Report: Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres Have Had Conversations Around Christian Vázquez, Dylan Cease

[tony&rodney]

3 hours ago, FargoFanMan said:

They do and I think they think that it’s a long shot to happen. 

It is a long shot. I believe that is largely the consensus of many of us here commenting on this article. The discussion shifts to what is possible and you and others have mentioned some possibilities. There are outlandish ideas and there are reasonable ideas. Ultimately and naturally this is down to the choices and decisions made by the front offices and whether the deals suit their plans.

What suggestions or guesses did the talking heads put out? On a fan site or podcast it makes no sense to just suggest that something should be done - RH LF/1B or that something cannot be done - Cease, catcher, etc. Did these fellows put out a specific idea they felt was rational?

[FargoFanMan]

1 hour ago, tony&rodney said:

It is a long shot. I believe that is largely the consensus of many of us here commenting on this article. The discussion shifts to what is possible and you and others have mentioned some possibilities. There are outlandish ideas and there are reasonable ideas. Ultimately and naturally this is down to the choices and decisions made by the front offices and whether the deals suit their plans.

What suggestions or guesses did the talking heads put out? On a fan site or podcast it makes no sense to just suggest that something should be done - RH LF/1B or that something cannot be done - Cease, catcher, etc. Did these fellows put out a specific idea they felt was rational?

They didn’t talk specifics. Basically what has been said here trending towards the more rational side. Just comes down to can they get it done by including one of the major league pitchers or a one of the top end hitting prospects. Like you said. “If” it gets done it will include Vazquez for sure. After that any number of guys really. If they want pitching or want a ML ready bat is the question. Or a combination of both. Idk if SWR and Larnach get a deal done. They probably want either Ryan, Ober or one of the 3 prospect hitters. Possibly Castro. I guess it’s more up in the air after reading a few articles and listening to a few things. Not to mention the Braves and Orioles are probably in on Cease as well.

[tony&rodney]

Just now, FargoFanMan said:

They didn’t talk specifics. Basically what has been said here trending towards the more rational side. Just comes down to can they get it done by including one of the major league pitchers or a one of the top end hitting prospects. Like you said. “If” it gets done it will include Vazquez for sure. After that any number of guys really. If they want pitching or want a ML ready bat is the question. Or a combination of both. Idk if SWR and Larnach get a deal done. They probably want either Ryan, Ober or one of the 3 prospect hitters. Possibly Castro. I guess it’s more up in the air after reading a few articles and listening to a few things. Not to mention the Braves and Orioles are probably in on Cease as well.

The thing I don't really care about most of the talking head podcast is that they insinuate that they have knowledge unknown to the common person and talk endlessly about nothing, with an inevitable curse about "self-imposed" payrolls. The energy is not very positive and listening to these guys isn't as productive as reading the comments on this site. Our suggestions are at least specific and we admit that we know nothing and that the front office has their own ideas.

[FargoFanMan]

4 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

The thing I don't really care about most of the talking head podcast is that they insinuate that they have knowledge unknown to the common person and talk endlessly about nothing, with an inevitable curse about "self-imposed" payrolls. The energy is not very positive and listening to these guys isn't as productive as reading the comments on this site. Our suggestions are at least specific and we admit that we know nothing and that the front office has their own ideas.

I would tend to agree. The tidbits they do give out are just a tad bit more than you’ll find here. And the speculation isn’t as wild and “video game” like as here. But to your point it’s just more talking in all directions so to say. 

[tony&rodney]

14 minutes ago, FargoFanMan said:

The tidbits they do give out are just a tad bit more than you’ll find here. And the speculation isn’t as wild and “video game” like as here.

It is easy enough to filter through the ridiculous trades here. You should read some of the stuff on The Athletic or mlbtraderumors. I never submit anything there. The comments are almost all insane. Occasionally one can see a legitimate trade suggestion on BaseballTradeValues (I don't belong), but others are chuckle worthy far beyond anything ever suggested on Twins Daily. For the most part Twins Daily is the place for rational discussion and I realize that there often crazy exchanges or comments, sadly a few angry elfs from time to time. I'm sure I have contributed a few doozies too. It's all good as we say.

