2027 Opening Day Catcher

[Cory Engelhardt]

I wanted to start a new thread here, as I am going in with a couple of assumptions here for this offseason. They are...

 

1) Ryan Jeffers does receive the qualifying offer 

and

2) Ryan Jeffers declines the qualifying offer. Jeffers then signs a 3-4 year deal with someone, and will make in excess of 50 million for that contract. That gives the Twins a good pick in the 2027 draft, and also leaves a pretty massive hole both in the lineup and behind the plate. 

With that, I think at the catching spot, the hole they'll try and fill is the "behind the plate" part more than the hole in the lineup part.

My question for you is, who are some catchers either on the free agent market, or via trade, that would be strong in controlling the run game that you like? Admittedly, Jeffers was well below average on this, and Caratini was worse. I also am going into this with thinking that Lackey will probably debut at some point in 2028, but I'd rather not play Caratini a majority of the time and just let other teams steal at will because of how bad he has shown to be at controlling the running game (even if both he and Caratini are both fairly solid at controlling the strike zone.

I don't think Cleveland would trade Patrick Bailey here, but I would love him and his defense here for 2027 and to eventually pair with Lackey. That said, there are other options. Here is what Savant ranks as the catchers in terms of "caught stealing above average" runs. Basically, this list is the order in 2026 for how good catchers were at catching runners trying to steal. For comparison's sake, Jeffers was -6 runs worse than average, and threw out 9% of baserunners. Caratini, in less time, was also -6 runs below average in terms of throwing out runners. I HAVE to think even getting to average, or zero, will be a massive improvement behind the plate. They are 70th and 71st respectively, out of 72 mlb catchers. Only Ivan Herrera of the Cardinals graded worse.

So what say you? Who do you like on this list as either a free agent addition or a trade target? And when I say trade target, one that is maybe realistic. I posted everyone that was average/zero or better.

Rk.	Player	Team	SB Att. (All)	Catcher Stealing Runs	Catcher's CS Above Average	CS	CS%	Est. CS	Est. CS%	CS Above Avg. / Throw	Runner Speed	Exchange Time	Arm Strength
1	Mack, Joe		60	5	8	16	27%	8	13%	0.13	28.6	0.59	80.7
2	Valenzuela, Brandon		57	5	8	18	32%	10	18%	0.14	28.7	0.63	82.4
3	Fermin, Freddy		62	4	6	19	31%	13	20%	0.10	28.7	0.62	82.0
4	Rutschman, Adley		47	4	6	17	36%	11	24%	0.12	28.4	0.66	81.6
5	Bailey, Patrick		62	3	5	19	31%	14	22%	0.09	28.2	0.58	81.6
6	Dingler, Dillon		52	3	5	13	25%	8	16%	0.09	28.8	0.62	84.2
7	Contreras, William		54	3	5	15	28%	10	19%	0.09	28.7	0.60	79.2
8	Campusano, Luis		36	3	4	13	36%	9	24%	0.12	28.3	0.67	79.1
9	Torrens, Luis		30	3	4	10	33%	6	20%	0.13	28.7	0.58	80.8
10	Susac, Daniel		28	2	4	9	32%	5	19%	0.13	28.7	0.61	81.0
11	Navarreto, Brian		22	2	3	8	36%	5	21%	0.15	28.8	0.66	82.6
12	Heineman, Tyler		44	2	3	11	25%	8	18%	0.07	28.5	0.56	74.3
13	Stubbs, Garrett		17	2	3	6	35%	3	16%	0.19	28.4	0.61	82.5
14	Realmuto, J.T.		66	2	3	14	21%	11	16%	0.05	28.8	0.61	82.6
15	Moreno, Gabriel		45	2	3	12	27%	9	20%	0.07	28.4	0.61	79.5
16	Durán, Rodolfo		21	2	3	7	33%	4	19%	0.14	28.6	0.64	84.7
17	Davis, Henry		25	2	3	10	40%	7	28%	0.12	28.5	0.63	85.8
18	Langeliers, Shea		37	2	3	11	30%	8	22%	0.08	28.6	0.63	84.0
19	Pagés, Pedro		48	2	3	15	31%	12	26%	0.06	28.4	0.63	81.1
20	Hicks, Liam		50	2	3	10	20%	7	15%	0.05	28.6	0.67	79.3
21	Teel, Kyle		26	2	2	8	31%	6	22%	0.09	28.5	0.68	81.6
22	Jensen, Carter		43	2	2	12	28%	10	22%	0.05	28.5	0.66	81.9
23	Basallo, Samuel		39	1	2	11	28%	9	23%	0.06	28.7	0.70	84.8
24	Bart, Joey		35	1	2	9	26%	7	21%	0.05	28.7	0.67	80.4
25	Díaz, Elias		26	1	2	7	27%	5	21%	0.06	28.5	0.62	81.6
26	Perez, Salvador		20	1	1	6	30%	5	23%	0.07	28.8	0.60	76.9
27	Alvarez, Francisco		44	1	1	10	23%	9	19%	0.03	28.4	0.64	82.9
28	Romo, Drew		47	1	1	12	26%	11	23%	0.03	28.2	0.60	80.5
29	Trevino, Jose		39	1	1	9	23%	8	20%	0.03	28.4	0.60	74.6
30	Rogers, Jake		33	1	1	7	21%	6	18%	0.03	28.2	0.58	76.5
31	Escarra, J.C.		17	1	1	5	29%	4	25%	0.05	28.7	0.61	78.5
32	Cavanaugh, Drew		38	0	1	9	24%	8	22%	0.02	28.1	0.61	80.4
33	Fortes, Nick		75	0	0	15	20%	15	19%	0.01	28.4	0.61	79.0
34	Haase, Eric		21	0	0	4	19%	4	19%	0.00	28.7	0.68	81.1
35	Diaz, Yainer		62	0	0	13	21%	13	21%	0.00	28.2	0.68	83.6
36	Rushing, Dalton		28	0	0	5	18%	5	18%	-0.01	28.4	0.61	79.1
37	Amaya, Miguel		30	0	0	7	23%	7	24%	-0.01	28.6	0.64	80.0
38	Narváez, Carlos		49	0	0	10	20%	10	21%	-0.01	28.5	0.61	74.5
39	Quero, Edgar		28	0	0	6	21%	6	23%	-0.01	29.0	0.58	77.8
40	Smith, Will		41	0	0	7	17%	7	18%	-0.01	28.6	0.66	79.4
41	Sánchez, Gary		19	0	0	5	26%	5	29%	-0.02	27.9	0.72	83.4
42	d'Arnaud, Travis		17	0	0

