Will the Phillies add another catcher?

Earlier this week, GM Ruben Amaro Jr. said the Phils are "still looking" to possibly add a few pieces before the season begins.

With Carlos Ruiz out 25 games to start the season thanks to his positive amphetamine test, the Phillies are understandably shorthanded behind the plate heading into the season.

Thus, it should come as no surprise that the team is in search of help, at least in the short term.

"We may be doing some other things," Amaro said. "We're still looking into a couple of other areas. Catching perhaps and maybe a little bit of pitching, but we're still working on some things."

Amaro is always looking to add pitching — that comes as no surprise — but that he's looking into adding another piece behind the plate presumably means he isn't comfortable going into April with a backstop consisting of Erik Kratz and, at this point, Sebastian Valle.

Kratz showed promising signs with his .248/.306/.504 slash line and nine homers and 26 RBIs in 157 plate appearances last season that he's at least a viable backup catching option. Valle, on the other hand, is a 22-year-old who has never played in the bigs and last year spent his first campaign above A-ball at Reading (83 games) and Lehigh Valley (22).

So who's available? The crop is thin, as Corey Seidman pointed out earlier today on CSNPhilly.com: Kelly Shoppach (32 years old), Chris Snyder (31), Miguel Olivo (34), Matt Treanor (36), Brian Schneider (36) and Rod Barajas (37).

The most intriguing option of the group actually appears to be Barajas, who, since leaving the Phillies after 2007, has produced a .230/.280/.406 line and has hit for power — he's parked 74 balls in 1717 ABs (23.3 at-bats per home run). Last year, he hit .206 with 11 homers and 31 RBIs in 321 ABs for the Pirates.

Most of his best numbers have come against the Phillies though — his nine career HRs against the Phils (in 100 ABs) are the most he has against any team. And of course, Barajas was not a fan favorite in Philly ever since failing to block the plate in a game against the Marlins in May 2007.

Comments

[Timr]

A young, cost-controlled, home-grown player with a shot to show he can stick in the bigs?
No way!
Sign Barajas!

[Bubba]

Coste is turning 40 at the beggining of Spring Training.
Not much older than some of named options, he should hold up for 25 games as a backup catcher.

Seriously though, I'd rather see them activate Mick Bilneyer the re-sign Barajas.

[Scotch Man]

Anyone but Schneider is fine by me.

[Scotch Man]

Hey last time Barajas was a Phillie, they won the NL East!

[lorecore]

I know JW didn't post this, he's been waiting for his man Humberto for months now.

[Elephant in the room]

Paul Bako sighting?

[Dragon]

Maybe they can talk Clay Dalrymple out of retirement.

[Hugh Mulcahy]

Barajas is an offensive black hole other than the homers. Always has been. He also utterly failed to control runners at all last year. Some of that is on the pitching staff but, he's culpable, too.

[Shellz b]

Matt treanor so I can meet my hero misty may :)

["Pedro's lucky midget"]

Thought it would be Kratz and Humberto as the backup. With Lerud been the call up dude.

[The Hook]

Whoever they get BL will not agree with the move. So probably doesn't really matter who it is.

[Jimmie J.]

Miguel Olivo. Grab 'em. A gamer.

[aksmith]

Rube is just messing with us now. Have we now been brought so low as to become the land of broken toys forever?

[rolo]

Backup catcher for the first 25 games is critical. It's likely to be a 2-3 game difference in the standings.

[docjoe]

who cares, I am sure one of these guys will make up for all the other gaping holes we have. Tuffy, we miss you. I thought Rube signed Quintero for this reason.

[docjoe]

AJ pierczynski still out there.

[GM-Carson]

AJ Pierzynski is a Ranger, not a free agent.

Rod Barajas is absolutely atrocious behind the plate. He can't throw anyone out.

Humberto Quintero and Valle will be the 2 main options to back up Kratz.

I would like the Phils to add some relivers on minor league deals though. Triple A anymore seems to be a wasteland of Quad-A players that bounce back and forth between the minors and majors. Double-A, at least on the Eastern side of the Unite States seems to be where the real talent lies. That's why we see so many players jumping from Double-A. Might as well go load up on "tweeners" for Lehigh Valley.