[Parfigliano]

22 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

I remember someone texted that SD didn't want Paddack in return. To me that seems strange, they brought him through the system, they gave him to us broken, we invested time & money into him to fix him. He's good to go, they need him & now they don't want him?

Ingrates.

[ashbury]

10 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

Ingrates.

Almost as though they had someone else's best interests at heart than the Twins.

That's why you have to offer Vazquez as a sweetener along with Paddack.

[chpettit19]

4 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

How would the Twins have fared in the NL West? Let's compare apples to apples.

"You can blame Preller for putting together a lousy player evaluation & development team or fault him for being quick to trade undeveloped talent which I tend to agree with you".- My quotation 

I agree that it's Preller's job is to delegate the right people in drafting, player evaluation & development & he's responsible. Like, so often I complain about Falvey or even Conger, and you come back with it's not their job. Who's responsible for catching development that knows what they are doing if not Conger & Falvey? Now getting back to GMs, GM don't delegate buying or selling players that's their job. Do you blame Preller for trading Soto?

You want to debate me about if Preller was a good GM or not, I don't care that's not my point. My point that you missed  is that I appreciate him for being proactive.

Twins wouldn't win the NL West with the teams they have. Would you be happy being under .500 just because the team is in a different division, though? That's the argument? Its OK the Preller is below .500 for 7 straight years because they have to play the Dodgers and Giants? The AL Central had 3 playoff teams last year so I assume you're good with missing the playoffs cuz the division was better? 

I've never said that isn't Falvey's job. Never. Not once. I did point out that you have a complete misunderstanding of what Hank Conger's job is because he doesn't develop minor league catchers. That flat out isn't his job. It is Falvey's job to hire minor league coaches and development staff that develop minor league catchers. 

The fact that you still think it's Hank Congers job is mind blowing. He travels with the Twins. He's a major league coach. Do you think it's the major league hitting coaches' job to develop minor league hitters? Those coaches are with the Twins all year. They travel to all their games. When do you think Hank is working with minor league catchers during the season? It's not his job. They have entire minor league coaching staffs and development teams. That its Falvey's job to hire. Conger doesn't see those minor league catchers outside of spring training. How is he supposed to make educated decisions on players he doesn’t see 1 single time between April and October? 

AJ Preller is the president and GM. He's in charge of everything. He, like Falvey, is given a budget by ownership/the business department and then it's all up to him. 

You called him a "great GM." Don’t claim your point wasn't his ability because you flat out said it. Being proactive isn't useful if you make bad trades. That argument doesn't make any sense. "Hey, he may build bad teams while trading away stars, but at least he makes a lot of moves!" You actively complain that Falvey makes trades because you think he makes bad trades by trading away players "they need" while acquiring players they don't. But when Preller makes bad trades its good because at least he's proactive? That logic doesn't track, sorry.

[Doctor Gast]

2 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

I've never said that isn't Falvey's job. Never. Not once. I did point out that you have a complete misunderstanding of what Hank Conger's job is because he doesn't develop minor league catchers. That flat out isn't his job. It is Falvey's job to hire minor league coaches and development staff that develop minor league catchers. 

The fact that you still think it's Hank Congers job is mind blowing. He travels with the Twins. He's a major league coach. Do you think it's the major league hitting coaches' job to develop minor league hitters? Those coaches are with the Twins all year. They travel to all their games. When do you think Hank is working with minor league catchers during the season? It's not his job. They have entire minor league coaching staffs and development teams. That its Falvey's job to hire. Conger doesn't see those minor league catchers outside of spring training. How is he supposed to make educated decisions on players he doesn’t see 1 single time between April and October? 

 

My mistake & that explains my thought before that it'd be impossible to be a head catching coach, be the 1B coach & now asst. bench coach. So Conger is just the MLB catching coach. If you could do me the favor to inform me who has the vast catching experience & knowledge that is responsible for overlooking & instructing the MiLB catching coaches on how to develop our catchers plus other head catcher coach (or whatever you want to call him) duties? In other words, Tanner Swanson is the NYY director of catching,  who's the Twins.

