Who's catching?

Outside of the pitching staff, the most glaring weakness the Reds had last year was behind the plate. The majority of the games in 2007 were caught by a combination of David Ross and Javier Valentin. For some unknown reason, the Reds insisted on carrying three catchers for parts of last season when they continuously called up Chad Moeller, Ryan Hanigan and Ryan Jorgensen also spent some time behind the plate for the Reds last year. That collection of players simply is not enough. Coming into the spring Ross and Valentin appear to be the favorites to make the roster. Chad Moeller has moved on to the Dodgers. Jorgensen and Hanigan are both under contract, but should start the season in the minors. That leaves us with the same catching tandem that caught 90% of the innings last year.

Before we look at what we have, let's see what we could have acquired. Ivan Rodriguez, Brad Ausmus, Michael Barrett, Ramon Castro, Jason Kendall, Paul Lo Duca, Jorge Posada, Jose Molina and Yorvit Torrealba were all, potentially, free agents. Rodriguez, Castro, Torrealba, Barrett, Molina, and Posada all remained with their teams. That left Lo Duca (signed with Washington) and Kendall (signed with Milwaukee) on the free agent market. Honestly, not a very appealing thought. A couple of catchers could have been had via trade. Brian Schneider went from the Nationals to the Mets. Johnny Estrada went from Milwaukee to the Met. The Mets then released him and he signed with the Nationals. Pitchers and catchers report in less than a week, it seems any hope of fixing our catching problem via trade or free agency is gone. It will have to be done in house.

On the current active roster the Reds have Ross, Valentin, Hanigan, and Craig Tatum. Three catchers have been invited to spring training as non-roster invitees: Paul Bako, Alvin Colina and Chris Kroski. None of these players inspire the excitement that a Victor Martinez or Russell Martin would. We are going to be mediocre at best when it comes to catchers. Ross is the best bet. His bat can be a big plus in the lineup. He provides some power. The thing is, the Reds already have enough power. What they need is a defensive catcher who can call a good game and keep the other team's running attack down. That is why the Reds should have gone after Brian Schneider. Valentin was primarily used as a switch hitting pinch hitter under Jerry Narron. Once Pete Mackanin took over he started seeing more time behind the plate and improved defensively. Valentin had only 2 HRs in 243 ABs. Ross had 17 in 311 ABs. However, Ross barely ended the season above the Mendoza line and spent much of the season under it. Valentin at least provides a decent average (.276 in 2007, .251 for his career). We may as well ignore completely Bako, Colina, Kroski, Tatum and Hanigan. Unless one of them makes some shocking strides in the spring, they will be sent to the minors or released outright. Of that group, Hanigan has the best chance of pulling of the miracle considering the time he spent with the club last year; it's hard to be too excited about him considering he only played five major league games last year.

Offensively, Ross' big plus is his power. The upside for Valentin is his higher average and his ability to hit from both sides. Defensively, there's not a huge difference. Valentin caught 471.2 innings last year. He ended the season with a .997 FP (1 error), but a glaring 8 passed balls. Ross spent 837.1 innings behind the plate. He recorded a .993 FP (5 errors) and had 6 passed balls. If we could somehow combine Valentin's offense and Ross' defense, we'd have an acceptable receiver. Barring that, I think the only way to approach this is the same way we did last year. Ross will get the majority of the starts. Valentin will be used to give him a rest every few days and will be used as a pinch hitter. Ross is better defensively, but not significantly. Once Valentin got a chance to start more frequently under Mackanin, his defense improved. Maybe we can hope that he will blossom under Dusty Baker and become a solid catcher. I think that's too much to ask. It appears we can look forward to another season of mediocrity behind the plate. The best we can hope for is that Ross can approach his 2006 BA of .255 and stay far away from his 2007 results. In fact, if we can get the David Ross of 2006 (90 games, 247 AB, 21 HR, .255 BA, .985 FP, 8 E, 4 PB), things may not be as bleak as I imagine.

There is a bright spot. The Reds took five catchers in the 2007 draft. At least they realize this is a problem position and are taking some steps to improve.