Last night, I posed a bit of a question on Twitter. I asked, if the Yankees sign Russell Martin, which is definitely a possibility, what happens to their current catchers?
Jorge Posada doesn’t count. He’s the DH. I’m sure he’ll see a handful (more maybe a bit more than that) at catcher, but he’s no longer a C/DH. He’s a DH/C. I mean Jesus Montero and Francisco Cervelli. There are two ways I see this shaking out:
A) The acquisition of Russell Martin means that Jesus Montero will not be starting the season with the New York Yankees. Now, we can take that two ways. One means that the Yankees sign Martin and use him as a starting catcher while Jesus Montero gets a little more seasoning in AAA. There are obvious advantages to this. While Montero raked in the second half, a little more time in the minors (usually) never hurt anyone (Ryan Howard, Andrew McCutchen). He could work on his approach at the plate which, while good, could probably use some fine tuning. He did have solid walk rate of 9.1%, but his K% jumped up to just over 20%. The 20% K rate isn’t that bad considering Montero’s power, but it’s the highest of his career by far. And there were all sorts of conflicting reports about his defense. Was it improved? Did it deteriorate? Letting him work on it for a bit in the minors without real pressure would be a good thing. The seasoning argument is definitely one that can be made.
The other thought is that if Montero isn’t with the Yankees to start 2011, it’ll be because the Yankees will have traded him. I’m not sold that this will happen, but if the Yankees sign Martin after failing to sign Cliff Lee, it’s a possibility. That possibility is even more ramped up if Andy Pettitte does indeed retire. I’m not exactly sure this course of action is even necessary, but I definitely won’t rule it out.
B) Acquiring Russell Martin makes Francisco Cervelli very expendable. Moshe Tweeted that he thinks this will happen. If the Yankees sign Martin, Cervelli will be moved for depth in the form of a reliever/platoon bat/utility guy, if not sent down. Sending Cervelli down wouldn’t be an awful idea. If Montero’s on the big team catching and Martin is there, too, there is no need for Cervelli. Starting him in AAA allows the Yankees to let Austin Romine begin the year at AA. He hit a bit of a wall last year and could use some extra time in the Eastern League before moving to the International League. The counter to that, though, is that putting him in AAA ruins Cervelli’s trade value a bit.
Cervelli’s value is already low since a) he’s not that good and b) had a (perceived) bad season in 2010. Having him start in AAA shoots that value even more. But, at the same time, it’s not like Cervelli would be the centerpiece of a trade or bring more than what Moshe suggested. If the Yankees get Martin, I don’t care much what they do with Cervelli. Trade him? Fine. Stash him in AAA for a rainy day? Cool.
Out of these options, though, I guess I’d go with option A.1: letting Martin start for a time while Montero gets some more seasoning in Scranton. I think Montero is definitely ready to start for the Yankees behind the plate, but it wouldn’t hurt for him to see more AAA at bats first.
Other notes: It appears my Mark Prior wish could come true. I don’t know how much upside is there anymore, but it’s worth it. I think we’ve all always wanted Prior in some way. Now, the Yankees could have him.
Friend of the blog Tyler Wilkinson had a suggestion last night. If the divisions were named after players, whom would each be named for? My thoughts:
ALE: Babe Ruth
ALC: Ty Cobb
ALW: Rod Carew
NLE: Jackie Robinson
NLC: Stan Musial
NLW: Willie Mays
What do you guys think?
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5 Responses to If Martin, then what?
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TIQ IQ
Whatever veteran they bring in to catch, one of his main tasks will be to groom Montero (the talk of Romine and Cervelli seems like a smokescreen to me). In other words, the Yankees are probably looking for another Joe Girardi.
Fun idea with the divisions…The only changes I would make are to call the ALW the “Rickey Henderson” division and the NLE the “Hank Aaron” division. I appreciate the desire to honor Jackie, but his team is in the NLW (I am talking to you, Mr. Wilpon).
I would LOVE Martin. When he “sucked” in 2009 he was still 2 WAR.
Last season in half a year he was 2 WAR.
He has lost all his power it seems, but he still gets on base at a good clip and has been a good defensive catcher. If we can get a 2-3 WAR player on the cheap, I’m all for it. He would be ideal to share time with Jesus, especially since it means Cervelli is out. Best case scenario, Martin finds his power stroke and becomes an AS caliber catcher again.
And if signing Martin means the Yanks want to trade Montero for Greinke, I wouldn’t be mad at all. We still have Romine in the wings with Sanchez coming up through the ranks over the next 3 years. Martin is a capable starter.
My only concern is that he caught TOO much with the Dodgers and will break down earlier than even most catchers do.
I would cry in my sleep if we traded Montero for Greinke…. go look at Zack’s career numbers nothing he did in 2009 is indicitave of what he will do going forward he had his career year and will never come close to it again, he set career numbers in every category.
Greinke had never been close to having as many Ks as innings pitched then all of a sudden in 09 he has more Ks than innings pitched, I also read on fangraphs that his curve and slider have been losing their break consistently for 3 or 4 years now and while his velocity is still good his curve has dissapeared.
I don’t think think Zack is good enough in the first place (outside of 1 year he won’t repeat) to trade a possible future superstar like Montero and even if he was I would be hesitant since he says he wouldn’t be comfortable in New York and friends say he probably couldn’t handle it.
Sign Martin and send Cervelli to triple A, the guy never actually got a chance to go anyway since he was promoted straight from double A maybe he will tighten his bat up a little more and focus on his throwing accuracy.
Mr. Cashman, please don’t trade Montero. I’m hoping if Martin is signed, he and Jesus share the catching duties and Jesus DHs some of the time as well.
I imagine the appeal of signing Martin is the fact that he is a catcher but he can also play 1B, OF, DH and 3B allowing us maximum l versatility in our lineup, I really doubt Cashman has any plans of trading Montero at all. From what you hear and read the Yankees have very little interest in Greinke and don’t feel he is a fit in NY at all and I don’t see a single name big enough (IE Josh Johnson, Felix) available to trade Montero for.
As is I expect we will see Montero catch around 100 games, Posada around 20 and the rest will be either Martin or Cervelli I would prefer Russell as many of you would because he could probably even take away those 20 games of Posada behind the dish if healthy but if Montero hits like we expect him too I don’t think any of us will be dissapointed in our catcher production whether we sign Martin or not but I have a feeling we are going to sign him.
VS RHP
Gardner
Granderson
Teixeira
Rodriguez
Cano
Swisher
Posada
Montero
Jeter
VS LHP
Jeter
Swisher
Teixeira
Rodriguez
Cano
Posada
Granderson
Montero
Gardner
Bench- Martin, Pena, Hairston, Hall
Pen
Mariano
Wood
Robertson
Feliciano
Logan
Joba
Sabathia
lee
Hughes
Burnett
Nova/Mitre/Noesi/Joba*
That is a team that would be at least on par with the rest of the East if not better