[chpettit19]

On 1/25/2025 at 7:06 PM, Doctor Gast said:

My mistake & that explains my thought before that it'd be impossible to be a head catching coach, be the 1B coach & now asst. bench coach. So Conger is just the MLB catching coach. If you could do me the favor to inform me who has the vast catching experience & knowledge that is responsible for overlooking & instructing the MiLB catching coaches on how to develop our catchers plus other head catcher coach (or whatever you want to call him) duties? In other words, Tanner Swanson is the NYY director of catching,  who's the Twins.

Sorry for the delay, haven't been on in a few days.

Tanner Swanson is also a major league catching coach. He used to be the minor league catching coordinator here, but he's now the major league coach in New York. He's their Hank Conger, but with a different title. He's also their major league field coordinator. I'd doubt he's working on their minor league catching development while traveling with the major league team fulfilling those 2 job roles.

Tucker Frawley is the Twins minor league catching coordinator. I think you'd find this interview with him interesting. He was both infield and catching coordinator at the time of this interview, but is only catching coordinator now, I believe. 

[Doctor Gast]

1 hour ago, chpettit19 said:

Sorry for the delay, haven't been on in a few days.

Tanner Swanson is also a major league catching coach. He used to be the minor league catching coordinator here, but he's now the major league coach in New York. He's their Hank Conger, but with a different title. He's also their major league field coordinator. I'd doubt he's working on their minor league catching development while traveling with the major league team fulfilling those 2 job roles.

Tucker Frawley is the Twins minor league catching coordinator. I think you'd find this interview with him interesting. He was both infield and catching coordinator at the time of this interview, but is only catching coordinator now, I believe. 

Thank you chpettit19 for getting to me. Swanson & Conger has pretty much the same duties that's what I thought all along. I googled Tanner Swanson & here's what I got—resourced The Athletic & Wikipedia.

                                                                                Tanner Swanson is heavily involved in the process of drafting catchers with the New York Yankees, where he serves as the catching coordinator; his expertise in developing catchers, means he plays a key role in identifying and evaluating potential catching prospects for the team during the draft. 

Key points about Tanner Swanson and his role in drafting catchers:

• Catching Specialist:

  Swanson is known for his deep knowledge and focus on catching techniques, having developed a reputation as a leading catching coach. 

   
• Impact on Yankees Catching Prospects:

  He is credited with significantly improving the defensive abilities of young catchers in the Yankees organization, including players like Austin Wells. 

   
• Draft Influence:                                                                                                                                 Due to his expertise, Swanson likely provides valuable input to the Yankees scouting staff regarding the catching prospects they are considering in the draft. 

•  

  Before Swanson came to the NYY, their best catcher was Gary Sanchez, who was terrible, nobody wanted to pitch to him. Now Swanson has transformed the whole NYY catching system producing high-quality catchers. 

I criticized Conger for the Twins' lack of drafting & development of catchers, you told me he had nothing to do with that. Then I asked "Who does?" I figured that Swanson did. You told me that both Congers & Swanson are Catching coordinators which I thought, So I'll ask again if Congers isn't responsible for overall drafting impute & development for catchers who is? Is it this Tucker Frawley? Who'd I like to see overseeing catcher drafting & development is someone who permeates with the desire to produce elite catchers. I didn't get that from Frawley in the interview, I barely read any reference about catching. & I don't get that from Conger either. Someone who is a catching coordinator I'd like them to devote themselves solely to catching not split time as a 1B coach & assistant bench coach. 

 

 

[chpettit19]

4 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Thank you chpettit19 for getting to me. Swanson & Conger has pretty much the same duties that's what I thought all along. I googled Tanner Swanson & here's what I got—resourced The Athletic & Wikipedia.

                                                                                Tanner Swanson is heavily involved in the process of drafting catchers with the New York Yankees, where he serves as the catching coordinator; his expertise in developing catchers, means he plays a key role in identifying and evaluating potential catching prospects for the team during the draft. 

Key points about Tanner Swanson and his role in drafting catchers:

• Catching Specialist:

  Swanson is known for his deep knowledge and focus on catching techniques, having developed a reputation as a leading catching coach. 

