Year of the Catcher? Not for the Reds

[Kingspoint]

In conjunction with the announcement that Matt Wieters won BA's minor league player of the year honors, BA ran a story about all the hot catching prospects in the minors.

Nice to know there's so much out there to trade for from one of our positions of strength.

[TC81190]

I had Logan Parker on my mind as well when I was reading this thread at some point. Too bad he does throw left handed. He's blocked at 1B.

Another idea, is that the team could trade for another toolsy, athletic young player who's blocked at his position in the minors and may have some warts (like Francisco or Soto.)

[princeton]

I had Logan Parker on my mind as well when I was reading this thread at some point. Too bad he does throw left handed.

lefthanded-throwing catchers are worth trying, IMO

[flyer85]

lefthanded-throwing catchers are worth trying, IMO

no reason it should rule someone out, it's not like trying to play 2nd, SS, or 3rd.

[M2]

Nice to know there's so much out there to trade for from one of our positions of strength.

Which might be the long-term answer. Of course, that begs the question of who do you trade for and what do you deal to get him?

[Kingspoint]

Which might be the long-term answer. Of course, that begs the question of who do you trade for and what do you deal to get him?

That was Krivsky's strength. The Twins talent evaluators have always been excellent at evaluating Catchers. Going by that, Mesoraco will reach the Majors by 2011.

We still need someone for the next 3 seasons.

Jockety's strength is in negotiating for Free Agents and trading for pricey veterans.

Texas is still one of the choice picking areas for an available catcher. Jockety never went after Offense at the Catching position in St. Louis, though, so I don't expect him to do that here, either.

I think Hanigan and another low-priced Vet will be our Catchers next year.

I'm pretty certain that Jockety will go after Derek Lowe.

M2, I'd rather hear what you think about this, though, as I haven't paid attention to the Catchers that are in the Majors and AAA this season. I know very little about that area.

[M2]

M2, I'd rather hear what you think about this, though, as I haven't paid attention to the Catchers that are in the Majors and AAA this season. I know very little about that area.

Got to be honest with you, I haven't paid much attention to which backups and AAA catchers might be good pickups. Miguel Montero's a guy I'd be interested in, but I haven't devoted enough eye/brain time to give you names beyond him.

[princeton]

no reason it should rule someone out, it's not like trying to play 2nd, SS, or 3rd.

there's a reason.

but in spite of the thread title, I suspect that catchers will remain scarce for some time.

[Mario-Rijo]

We still need someone for the next 3 seasons.

Texas is still one of the choice picking areas for an available catcher. Jockety never went after Offense at the Catching position in St. Louis, though, so I don't expect him to do that here, either.

I think Hanigan and another low-priced Vet will be our Catchers next year.

I agree, I don't think there is any doubt about this. I still say Gregg Zaun makes alot of sense, has experience with handling young pitchers (see Toronto) has a better offensive game than Bako (I know who doesn't) and from the left side and isn't much different defensively than Bako and at a price probably not much more than what Bako would make. He and Hanigan would make a solid L-R tandem. We could probably even still sign Bako to a minor league gig as insurance.

My guess however is that Hanigan, a couple borderline starting vets, Castillo and Tatum is what we will see until Mes is ready if he makes it at all (just too soon to know for sure). Also Jordan Widemann has done pretty well this season, at least offensively so he should be put on a watch list also at this point. He may at some point surpass Mes due to his experience at the position, it should be interesting to see if he has as better #'s than Mes at Dayton assuming he get's a similiar opportunity. I would expect he should do better but if he does much better, watch out.

As far as young up & coming catchers go it's kind of hard to make a true assessment w/o the help of some major league scouts. We just cannot get a good enough read on them defensively and calling a game from this seat in the house.

I wonder if Texas would take a deal something like this.

Homer Bailey
Drew Stubbs
Matt Belisle
Tyler Pelland

Taylor Teagarden
Nelson Cruz
Frankie Francisco

I know that's a lot of people moving around but we could shrink that deal to a Bailey + Stubbs for Teagarden + Cruz deal, just trying to maximize the deal to the utmost.