The Marlins have agreed to re-sign veteran catcher Bryan Holaday to a minor league contract, tweets Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald. He’ll be invited to Major League Spring Training and again compete for a roster spot.
Holaday, 31, spent the 2018 season as the primary backup to star catcher (and trade candidate) J.T. Realmuto. The well-traveled veteran appeared in 61 games for Miami and tallied 166 plate appearances, though he struggled considerably, hitting just .205/.261/.258 in that time.
Holaday has long struggled to get on base, but his defensive contributions in 2018 were readily apparent. He threw out a league-leading 45 percent of would-be base thieves (17-for-38) and, per Baseball Prospectus, delivered above-average marks in terms of both pitch framing and blocking.
Chad Wallach is the only catcher other than Realmuto who is presently on the Marlins’ roster, so they’ll need some additional depth whether Realmuto is traded or retained. In the event of a trade, it’s unlikely that Holaday would be in line for regular work in Miami — he’s never topped 171 PAs in a big league season — but he’ll likely be in the race for a roster spot regardless of how Miami’s offseason shakes out.
Now the Fish can trade Realmuto.
Oh.
Okay…
Seems like the Marlins have miss calculated the Realmuto market, it will be interesting to see what happens this winter with him. There are a lot of catchers out their either by trade or free agency but none as good as Realmuto.
Maybe. But I like it that they’re sticking to their high demands. End of the day, however, plan HAS to workout for the Fish.
In the end, someone is going to give in to something. Just have to wait for the other catcher situations to sort themselves out. Once that is set, whoever is still interested or desperate, will budge. If that means a team that doesn’t have the prospects, but has some budget, we may be able to get their best prospects while pushing one of the remaining contracts on that team. In the end, I think Realmuto gets moved after all the top catchers are off the board and some big moves make other contenders needing a catcher to react.
In the end, if I was a guessing man, I think there is a very good chance that there is another Yankees and Marlins move in the making with Gary Sanchez and prospects coming back for Realmuto…maybe a more complicated deal that pushes another contract over there.
Seems like a cool dude
Alright, we’re rolling now!