   
• Impact on Yankees Catching Prospects:

  He is credited with significantly improving the defensive abilities of young catchers in the Yankees organization, including players like Austin Wells. 

   
• Draft Influence:                                                                                                                                 Due to his expertise, Swanson likely provides valuable input to the Yankees scouting staff regarding the catching prospects they are considering in the draft. 

•  

  Before Swanson came to the NYY, their best catcher was Gary Sanchez, who was terrible, nobody wanted to pitch to him. Now Swanson has transformed the whole NYY catching system producing high-quality catchers. 

I criticized Conger for the Twins' lack of drafting & development of catchers, you told me he had nothing to do with that. Then I asked "Who does?" I figured that Swanson did. You told me that both Congers & Swanson are Catching coordinators which I thought, So I'll ask again if Congers isn't responsible for overall drafting impute & development for catchers who is? Is it this Tucker Frawley? Who'd I like to see overseeing catcher drafting & development is someone who permeates with the desire to produce elite catchers. I didn't get that from Frawley in the interview, I barely read any reference about catching. & I don't get that from Conger either. Someone who is a catching coordinator I'd like them to devote themselves solely to catching not split time as a 1B coach & assistant bench coach. 

 

 

Tucker Frawley was both the infield and catcher coordinator at the time of that interview. I told you that. Now he's just the catcher. He was giving examples that people could relate to and infielders are easier to do that with. The article was about development in general. You shouldn't be getting anything about his desire to develop great catchers from that. What a terribly weird response. You don't think Hank Conger wants the Twins catchers to be great? How do you expect him to keep his job? Of course he wants the Twins catchers to be great, but his role isn't drafting and developing so you shouldn't be getting the feeling that he's heavily invested there because that isn't his job. Swanson is splitting duties. Conger is splitting duties. With their respective major league teams. The teams also have heads of scouting and head of development people. I promise you Tanner Swanson is not scouting high school and college kids during the season. They have other guys who do that because it's an in person thing.

As for your Google pull, wikipedia doesn't say one single thing about what Swanson's role looks like so that's not a great source. The quote from The Athletic about working with Wells is "The Yankees will also rely on Swanson to help continue to develop Austin Wells,...Wells has worked with Swanson, minor-league catching coordinator Aaron Gershenfeld and defensive coach Aaron Bossi to improve his blocking and arm strength, and the Yankees believe Wells has a chance to stay behind the plate in the majors." The core of the article is actually talking about his work with the major league catchers. Maybe don't trust Google without actually going and reading the sources. The AI response on him being a catching specialist is incredibly basic and likely is from the fact that he used to have a catching academy before becoming the Twins minor league catching coordinator. He's a catching coordinator, of course he's a catching specialist! I just gave you the quote the AI used to come up with the Wells input. The statement is about working with Wells at the major league level to continue his development there after he worked with Gershenfeld and Bossi in the minors. "Swanson likely provides" is not the ringing endorsement you're trying to make it. They have traits and skills they look for in their catchers that they think can teach up once they get in the system. Just like the Twins have traits and skills they look for in pitchers that they think they can teach up to add velo once they're in the system.

Just like you misuse your CERA wikipedia quote from Bill James, you're misusing this Google AI pull because you don't check the actual sources and the context of the statements. Bill James is talking about comparing catchers across the league by using CERA. Not catchers on the same team with darn near equal sample sizes with the same pitching staffs. That is why CERA isn't a go to stat. Because there's too many variables outside the catcher's control. You can't compare catchers ERA from the Mariners and their league best pitching and catchers ERA from the Rockies and their league worst pitching and say which catchers are better. But when you're comparing 2 catchers with the same staff and even sample sizes it is a useful tool. As Bill James, Keith Woolner, and Craig Wright have said for decades and new analysts say now.