 

[tony&rodney]

San Diego and St. Louis are clubs to call, at least for a conversation. Henry Davis (PIT) has struggled to hit but he is a catcher. Hard to know what teams want or if they actually value a Twin player. 

The last three offseasons (more really) have been so disappointing and the July 2025 sale that sent away the bullpen but failed to follow through by moving anyone last offseason left me numb. What is the plan?

[Cory Engelhardt]

59 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

San Diego and St. Louis are clubs to call, at least for a conversation. Henry Davis (PIT) has struggled to hit but he is a catcher. Hard to know what teams want or if they actually value a Twin player. 

The last three offseasons (more really) have been so disappointing and the July 2025 sale that sent away the bullpen but failed to follow through by moving anyone last offseason left me numb. What is the plan?

Good question. I guess we'll see if Zoll in charge of an offseason is any different. Hopefully also with a clear picture from ownership. There shouldn't be excuses like that now. We'll see.

[Riverbrian]

I'm still the guy who thinks we should leave the catching alone. I'll roll with Caratini and Jackson. Spend resources elsewhere. 

We signed Caratini for 7 million. Catching has been paid for. Over paid for. We don't want to invest any more cash or trade capital into the position. 

We had Jhonny Perada and we gave him away in order to spend 14 million for a backup catcher. Hindsight being 20/20... That was stupid. 

Jeffers will strongly consider taking a QO because 23 million will be almost two years worth of what he will make as a free agent.

If he takes it. 30 million spent on the C position is an impossible percentage of budget spent on the position. 

We could trade Caratini but we would have to eat money to get anything back because we out bid what other teams would pay for someone who under performed. 

The team either signs Jeffers a 3 year deal at 45 million and they give away Caratini to the club who will require less of the contract to be eaten. 

Or they stay clear and watch Jeffers finally get the opportunity to choose what team he plays for. 

[Parfigliano]

A big part of controlling the running game is on the pitcher.  My eye test says TC pitcher's are lousy at it borderline don't care to even try. 

[HarmonK03]

29 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

A big part of controlling the running game is on the pitcher.  My eye test says TC pitcher's are lousy at it borderline don't care to even try. 

In my opinion this is an organizational decision in that they don't value stolen bases and feel they have minimal impact from an analytical standpoint therefore they don't work at holding runners on.  I am not sure how we can grade our catchers on caught stealing because they get no help from the pitchers.

[Chembry]

1 hour ago, Riverbrian said:

I'm still the guy who thinks we should leave the catching alone. I'll roll with Caratini and Jackson. Spend resources elsewhere. 

We signed Caratini for 7 million. Catching has been paid for. Over paid for. We don't want to invest any more cash or trade capital into the position. 