[MG]

Even though he already signed a veteran catcher (Quintero) who actually can play defense, Amaro is going to sign another veteran catcher who is supposedly a solid defensive catcher but in actuality is a washed up stiff that is a defensive liability.

My money is on whatever veteran catcher is available who will sign at league minimum or a minor league deal who bats LH. Kratz bats RH as does Quintero.

Valle has no business on this roster but he is on the 40-man roster right now.

[curt]

Suggested title for Rube's biography: "How to Turn a Ferrari into a Fiat."

[MG]

I didn't see a veteran catcher who played a significant amount at the MLB level last year though who bats LH besides Schneider.

I am completely confident that Amaro won't bring him back even on a minor league deal.

[limoguy]

Tommy Joseph got a ST invite. Just saying....

[GTown_Dave]

Even though he already signed a veteran catcher (Quintero) who actually can play defense, Amaro is going to sign another veteran catcher who is supposedly a solid defensive catcher but in actuality is a washed up stiff that is a defensive liability.

This pretty much covers it. r00b is bizarro King Midas. Hand him something made of gold & he'll turn it to sh*t in no time.

[Sil Campusano]

If they bring back Barajas, I will go to every game he starts just to yell at him. He stinks.

[Michael Martinez's Tools]

Crash Davis is still waiting for his shot.

[GTown_Dave]

What about the no talent oldster w/ the crazy mustache? Sal something? I'd rather bring him back than ever see Barajas again.

[PhxPhilly]

I'd like to see Valle given the backup role to Kratz. There is logjam with Joseph at AAA and Rupp at AA anyway. Valle can probably be as bad as Barajas and maybe run into a HR. Give him 5 starts, let him hang aroung the majors and see what he can do.

Valle in on the 40-man so he will be under control when sent down; although it is unlikely that any other team might 'steal' Quintero or Lerud anyway. Rather keep those vets at AAA and AA respectively to work with the pitchers.

Get some more pitching, sure.
Get another OF, please no.
I'd like to see Galvis start in the minors, so either leave Frandsen/M.Young as the SS backups or sign another infielder.

[jr]

I'm sure Rube thinks he needs to get someone to offset the Braves getting Upton.Any catcher .

[GTown_Dave]

I don't care who r00b signs next, if he uses the term "low risk/high reward" one more time I'm going to start taking hostages.

[Elephant in the room]

GTown_Dave - Sal Fasano

[GTown_Dave]

Elephant: Thanks. He's the one. Sal's Pals. I don't think ol' Rod ever had a fan group. If he did they should have been called The Embarajasments.

[clout]

I'm curious to hear from the posters who want Valle in MLB this season, what evidence they have supporting this.

[CS]

Brian Wilson and Kelly Shoppach please.

[Sophist]

Valle should be in Reading to start the year. His OBP would be .250 if he got any significant playing time with the Phils. .260/.280/.435 in ~330 AA PA last year. He's only 21. Make him repeat AA.

[Sophist]

That should say he was only 21. Think he's 22 now. He's younger than Galvis. Neither player should be getting time with the big club.

[Jack]

While I generally like the idea of pushing prospects a little earlier than most, Valle should not see a major-league field this year.

Frankly, he should probably just spend the whole year in AA, but with Joseph a year younger, I can see why they have Valle at AAA and Joseph at AA.

[GTown_Dave]

I make race cars out of my poop.

[Bonehead]

Sure, lets add a catcher......

...if there were, otherwise, no holes in the roster.
...if there were no budgets.
...if there was an easily obtainable, definite upgrade sitting around.
...if Chooch was unavailable for more than the 25 games.

Otherwise, I'm struggling to see why RAJ mentioned this as a priority.

[aksmith]

Bonehead - Because, Rube is a visionary.

Valle is not a great prospect and if he's in the majors for anything more than a September callup, we're looking at a dire situation at best.

