The Rangers are looking for catching help, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Rosenthal notes that the Astros, Brewers, Rays and Red Sox could also use reinforcements behind the plate. The Rays appear unlikey to deal for a catcher, partly because there aren't many backstops available.
The Rangers dealt for one of the few available catchers at the end of Spring Training, acquiring Matt Treanor from the Brewers. Treanor has impressed some with his game calling and defense, but Rosenthal says the team is looking at other options. Treanor, who has a .197/.300/.262 line in 71 plate appearances, missed most of last season with a bone spur in his right hip.
It may not be easy for GM Jon Daniels to work out a trade. The Rangers' sale is unresolved and has limited the club's ability to acquire players before. MLB prevented the Rangers from offering first round pick Matt Purke as much as they had planned to last summer, so the Rangers would presumably benefit from an immediate sale of the club.
MLBTR's Howard Megdal looked at the market for Chris Iannetta a couple weeks ago and concluded that the catcher could help teams at the major league level. The 27-year-old struggled in the majors this season and has since been demoted to the minors where he has posted a .303/.378/.667 line in 37 plate appearances. Iannetta is one of the many catchers the Rangers could inquire on.
Why do the Brewers need help behind the plate? Both Zaun and Kottaras are putting up decent numbers offensively and catching prospect Jonathan Lucroy is waiting in AAA. There’s a reason why Treanor was shipped out.
I was wondering the same thing. Zaun got off to a horrible start, but is hitting .259/.337/.395/.732 overall this year and Kottaras has been mashing as well. And as you mentioned, Lucroy is in AAA.
I actually just looked and Zaun and Kottaras are hitting a combined .259/.368/.446/.814. That doesn’t sound like a team that needs catching help.
Bengie Molina – Rangers, You KNOW you want him.
Chirs Iannetta is NOT getting traded. End of story.
Is Matthew B short for Dan O?
They buried him behind Torrealba for two years. I don’t think they’ve ever valued them as much as they should.
No, but everything (including O’Dowd) points to Iannetta being in Triple A to improve his approach and get regular at bats while Olivo’s hot streak cools off.
Hmmmm, 2007 Iannetta hit like a below average catcher and deserved to be behind Torrealba. In 2008, Iannetta won the starting job midseason and ran with it, while Torrealba unprofessionally and publicly complained about it. In 2009, he got benched because Torrealba hit .400 over the final part of the season and because Tracy is old school and loves things like batting average. This year, he got 30 PA to prove himself and was demoted when Olivo ran with his 30 PA.
I think Hurdle handled Iannetta fine, it’s Tracy that’s the problem. Dan O’Dowd will never trade him (He got a 4 year extension from him), but Tracy’s handling of the lineup this year; his refusal to play certain players (Smith and Ianneta come to mind), his insistence on playing below average veterans like Giambi and Mora, and starting EY2 in left field when he’s never played there in his life is the real issue of the 2010 Rockies. MOY last year or not, he’s been a joke so far, and turned completely opposite of what made the 2009 Rockies win in the first place (stability in the lineup).
I don’t really disagree with any of that, but the guy hasn’t been even slightly challenged by the minors in five years. He’s 26. He’s had bursts of excellence in the majors. If O’Dowd were that confident in him, I would expect a full-on mandate to play him. If you demote a guy with his track record after eight games, it either means you’ve soured on him or you’re stupid. And if it’s all coming from Tracy, then he needs to be spoken to in the room with no cameras from Ocean’s Eleven. But I suppose you agree with that last part already.
J.R. Towles. He just got demoted and can be had for a PTBNL. It’s not a great option, but it’s something.
Towles deserves a shot somewhere.
I hope that if the Pirates trade Doumit, then they could get a decent return for him. Hopefully it would be something like a pitcher, a shortstop, and maybe another prospect.
How About First Baseman Chris Davis Form Texas, He struggled to start the year, but is hitting like .380 at AAA… Put him in that line up with McCutchen, Garrett Jones, and Eventualy Pedro Alverez… And maybe the Rangers will Trow in Either Salty or Tegarden Just to clear space.
That might have worked before the Pirates acquired Jeff Clement, and Chris Davis is pretty much a carbon copy of a broken first base prospect. And the Pirates don’t need another catcher because they’ve got Tony Sanchez who is only a year or so away from the majors. I know for a fact that Huntington would ask for something like Holland or Perez and another prospect, but that is too much for a player like Doumit.
