Suzuki Scare Exposes Abysmal Catcher Depth

IMO put Mauer back behind the plate, hopefully it will revive his Bat. Move Plouffe to first and put Sano in at third. It sucks to say Mauer would most likely only catch up to 100 games per year but would you rather have a good catcher hitting over .300 for 100 games or mediocre 1st baseman hitting under .280 for 140 games.

You could even put Vargas at first plouffe as utility/DH.

Zuke has taken a lot of rips throughout the season on these threads- but you gotta say, especially in light of what went down in KC (thanks, Boyer), Minnie would be nowheresville without him this year, even in his dimished form from last season.

I don't think Ryan feels that catching is the problem nearly everyone around here thinks it is.

I don't expect him to do much.

why does anyone respond to the Mauer parts? Ignore them......you'll be happier.

 

As for their predicament, it was 100% foreseeable at the beginning of the year......and it is again this year. Hopefully something is done about it this off season, or it could get really ugly next year.

At the beginning of the year I think some folks thought Pinto could / would be part of the eventual equation behind the plate.  Not sure why but he was viewed as such.

It's a real bummer about Suzuki, he was actually heating up at the plate recently...

As much as I would like an upgrade at catcher, it is not easy to find, especially offensively. Have you looked at the batting averages of all the ML catchers, without looking, i dont doubt that half of them are hitting below .200............If Suzuki were just a bit better at throwing out runners, I think most of us would be, or at least should be , happy...........He has a low K rate, and for the most part puts the ball in play, which should go for something.............I would like a Plawecki or someone like that, but Plawecki is not an offensive juggernaut either, but pretty confident he is a better defensive catcher.................With all that said, i am a Turner supporter and think he will hit ok(.220 ish) in the majors in the next yr or two..........I am really high on Navarreto who was a Lo A this yr, seen him play in person, and I am no scout LOL, but with a little more experience and 20lbs , i think he has great potential, as a decent hitter with some future power(good size athlete) and good potential defense, but he is probably 3 or 4 yrs away from realizing that potential.

I would have preferred that the Twins would have acquired another veteran backup after Pinto went down at the beginning of the year, but apparently Ryan is very satisfied with Herrman and Fryer. 

The Padres also got Derek Norris, who was coming off an All-Star season with the A's, for two good-not-great pitching prospects. I think it's logical to assume that a quality catcher is extremely difficult to pry away in a trade, but reality hasn't necessarily backed that up. 

Norris has great first half of seasons then declines. The great first half nabbed an all star nomination. Hahn was a number 8 prospect in the Rays organization. Norris might not be as valued as you think, Hahn might not be a low valued as you think.. Would you trade Tyler Duffey and  an almost major league ready middle relief prospect for Norris?

What makes you think that Mauer would hit better as a C than as a 1B?  I can't see any reason that would happen.

 

I never stated that I think it would but he has never hit well at first base and what makes you think he would NOT hit better as a C?

Do I think they will do this? NO, not for a second.

The thought was came from a friend of mine who is friends with joe and grew up playing baseball with him. I do not disagree with it though. If the twins make it to the playoffs and for some reason we do not have suzuki i would be happier him playing catcher than the alternatives. AGAIN I do not think it would happen in a million years

This may end up being a problem where the answer simply is that there is no good solution and we have to suck it up and live with it.  We're talking about a position in which we are jealous of the Royals, who's All Star catcher can't even manage a .290 OBP the past two seasons.

 

Only 9 Catchers have a WAR over 2.0 and that's despite the position being given the highest positional adjustment based on difficulty.  The position is a black hole in today's game.  Basically there are two types of teams, those that have Buster Posey and those that don't.

 

I want an upgrade, but I'm not going to stress about it this offseason as 20 some other teams likely also want an upgrade.  

Without doing too much (any) research I would say this is spot on.    A little spoiled by AJ and Mauer and while we complained ad nauseum about Butera he did land on a couple playoff teams which suggests that nearly everyone has issues with depth.   If Perez went down Butera is who KC would be left with.    I was fine with :Butera as a backup catcher but until I hear a clamoring of posters saying they wish we had Butera I am also not going to stress about :Ryan not having a plan B.   What exactly is wrong with Hermann's catching.   His arm is decent and he works hard.   

This all smacks of people saying Gardy shouldn't have played Punto or Tyner when those were his best options or saying Mauer should have been batting 7th (better case for that this year) when he was still leading the team in hitting and OPB so in other words there were not 6 better hitters to go ahead of him.  .     I want a better catcher.   I can't tell you who that is or what it would take to get him so I am not going to complain about it.

Surprised they didn't give him one game off. Two lefties in a row after tonight.

Both performed well in the second half. The AFL will be more opportunity for them to show their skills (behind the plate and at the plate), but Ryan and company will not likely learn anything that they don't already know. I'd like to see both of them go to Chattanooga to start the season next year, playing every other day. 

Stewart Turner is a great defensive catcher, and his hitting improved in the second half. He's not ready to be a good hitter at the mlb level, but his glove right now is the best in the Twins organization.

Looking forward to the playoff push, would Turner behind the plate be better than Fryer or Herrmann? Yes. Would his hitting be worse? Hard to be much worse. If Suzuki can't go, then Turner could be the least bad option.