Kratz and Quintero will man the fort, unless Rube unleashes the catching equivalent of Delmon Young on us. I'm not sure if that would be Barajas or the corpse of Coste. But it would have to be someone with little accomplishment on the field and serious personal problems off it. Even Schneider and Barajas don't sink low enough to fit those criteria.

[aksmith]

Btw, Quintero needs to catch more than a handful of games in that first 25. Kratz looked like he wore down badly late in the season before Chooch returned. It's easy to forget he's no kid out there.

[norbertods]

What's Ozzie Virgil doing these days?

[Will Schweitzer]

I'm sure glad that they tossed Tuffy away for no reason whatsoever.

[Wes Chamberlain]

Kratz did not "wear down" last season. He came in and had a hot streak. He then reverted to his norm, which is a AAAA player.

[Corn]

Can mini mart catch?

[RedBurb]

I'm sure glad that they tossed Tuffy away for no reason whatsoever.

Posted by: Will Schweitzer | Saturday, January 26, 2013 at 02:58 PM

Is this a joke?

[Iceman]

When Kratz moved to #1 on the depth chart (and this was deep into the season already), in the team's first 25 games he started 16 of them. So unless Kratz gets hurt, Quintero would be starting at most ~9 games- and this will be in April, with Kratz having considerably less mileage on him than he did in July/August of last year. And in those 16 starts, Kratz OPSed 1.000 and didn't wear down until later- I don't think that's going to be an issue at all. So it will probably be less than 9.

If they sign another C, why would anyone expect him to be anything more than some bum hanging on to the last thread of his career? There's no one left. And whoever it is will be signed to compete with Humberto Quintero for the right to start a few games in April, and immediately be demoted when Chooch's suspension is over. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if it was Schneider. That would be an awesome day on BL.

[Bonehead]

For the last couple of years, I have scratched my head at many of Rube's moves and public statements. Three recent examples being 1)his D Young signing; 2)his statement that walks/OBP don't matter, only production matters (whatever that means); and 3)his stated priority to acquire a catcher.

But I've tried to stay patient with him, and give him the benefit of the doubt, give him credit that, with his powerful intellect, there must really be an underlying strategy to his moves that has yet to reveal itself. Also, I recognize that he inherited a tough situation; i.e., trying to maximize the window of opportunity for an aging, expensive, popular championship roster.

But I am seeing NO sign of a plan being executed. No youth movement. Or maybe stockpiling prospects. Maybe developing a theme; like for instance, building on speed and defense, or an on-base/'moneyball'-style team, or anything.

This team is probably very close to needing a complete tear-down/re-build. And when that time comes, I want Rube no where near the Phillies.

[Iceman]

Bonehead- very good post. The last two paragraphs are especially on point, and I agree with them 100%.

[clout]

sophist: "That should say he was only 21. Think he's 22 now. He's younger than Galvis. Neither player should be getting time with the big club."

100% correct.

[clout]

Wes Chamberlain: "Kratz did not "wear down" last season. He came in and had a hot streak. He then reverted to his norm, which is a AAAA player."

Also 100% correct.

[clout]

Bonehead: "I am seeing NO sign of a plan being executed. No youth movement. Or maybe stockpiling prospects. Maybe developing a theme; like for instance, building on speed and defense, or an on-base/'moneyball'-style team, or anything."

How about pitching, defense and the 3-run homer?

[Bonehead]

Rube inherited a team whose 'theme' seemed to be: slug/defense/play the game right/play the game hard.

Gillick also seemed to be able to keep the farm system fairly in tact by his 'Gillick Rule', which reads, "In every trade, always get the other guy to throw in a minor leaguer."

Rube's theme seems to be: buy starting pitching/randomly swap in and out pieces everywhere else/farm be damned.

My fear is that, starting soon, this team will be facing some dark, dank seasons. And with this team's market size and payroll level, that should not happen. So if it does happen, we should blame the GM's stewardship.

I hope I am wrong.

[GTown_Dave]

The real me would have used the word "feces" or "excrement", not "poop"

And for the record I make ballistic missile submarines. Less work.

[Joe D]

I didn't even start to read the actual post. I just saw Barajas and my blood started to boil. Thanks for that.