Tucker Barnhart braces for a possible end to his Cincinnati Reds career

[westofyou]

Stephenson is an elite hitting catcher who has a strong chance of putting up even better numbers as he matures. The Reds would be insane not to start him at C as much as possible while he's young. Like has already been said his bat at 1B is nothing special, but at C it's elite and gives the Reds lineup a huge advantage over most teams. Having such a good hitting catcher could allow the Reds to cheap out on a defense first CF and get away with it.

I really like Stephenson, he has a lot of upside, what I don't like is the narrative that a catcher (and SS) is about hitting first. This Reds team needs to think about defense a bit more, it would help if the fans did that from time to time, I mean Eddie Taubensee was a hell of a hitter too.

Furthermore, Tyler is a tall man and that position has not been known as a kind position to tall guys (only 8 guys since 2000 that height have caught 100 games in a season) Mauer and Wieters are the cream of the crop, additionally only six of the 24 season of that group produced an OPS above .800, four of them by Mauer alone.

So yeah, he's a keeper but the other guy won't be a bench ballast, he will get some AB's too

[JCM11]

The question is how much are the Reds going to spend on a backup catcher who will in all likely hood get about 50 starts in 2022? My guess is a couple million tops so I'd be looking for another Curt Casali if it were up to me.

[M2]

The question is how much are the Reds going to spend on a backup catcher who will in all likely hood get about 50 starts in 2022? My guess is a couple million tops so I'd be looking for another Curt Casali if it were up to me.

Except where you want to spell Stephenson is vs. RHPs. That means you're looking for a LH bat, and there's a serious dearth of LH- and switch-hitting catchers. They can grab a Casali type and save money, but he's going to be redundant.

[mth123]

Except where you want to spell Stephenson is vs. RHPs. That means you're looking for a LH bat, and there's a serious dearth of LH- and switch-hitting catchers. They can grab a Casali type and save money, but he's going to be redundant.

Except if Stephenson plays DH or 1B its going to be when Votto or Moose sit and that will be against a LHP. Seems like the catcher you need is a RH platoon partner for Moustakas.

[M2]

Except if Stephenson plays DH or 1B its going to be when Votto or Moose sit and that will be against a LHP. Seems like the catcher you need is a RH platoon partner for Moustakas.

RHPs are 3/4 of who you face. Stephenson really shouldn't be starting up against all of them. We have no idea if there's going to be a DH in the NL. Votto's not sitting vs. LHPs. And if there is a DH and they plan on both Suarez and Moustakas in the lineup for the bulk of the season, that's a really bad plan.

[westofyou]

RHPs are 3/4 of who you face. Stephenson really shouldn't be starting up against all of them. We have no idea if there's going to be a DH in the NL. Votto's not sitting vs. LHPs. And if there is a DH and they plan on both Suarez and Moustakas in the lineup for the bulk of the season, that's a really bad plan.

I think Omar Narvez is a FA, sign him, Stephenson gets 60% of catching, all vs LH and Omar gets the Scherzer RHs for sure

But yeah that isn’t happening

[M2]

I think Omar Narvez is a FA, sign him, Stephenson gets 60% of catching, all vs LH and Omar gets the Scherzer RHs for sure

But yeah that isn’t happening

Narvaez has one more year of arbitration. The only non-Tucker L/SH catcher of note on the open market is Sandy Leon (age 33 next season, .556 OPS over the last 5 seasons).

[mth123]

RHPs are 3/4 of who you face. Stephenson really shouldn't be starting up against all of them. We have no idea if there's going to be a DH in the NL. Votto's not sitting vs. LHPs. And if there is a DH and they plan on both Suarez and Moustakas in the lineup for the bulk of the season, that's a really bad plan.

I don't think its the greatest plan either, but given the contracts they have, its the reality of the situation. So, the plan for the rest of the roster needs ro consider it. Stephenson starts 100 games behind the plate and another 30 to 40 at DH against LHP when Moustakas sits. He is in the line-up most of the time as the team's primary RH middle of the order bat. The team doesn't have the resources available to replace Castellanos, fix CF and fix the bullpen while paying out arb raises to Mahle, Castillo, Winker and whoever else. Naquin/Senzel platoon in RF, get a new guy who is an all around player who can hit, field, run and throw for CF with the resources available (but he won't produce offense like Castellanos did) get a RH bat to platoon with Moose at DH (this is where the new back-up catcher comes in) keep the good pitchers you have and try to patch up the bullpen while using the 5th starter spot to try to break in the high end kids. Its a plan that banks on a return to health and some improvement, if not a complete return to form, from Suarez, Moustakas and Senzel to collectively compensate for the loss of Castellanos production. A new CF and no Suarez SS experiment should drastically improve the team defense. RF will be improved defensively with Naquin/Senzel replacing Castellanos and Barrero/Farmer at SS and a now fully acclimated India will form a very solid up the middle defense with a new CF. IMO, its the best chance they have at competing given the likely constraints they'll be operating under. Otherwise, trade Miley and Gray for more high end kids, move as much of Moose, Suarez and Shogo off the books as possible and go through another 2 or 3 years of rebuilding. (I'm not in favor of rebuilding).