Hank Conger does not draft or develop anyone. Is he part of conversations about catching? Of course he is. He didn't join the Twins until 2022 (December 10, 2021 if you want to get exact). Even if he was running everything that'd be 2 seasons worth of development from him. Another reason you shouldn't just blindly trust Google AI is because it'll tell you Hank Conger was the Twins catching coach in 2016. Hank Conger had a .571 OPS in 49 games for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2016. Quit using wikipedia and Google AI to simply confirm your biases without getting the context.

The same person who oversees catcher drafting isn't the same one who oversees catcher development. They're different people. Different groups of people, actually. They work together, likely with Conger's input, and Falvey's, and 20 other people's, but it isn't one person. It's a team of people. Each minor league team has their own set of coaches as well. Think through what you're saying. The Twins have numerous different teams at numerous levels. There isn't a person solely responsible for this stuff. You need coaching staffs at your AAA, AA, A+, A and complex leagues who all work on developing catchers. You need a scouting staff made up of numerous people both in America and in Latin America to scout. You have a fundamental misunderstanding of how MLB organizations work and what these roles look like. Tanner Swanson and Hank Conger are not scouting and developing players. They simply aren't. It's literally impossible. It's a team of people and they have a voice in the room in the offseason and spring training, but once the season starts and the actual scouting and developing is happening those guys are with their major league teams doing multiple jobs. Every team works this way. It's impossible to be an MLB coach and run scouting and development. 

Sean Johnson is the Director of Amateur Scouting. He runs the scouting for catchers and the draft for the Twins. Kevin Goldstein is the Director of International Scouting. He has his own team of scouts for international scouting. The scouting isn't even all one person. Deron Johnson is the Senior Scouting Advisor. Drew MacPhail is the Director of Player Development. He has 2 assistant directors (Tommy Bergjans and Frankie Padulo). Tucker Frawley is the closest answer to what you want. And he wants the Twins to develop great catchers. Otherwise he gets fired. Tucker Frawley's job this year is only Minor League Catching Coordinator. He's not in charge of drafting them, but he's in charge of their development in the closest way to what you're asking.

[Doctor Gast]

25 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Tucker Frawley was both the infield and catcher coordinator at the time of that interview. I told you that. Now he's just the catcher. He was giving examples that people could relate to and infielders are easier to do that with. The article was about development in general. You shouldn't be getting anything about his desire to develop great catchers from that. What a terribly weird response. You don't think Hank Conger wants the Twins catchers to be great? How do you expect him to keep his job? Of course he wants the Twins catchers to be great, but his role isn't drafting and developing so you shouldn't be getting the feeling that he's heavily invested there because that isn't his job. Swanson is splitting duties. Conger is splitting duties. With their respective major league teams. The teams also have heads of scouting and head of development people. I promise you Tanner Swanson is not scouting high school and college kids during the season. They have other guys who do that because it's an in person thing.

As for your Google pull, wikipedia doesn't say one single thing about what Swanson's role looks like so that's not a great source. The quote from The Athletic about working with Wells is "The Yankees will also rely on Swanson to help continue to develop Austin Wells,...Wells has worked with Swanson, minor-league catching coordinator Aaron Gershenfeld and defensive coach Aaron Bossi to improve his blocking and arm strength, and the Yankees believe Wells has a chance to stay behind the plate in the majors." The core of the article is actually talking about his work with the major league catchers. Maybe don't trust Google without actually going and reading the sources. The AI response on him being a catching specialist is incredibly basic and likely is from the fact that he used to have a catching academy before becoming the Twins minor league catching coordinator. He's a catching coordinator, of course he's a catching specialist! I just gave you the quote the AI used to come up with the Wells input. The statement is about working with Wells at the major league level to continue his development there after he worked with Gershenfeld and Bossi in the minors. "Swanson likely provides" is not the ringing endorsement you're trying to make it. They have traits and skills they look for in their catchers that they think can teach up once they get in the system. Just like the Twins have traits and skills they look for in pitchers that they think they can teach up to add velo once they're in the system.

