good attitude and a strong work ethic.

Ugh, that is concerning, but this article could have been used for Ramon when we tradedd for him-he was becoming known for bad work ethic and lazy play in Balti but had a renewel when he got here-lets hope this is true inthis case as well.

[The DARK]

It seems Corky has unfortunately had his last hurrah in the majors; he hit .200 last season in AAA in less than 200 plate appearances. This guy is a pretty ugly solution for a AAA reclamation/3rd backup, but i guess it's slim pickings out there.

[brad1176]

Let's see, the Reds sign Brian Esposito, Dioner Navarro, and have Corky all at AAA. Mark Riggins is signed to be minor league pitching coordinater and he was the Cubs pitching coach this past season. (Riggins is from my hometown, and it's great to have him in the Reds org.)
I'm purely guessing here, but I'm wondering if Riggins (who was a lefty pitcher) and Esposito (who is widely known to be good with young pitchers and is considered a coach) will be assigned to almost exclusively work with Aroldis, get him ready for the rotation. The Navarro signing in conjunction with the others got me to thinking this might be what's happening.

[joshua]

I think Hanigan is under rated. .275/.371/.368 career numbers. He'll obviously get most of the starts this year while Mes gets his feet under him...but even if we didn't have Mes, I would love Hanigan catching for the forseeable future. One of my favorite Reds

[redsfanmia]

It seems Corky has unfortunately had his last hurrah in the majors; he hit .200 last season in AAA in less than 200 plate appearances. This guy is a pretty ugly solution for a AAA reclamation/3rd backup, but i guess it's slim pickings out there.

I bet that Corky will be a coach in the minor league system after he retires and would not be shocked if he is a manager for the Reds at some point.

[IamRV]

I think Hanigan is under rated. .275/.371/.368 career numbers. He'll obviously get most of the starts this year while Mes gets his feet under him...but even if we didn't have Mes, I would love Hanigan catching for the forseeable future. One of my favorite Reds

QFT

The guy's a winner.

[BLEEDS]

You do realize that $800K is only if he makes the majors...

Spring Training fluff, Triple A bullpen catcher.

Move on.
Nothing to see here.

PEACE

-BLEEDS

[alett12]

Personaly, I like the signing just because of his 2008 season where he hit .308 even though he only had 54 RBIs and 8 HRs or something like that. Low risk, high reward if he works out kind of like Russel Martin did for the Bombers last year.