Catcher Diego Cartaya Isn't Long for Minnesota Twins' 40-Man Roster

Quote

He is still an adequate framer, a skill that will become even more important as the ABS challenge system could be implemented in the majors next season.

That doesn't make any sense. ABS is not going to be fooled by pitch framing.

The Twins desperately need to buy a real catching prospect. He could move quickly to the big leagues - Vazquez has been awful this season on offense.

It is hard for a contending team to carry a player on the 40 that will not be ready for the majors this year. That player needs to be a really good prospect in order to protect him. On the other hand teams where contending is not realistic should retain upside over players in expiring contracts. It is like investing in a rule 5 player but instead you have to keep him in the 40 rather than the 26.

Is contending in 2025 still realistic? Does Cartaya still have upside?

I think Cartaya should still be given time and the Twins sure aren’t trending towards contention. It is quite possible the Twins asked Cartaya to make some changes in his swing. Any change is likely to cause struggle before growth.

I think the Twins can pass him through waivers pretty easily right now and they probably should next time they need a 40-man slot for a position player. I wouldn't cut him outright or anything; there still might be something there, especially after the injuries he's had, but he was always a bit of a lottery ticket and those don't usually come home. 

Let him get healthy, get a re-set, play in AAA and see where he's at for next season. I don't think he's really blocking anyone in AA or anything. But he can slide of the 40-man.

Seems logical to dangle Lopez at the trade deadline.  Especially if the St Paul prospects keep developing.  the Twins should be able to get a MLB ready 1st base type prospect and potentially a catcher too.  Lopez will never have more value than he does right now.  The Orioles rotation is looking bad, they should be looking hard for help.  Their top prospect Samuel Basallo is a C/1B and is projected to debut this year. Their #2prospect  Coby Mayo is a 3B/1B with huge power.  also projected to debut this year.  The Twins should be able to get at least one of those two and a couple more rising prospects.  

27 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Not to mention the junk framing stat isn't floating Vazquez's immeasurable, unquantifiable, mystical value yet this year.

Remember his lousy .514 OPS in the first half last year? That would be a huge improvement over his current OPS of .318. He's projecting to between -1.5 and -3 WAR for the season. That's crazy bad for a half-time player.

His statcast page says he's doing a great job of squaring up the ball, and his hard hit % is awful with no bat speed and no power. He's an incredibly slow slap-hitter. He should bunt every time there is a runner on base ahead of him to avoid the double play.

10 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Remember his lousy .514 OPS in the first half last year? That would be a huge improvement over his current OPS of .318. He's projecting to between -1.5 and -3 WAR for the season. That's crazy bad for a half-time player.

His statcast page says he's doing a great job of squaring up the ball, and his hard hit % is awful with no bat speed and no power. He's an incredibly slow slap-hitter. He should bunt every time there is a runner on base ahead of him to avoid the double play.

Thats no joke. He should be bunting every time he can move a runner over. The sample is beyond large enough - he’s cooked. 

You were joking when you said that Gallo was a fan-favorite... Right? Because if you weren't then the rest of your article can't be taken seriously either.

18 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

Is contending in 2025 still realistic? Does Cartaya still have upside?

Two very good questions. 

Looks like he is a swing and a miss low risk move. Crazy how a guy who was a highly rated prospect just falls off a cliff on offense.  Really the writing was on the wall with him.  Yeah he could hit at A and high A overall, and only had K rates between 25% to 29%.  It is a SSS this year but over 50% K rate is terrible. 

Once he went up to AA his power was gone for most part, and could not get hits.  He is not known as a top defender.  Without doing any actual scouting on him, I would guess he was good at hitting bad fastballs, but now that he is at higher level you have better fastballs and even better off speed and he has no clue how to handle a good breaking ball. 

I think Cartaya would probably pass through waivers. Give his 40 man spot to someone who can actually help the Twins this year. Mccusker would be a good idea. Jeffers is the only catcher we have that can hit. Vasquez is good behind the dish but can't hit. Catcher is definitely an organizational concern. We need to find a legit backup to Jeffers and some real depth for AAA.

The alarming part is the offensive regression of Camargo. Yuk.