Just like you misuse your CERA wikipedia quote from Bill James, you're misusing this Google AI pull because you don't check the actual sources and the context of the statements. Bill James is talking about comparing catchers across the league by using CERA. Not catchers on the same team with darn near equal sample sizes with the same pitching staffs. That is why CERA isn't a go to stat. Because there's too many variables outside the catcher's control. You can't compare catchers ERA from the Mariners and their league best pitching and catchers ERA from the Rockies and their league worst pitching and say which catchers are better. But when you're comparing 2 catchers with the same staff and even sample sizes it is a useful tool. As Bill James, Keith Woolner, and Craig Wright have said for decades and new analysts say now.

Hank Conger does not draft or develop anyone. Is he part of conversations about catching? Of course he is. He didn't join the Twins until 2022 (December 10, 2021 if you want to get exact). Even if he was running everything that'd be 2 seasons worth of development from him. Another reason you shouldn't just blindly trust Google AI is because it'll tell you Hank Conger was the Twins catching coach in 2016. Hank Conger had a .571 OPS in 49 games for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2016. Quit using wikipedia and Google AI to simply confirm your biases without getting the context.

The same person who oversees catcher drafting isn't the same one who oversees catcher development. They're different people. Different groups of people, actually. They work together, likely with Conger's input, and Falvey's, and 20 other people's, but it isn't one person. It's a team of people. Each minor league team has their own set of coaches as well. Think through what you're saying. The Twins have numerous different teams at numerous levels. There isn't a person solely responsible for this stuff. You need coaching staffs at your AAA, AA, A+, A and complex leagues who all work on developing catchers. You need a scouting staff made up of numerous people both in America and in Latin America to scout. You have a fundamental misunderstanding of how MLB organizations work and what these roles look like. Tanner Swanson and Hank Conger are not scouting and developing players. They simply aren't. It's literally impossible. It's a team of people and they have a voice in the room in the offseason and spring training, but once the season starts and the actual scouting and developing is happening those guys are with their major league teams doing multiple jobs. Every team works this way. It's impossible to be an MLB coach and run scouting and development. 

Sean Johnson is the Director of Amateur Scouting. He runs the scouting for catchers and the draft for the Twins. Kevin Goldstein is the Director of International Scouting. He has his own team of scouts for international scouting. The scouting isn't even all one person. Deron Johnson is the Senior Scouting Advisor. Drew MacPhail is the Director of Player Development. He has 2 assistant directors (Tommy Bergjans and Frankie Padulo). Tucker Frawley is the closest answer to what you want. And he wants the Twins to develop great catchers. Otherwise he gets fired. Tucker Frawley's job this year is only Minor League Catching Coordinator. He's not in charge of drafting them, but he's in charge of their development in the closest way to what you're asking.

Of course, Swanson isn't in charge of the team drafting, scouting & development but he should & IMO does have influence in the team scouting, drafting catchers & also in development. Before Swanson, NYY was terrible- After Swanson, one of the best for producing quality catchers. 

How much are Twins' focused on catching? The Directors of Scouting, Drafting & Development are told what to focus on. They need to be influenced by someone who has the baseball smarts on catching to aid in scouting, drafting & developing quality catchers. Swanson helped to develop Garver, Jeffers & Rortvedt. Who have we developed since that is decent? NYY changed its focus on catching & was transformed. The problem is the Twins put no importance on catching. If he slugs great, catching isn't important. They always draft low on catching. The condition of catching in the system is discouraging which tells me that scouting, drafting & developing quality catchers is a low priority.

Of course, Conger & Frawley want great catchers but do they have what it takes to produce them? The results show they do not. The Twins don't care, they like them & no one is complaining they have their job for life & get promoted.

[tony&rodney]

Please excuse me for intruding on your conversation. The scouting and drafting of players is separate from development, the coaching. They don't intersect, not in baseball because drafting for need doesn't work. Occasionally there will be some wild ass idea tried and it fails miserably. The Angels drafted only pitchers one year and passed on players who they knew were better but the club was determined to draft pitchers. Dumb. I can't really think of an appropriate example but maybe fantasy football. I have never even once played any fantasy games. So you draft a team but you only watch to see how your picks work out. You don't actually have any say in their performance. That seems like a lame example but best I could do.

 

[chpettit19]

49 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Of course, Swanson isn't in charge of the team drafting, scouting & development but he should & IMO does have influence in the team scouting, drafting catchers & also in development. Before Swanson, NYY was terrible- After Swanson, one of the best for producing quality catchers. 