We had Jhonny Perada and we gave him away in order to spend 14 million for a backup catcher. Hindsight being 20/20... That was stupid. 

Jeffers will strongly consider taking a QO because 23 million will be almost two years worth of what he will make as a free agent.

If he takes it. 30 million spent on the C position is an impossible percentage of budget spent on the position. 

We could trade Caratini but we would have to eat money to get anything back because we out bid what other teams would pay for someone who under performed. 

The team either signs Jeffers a 3 year deal at 45 million and they give away Caratini to the club who will require less of the contract to be eaten. 

Or they stay clear and watch Jeffers finally get the opportunity to choose what team he plays for. 

Alex Jackson's future is in his hands.  He now has the option to choose minor league free agency, since he has more than 3 years of service time and not currently on the 40 man.  That is unless the Twins add him to the 40 man, which they haven't done yet. 

Who knows if Jackson will do that or not, but it wouldn't surprise me with the way he was handled down the stretch.  On the other hand, he passed through waivers 3 times with nobody claiming him.  He may have to settle for a minor league deal.  If that's the case, he may elect to stay for his Arb 2 year.  

That is a long way to say, Jackson has the option to force the Twins to make a decision on him. 

[Riverbrian]

3 hours ago, Chembry said:

Alex Jackson's future is in his hands.  He now has the option to choose minor league free agency, since he has more than 3 years of service time and not currently on the 40 man.  That is unless the Twins add him to the 40 man, which they haven't done yet. 

Who knows if Jackson will do that or not, but it wouldn't surprise me with the way he was handled down the stretch.  On the other hand, he passed through waivers 3 times with nobody claiming him.  He may have to settle for a minor league deal.  If that's the case, he may elect to stay for his Arb 2 year.  

That is a long way to say, Jackson has the option to force the Twins to make a decision on him. 

I agree... The Twins would have to add him to the 40 man. In order to do so... they would have to clear some space. There are currently 42 on the 40 man with 60 man IR players who will return to duty. There are logical choices for that sort of thing.  

And all of this makes the way we handled him at the end of the year in regard to the 26 man placement and the repeated exposure to the waiver wire. Well... Kinda Strange.  

[Cory Engelhardt]

5 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

I'm still the guy who thinks we should leave the catching alone. I'll roll with Caratini and Jackson. Spend resources elsewhere. 

We signed Caratini for 7 million. Catching has been paid for. Over paid for. We don't want to invest any more cash or trade capital into the position. 

We had Jhonny Perada and we gave him away in order to spend 14 million for a backup catcher. Hindsight being 20/20... That was stupid. 

Jeffers will strongly consider taking a QO because 23 million will be almost two years worth of what he will make as a free agent.

If he takes it. 30 million spent on the C position is an impossible percentage of budget spent on the position. 

We could trade Caratini but we would have to eat money to get anything back because we out bid what other teams would pay for someone who under performed. 

The team either signs Jeffers a 3 year deal at 45 million and they give away Caratini to the club who will require less of the contract to be eaten. 

Or they stay clear and watch Jeffers finally get the opportunity to choose what team he plays for. 

Caratini looked unplayable the last few months behind the plate. His bat fell off too. I don’t know what they will do, but if they are expecting him to be even an equal share, woof

[Riverbrian]

4 minutes ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

Caratini looked unplayable the last few months behind the plate. His bat fell off too. I don’t know what they will do, but if they are expecting him to be even an equal share, woof

Caratini had some decent years at the plate prior and that got him a two year 14 million dollar deal and we had to outbid the other teams to get him.... But... Yeah... This Year... his performance wasn't so great.  

Players go up and down all the time... month to month and year to year...  so I wouldn't rule the possibility of a rebound next season but I'm guessing that the Twins are committed to his 7 million and moving that one year left at 7 million will cost money since we already had to outbid teams for his services and thereofre won't return anything in a trade.

So... I think they have to sleep in the bed they made.

Caratini plus some one else... by someone else cheap with defensive ability and that would have to be our 2027 plan with Caratini the primary. 

Under that consideration... I'm ok with Jackson being that guy. Unless they can find another Jackson like player at lower dollar. 

Jeffers... I'm a big fan. But, the QO scares me. I don't think it's guaranteed he will turn it down. And I am absolutely opposed to a 30 million dollar investment at the catcher position. We have too many other areas to address if we have money to spend.   

Ultimately... Get those minor league catchers rising through the ranks so we can stop this hole plugging. 

Other than Jeffers who was a long time ago because he is becoming a free agent. Our development at C and 1B is nowhere near what the other 29 teams have been able to develop.