Man, Salty just hasn’t come through. They really got swindled in the Teixeira trade.
Neftali Feliz Came in that Deal, as Did Matt harrison who still has a chance to be a Very Good 3rd, or 4th Starter!
I was making a really, really obvious joke. You also forgot Andrus. Yeesh. I bet your grandfather was one of the people that thought the War of the Worlds broadcast was real.
If swindled means obtaining the future faces of their franchise in the form of Elvis Andrus and Neftali Feliz then you are correct.
Seriously, do I have to start posts with “Knock knock” in order for Rangers fans to recognize obvious, obvious jokes?
Eli Whiteside from the Giants to make room for Buster Posey. Whiteside is catching once every 5 days (for Jonny Sanchez) letting Bengie do the other 4. And he has a (kinda) hot bat right now)
Make it happen Sabean!
Aap 212 I was hoping that was a joke.
If A team is going to need a vetran catchers, their are plenty of them avaible stash at lot of team Triple A.
Seattle Mariners Triple A team has 2 Vetran Catchers who been in Majors in Elizer Alfonso, Josh Bard, Double A Quiz
Houston just option J.R. Towels to Double A would be avaible for PTBL
Washington Nationals Jamie Burke at Triple A
Colorado Rookies Paul Lo Duca & Chris Iannetta at Triple A
San Diego Padres Chris Stewart & Eric Munson are vetran but average hitters
how about… AJ PIERZYNSKI??!@!
heh
Salty is hitting somewhere near .380 in AAA. Max Ramirez tore up AA pitching in 2008 and dominated the Venezuela Winter League. What’s going on here?
Impatience with Salty’s health and concerns over Ramirez’s defense at the major league level.
I’d say offense is a concern for both, too. It’s not 2008 anymore.
Ramon Hernandez for Teagarden. The Reds have needed a young catcher for a few decades
Wilson Ramos anyone? The Twins need to ditch him
No one ever “needs” to “ditch” a fine hitting, decent fielding catcher. That’s just crazy talk.
Of course, I stopped by to suggest that very thing, so it isn’t all that crazy. Since TEX won’t be allowed to spend a nickle in the deal, the question comes down to what have they got in their prospect bag? MN could sure use a middle infielder of substance that would ripen about the time O Hudson leaves.
David Ross would be a solid pick up for the Rangers all the Braves would ask for is Feliz and Andrus back lol!
Red Sox should trade for Chris Snyder!!! once montero is back for the dbacks
It’s always interesting how something that is deemed a strength (and in the case of the Rangers – an abundance of riches) can turn into a weakness just a year or two later. It wasn’t that long ago that the Rangers had 4 legitimate catchers either in the bigs or coming up through the system.
Remember when people thought that Salty was a stud prospect, that Max Ramirez was the 2nd coming of Mike Piazza, and Gerald Laird was a solid and reliable backstop? And the best out of the entire group was going to be Taylor Teagarden – had the bat and the glove to be a standout catcher.
It’s still pretty early for the three kids but right now those highly touted prospects aren’t looking so hot and Laird has been a disappointment in Detroit.
A nice reminder that prospects don’t always pan out and organizational depth can be awfully misleading at times. This isn’t a knock on Texas either. It’s just a tough business predicting future success when it comes to minor league talent.
Despite being off to a great start, the Jays are realistically not expected to do better than .500 this year. Catching is one place I see room to make significant changes
First, Jose Molina should be replaced immediately with Raul Chavez. Chavez will produce about as well offensively at Molina, despite his slow start in LV, isn’t quite as slow and does a much better job catching/blocking low pitches, on which Molina has looked horrible, to the point that it is detrimentally affecting the pitchers. Molina threw out 38% of base runners last year, so they’d wouldn’t be sacrificing much relative to Molina’s only strength. I doubt there are takers for Molina, but I would consider DFAing or releasing him simply to replace him with Chavez.
Second, the way Buck has been hitting, I doubt his market value has been higher in the past 3-4 years, with a club-firendly contract, as I recall. At the same time, J. P. Arencibia is potentially, the catcher of the future for the short term, at least, so why not bring him up and give him the chance to develop at the major league level?
One other thought, I seem to recall reading that A.J. Pierzynski gains his 10 and 5 rights in the next month or two. The White Sox might be willing to trade him if the return is right. (Before anyone jumps on me for that last statement, yes, that is or should be tautological: Any team should be willing to make a trade if the return is right.)