How much are Twins' focused on catching? The Directors of Scouting, Drafting & Development are told what to focus on. They need to be influenced by someone who has the baseball smarts on catching to aid in scouting, drafting & developing quality catchers. Swanson helped to develop Garver, Jeffers & Rortvedt. Who have we developed since that is decent? NYY changed its focus on catching & was transformed. The problem is the Twins put no importance on catching. If he slugs great, catching isn't important. They always draft low on catching. The condition of catching in the system is discouraging which tells me that scouting, drafting & developing quality catchers is a low priority.

Of course, Conger & Frawley want great catchers but do they have what it takes to produce them? The results show they do not. The Twins don't care, they like them & no one is complaining they have their job for life & get promoted.

Kyle Higashioka debuted in Swanson's first year in MN. Doesn't get credit for him. Jose Trevino played 4 years in Texas before he went to NY. Doesn't get credit for him. Ben Rortvedt debuted with MN 2 years after Swanson left and didn't play with NY until 2 years after that. Hard to credit Swanson for all of him, but he certainly played a role early. Austin Wells developed under different guys because Swanson doesn't work with their minor league catchers in NY, but yes, he was developed during Swanson's time there. Gary Sanchez was, and is, a horrible defender behind the plate and Swanson had 3 years with him. Austin Romine had been playing in the majors since 2011 so Swanson really doesn't get credit for him. Those are the guys the Yankees have had at catcher since Swanson took over. "One of the best for producing quality catchers" is based on what exactly? They've debuted 1 catcher since he's been there. Austin Wells. You just make stuff up without any actual proof of anything. They don't have any MLB ready, or close to MLB ready, catching prospects. Where do you get this idea that they're "one of the best for producing quality catchers" because of Swanson?

Ryan Jeffers was in the system for 1 year under Swanson. Mitch Garver had half a year. Rortvedt was in the system for the full 2 years under Swanson, though. So pointing to those 3 isn't some great point you're making. And those are 3 catchers developed by the Twins since 2017 when Swanson got his first job in pro baseball. The Yankees have developed Austin Wells in that same time frame. Nobody else. Everybody else debuted before he was in NY. So who's "one of the best for producing quality catchers?"

The reason Wells is mentioned in the article about Swanson is because he was drafted because he could slug and the Yankees are hoping he can stick at catcher. He's a left handed version of Jeffers or Garver.

The Twins hired Swanson in the first place! What a weird argument. "The Yankees hired this guy because they care about catching but the Twins don't even though they are the ones who discovered and hired him to his first job with a major league organization." The Yankees poached him because he was good. Just like the Twins hired him in the first place because he was good.

The Twins have a lot of guys who have the baseball smarts to aid in scouting, drafting, and developing catching. What a nonsense argument. But really what this comes down to is you just making stuff up. The Twins have debuted 3 MLB catchers since the great Tanner Swanson took his first MLB job. Should probably only count it as 2 since Garver debuted that year. The Yankees have produced 1. With an 18 year old A ball player as their only other top 20 system prospect (Edgleen Perez). They had another top 30 prospect who played in A+ ball last year who was rule 5 eligible and nobody claimed him despite the supposed greatness of the Yankees catcher development system.

They have no more meaningful catcher depth than the Twins. The catchers on their 40-man roster are Wells, J.C Escarra, and Jesus Rodriguez. Escarra is a 30 year old with no MLB experience and has played 2700+ minor league innings at 1B compared to 506 innings at catcher (Mickey Gasper in pin stripes). He's a bat first player who can't field the catcher position anywhere near how you want. Jesus Rodriguez is a 23 year old with 23 AA games under his belt and more playing time at non-catcher positions than catcher in the minors. He's also a bat first player. Your complaints about the Twins are actually complaints about the Yankees who draft for bat and hope they can make the guy a defensive catcher. Worked with Wells, so they have 1 guy on their list.

You're just making stuff up. The Yankees have been no better than the Twins and have the same strategy you claim is the reason the Twins fail.