Originally Posted by
Seth Stohs
I think people need to stop calling Butera the "3rd catcher" because in reality, on most every single day, he is the backup catcher. Mauer is the catcher. Doumit is the DH. Or those two switch. Butera is the backup catcher. Every team has a backup catcher. Most team's backup catchers are defensive-minded players. It's really that simple. The last three World Series champion backup catchers were Hector Sanchez, Gerald Laird and Eli Whiteside, none of which can hit much and certainly don't bring as much to their teams defensively as Butera does.
I really like Chris Herrmann, and even I'm not shouting for him to replace Butera at this point. As Nick has said way better than I ever could, it's completely a mute point. The Twins brass deems Butera worthy of essentially a league-minimum contract (close enough that it's not worth worrying about) because of his defense, his leadership, what he provides on the bench and to the pitchers. And, when he gets five at bats a week, it's just not a concern. If he gets 5 plate appearances, he'll get on once. If Mauer gets five plate appearances, he'll get on base twice.
It's in the same category as complaining about Correia getting a 2-year contract. It's fun to whine about it for awhile, but it's done. It's not being reversed. Doesn't it get old continuing to talk/write about the same thing.
It's really such a non-issue.