Berardino: Garver making his case behind the plate

[Seth Stohs]

Mike Berardino chatted with catching prospect Mitch Garver down in Arizona for this article.

 

Garver knows this is a big season for him. It's his 40-man roster decision, and the Twins new brass will be making decisions on the direction of the catcher position going forward.

 

He's worked hard on his defense but also can hit. 

 

It's a good article. 

 

http://www.twincities.com/2016/11/14/minnesota-twins-mitch-garver-makes-his-case-behind-the-plate/ 

[Vanimal46]

The quotes from Falvey are telling on what the philosophy will be at C... Defense first. If they're also good at batting, great! But defense is the top priority. After watching Suzuki and Centeno behind the plate, I agree 100%.

[SF Twins Fan]

It'll be interesting to see how the front office feels Garver is doing behind the plate from his game calling to receiving skills.  

[Thrylos]

 

The quotes from Falvey are telling on what the philosophy will be at C... Defense first. If they're also good at batting, great! But defense is the top priority. After watching Suzuki and Centeno behind the plate, I agree 100%.

 

Totally surprised that Centeno still occupies a 40-man roster spot, but I think that this will be fixed after the internal meetings conclude later this week...

[DocBauer]

What a boost for the team and the rebuild if they could add a, relatively, young 2 way catcher.

[Vanimal46]

 

Totally surprised that Centeno still occupies a 40-man roster spot, but I think that this will be fixed after the internal meetings conclude later this week...

Agreed. Don't think we'll be waiting long until Centeno's DFA'd. 

[Seth Stohs]

Here's a question for the discussion:

 

How many two-way catchers are there really in baseball right now?

 

Salvador Perez

Buster Posey

Yadier Molina was for a few years.

 

I'm not going to look it up now, but two-way catchers are really rare. That's what made Mauer so special for a decade.

[Mike Sixel]

 

Here's a question for the discussion:

 

How many two-way catchers are there really in baseball right now?

 

Salvador Perez

Buster Posey

Yadier Molina was for a few years.

 

I'm not going to look it up now, but two-way catchers are really rare. That's what made Mauer so special for a decade.

 

Agree with Seth.....and I've totally flipped on this the last few years. I want a pitch framer. 

[ThejacKmp]

I don't get the "DFA Centeno now" chatter. Why not wait until you sign another catcher (e.g. Castro)? If the free agent market doesn't yield anyone good (lot of indication that Castro's market will be busy), Centeno is a nice cheap temporary platoon match with JRM until Garver is ready (seems unlikely he'll start the season with the Twins). I'm not sure you'd get anyone significantly better after the elite guys are gone so why dump an acceptable plan B before plan A is a reality?

 

Maybe it's roster reasons but if you need space, guys like Grossman, Boshers and O'Rourke seem to be a lot easier to replace than an acceptable backup catcher.

[Mike Sixel]

 

I don't get the "DFA Centeno now" chatter. Why not wait until you sign another catcher (e.g. Castro)? If the free agent market doesn't yield anyone good (lot of indication that Castro's market will be busy), Centeno is a nice cheap temporary platoon match with JRM until Garver is ready (seems unlikely he'll start the season with the Twins). I'm not sure you'd get anyone significantly better after the elite guys are gone so why dump an acceptable plan B before plan A is a reality?

 

Maybe it's roster reasons but if you need space, guys like Grossman, Boshers and O'Rourke seem to be a lot easier to replace than an acceptable backup catcher.

 

For me? It FORCES you to get someone else...but I totally get your point...