Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez said the team is working to sign a catcher, according to Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald (on Twitter). The team currently has Brad Davis, Chris Hatcher and Brett Hayes, but regulars John Baker and Ronny Paulino are not available. Baker has an injured elbow and Paulino has been suspended for PED use, so the Marlins are without an experienced backstop.
MLB.com's Joe Frisaro reported this week that the team will look into catching options this offseason, but it appears that Larry Beinfest and Michael Hill are searching now. There aren't many catchers available on the free agent market, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if the team signed Mike Rabelo, Paul Lo Duca or Mike Redmond, all of whom are former Marlins.
They can have Dave Cash. He’s worth an Independent League type prospect in return since Saltamachia is due to return from rehab any day.
I think you mean Kevin Cash.
Apologies.. Always thinking of former Pirates and Phillies second baseman Dave Cash, who was a very good ball player and get them confused name-wise.
Kevin Cash is a backup catcher material type for an AAA team, yet somehow always manages to find a job in situations exactly like Boston did earlier and the Fish have now,
Thanks again for the name correction.
Haha, no worries man. Gave me an excuse to learn about Dave Cash.
Try Norm Cash, interesting old Tigers player.
No, the Marlins should acquire Nyjer Morgan, make him a catcher, and then have baserunners tackle him at the plate like he did to Hayes and Anderson.
You can have Laird. for Free!
We’ll even take Hanley off your hands. You KNOW you don’t really want to pay that contract!
Either the stadium or Hanley and Cabrera…
That statement should have been – Either a FREE stadium or Cabrerra.
You know, I think one of the worst moves the Red Sox ever made was sending Hanley Ramirez to the Marlins. If they had him, who knows what they could have done. It makes Yankee fans, like me, breath a sigh of relief.
take doumit please
I agree.
Rabelo was traded to the Marlins as part of the Cabrerra/Willis trade right? They should at least know him pretty well. With all the good young catchers around the game now you would think some teams would be willing to trade younger, prospect type catchers (ie. Twins traded theirs for Capps). If the Giants, Cubs, Orioles etc… have any descent minor league catchers they should contact the Marlins and see what they’re thinking. Wellington Castillo may not be a good option for the Fish right now but he could fill the whole in the long run for them.
Lo Duca acutally placed a bet that he wouldn’t get signed.
Lol, I see what you did there.
Think the Fish had enough of him either early 2009, or late 2008.. He was with them for a little while regardless, just don’t recall of top of head without looking it up.
Either way, Kevin Cash is even an upgrade over him since at least he can throw base runners out and his knees have not been surgically repaired numerous times.
Well, I think Brent Hayes is probably out for the season as well now. Play was nasty.
Yes the play was nasty – but I liked the nasty play (or clothesline) that Gaby gave that scum tonight. Good for Gaby, Volstad and the Marlins as a whole!
Nasty? Yes. But I don’t see why some people are calling it dirty. As I understand it, the runner is perfectly within his rights to collide with the catcher assuming the catcher is blocking home plate–after all, the catcher has the mask and knee pads and all, and usually the runner will get the worst of it. However, it does seem clear that, while Hayes was blocking the plate with his foot, Morgan could’ve easily slid and been safe. The best play would’ve probably been to go in headfirst and reach around Hayes’ leg to touch the plate. What Morgan did was stupid and perhaps even in poor taste, but it wasn’t technically a “dirty” play.
That play may have been stupid, since Hayes wasn’t crouching low to block the plate, but I think Morgan proved tonight what a piece of trash he really is.And to think one of the reasons that the Nats traded Milledge away for “attitude problems” and got Nyjer in return. Morgan is a clown and needs to realize he’s had one season where he was valuable to anyone. He’s a 30-year-old almost career minor leaguer for a reason. What a joke.
If you look at the replay, you can see that the catcher was leaving home plate and actually took his foot off.
Even before he took his foot off, there was A LOT room to slide in. (as you said)
Now, if you look at the replay again: Morgan runs towards home but he then turns to the catcher instead of running straight through home plate. If the point is to NOT get tagged out, why would you spend the extra effort and also risk getting tagged out? (he started running towards the back of the plate and then crossed towards the catcher)
More evidence: Morgan was not the only runner. The runner who had scored before was signaling Morgan to SLIDE. (I believe the other runner was Pudge)
It’s quite clear that Morgan wanted physical aggression. I’ve watched this play a couple of times trying to understand why one would do such a thing… I’ve come to the conclusion that Morgan is just a complete douche bag.
Yeah, seriously, what’s going on with him lately? A little heckling sets him off for weeks? He needs to get his head on straight and realize that he’s playing himself out of a lot of money going forward, when he finally comes up on free agency people are going to shy away from him if he’s perceived to have attitude/emotional problems. His recent meltdown isn’t helping him on any front.
Has Kyle Skipworth raised any eyebrows yet? He was one of the very few catchers taken in the first round of the 08 draft right behind Posey and in front of Castro. Please don’t tell me the Marlins wasted a pick on Skipworth when they could have had Jason Castro.
Well Skipworth is very young but has a long ways to go. He probably has more upside than Castro even though Castro was closer to the Majors. Skippy will be in the AFL this fall and it will be exciting. He actually did better this season than last and the year before. The defense is coming together and now he is starting to hit for more power. The Marlins hope he can become the centerpiece to their future but again, he has a long long way to go and he has plenty of time.
Houston really took a chance on him.
It’s Mike Rivera.