The Catcher Trolls

The top three catchers for 2008 were Joe Mauer, Brian McCann and Russell Martin. After that titanic trio, came Ryan Doumit, Geovany Soto, Fat Molina, AJ Pierzynski, and Kelly Shoppach. Do you notice anything? I could go on, and the names only get more obscure, but I'll stop here. After the first three names, the rest were all there for your picking, a virtual sespool of catchers trolling around in Free Agent-land.

Now, I don't prescribe to the theory of "punting catchers" during the draft. In fact, I highly advise against it. But on draft day, you won't catch me overpaying for one either.

To take it a step further, let's look at a scenario... everyone loves a scenario! We’ll assume you drafted Mauer in the sixth round. Mauer’s numbers were: 97/9/83/.330/1. Bengie Molina was the sixth ranked catcher. I think we can all agree that you could’ve had Fat Molina fairly late in your draft if you wanted him. Molina’s numbers were: 46/16/95/.292. So you lose some value in Runs and Average and make up some in HR/RBI. You don’t think you could’ve made up that value with that sixth round pick that you wasted on Mauer? Please.

Anyway, here are some catchers I will be targeting for the 2009 fantasy season (using ZiPS, a projection based tool by Dan Szymborski of Baseball Think Factory):

Pablo Sandoval: His 2009 projections are 60/14/65/.285. I think he can get to 18+ home runs without losing anything on the average side. We'll have to see how his body holds up over the long haul. He’s not as appealing to me as a 3rd baseman or as a swimsuit model.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia: Salty Dog will see time at 1st base, DH and catcher. He’s going after some miserable players in Brandon Inge, Pierzynski and Kurt "not good enough to be called just" Suzuki.

Taylor Teagarden: Even splitting time with Salty, I like him to get enough ABs to be worthwhile. Teagarden is better than Salty with the glove and Blalock, the Fragile One, will get injured.

Chris Iannetta: He's playing well for Team USA right now and he's no longer under the radar. But if I can nab him late enough, he might prove to have the greatest value of every catcher, including the top tier guys.

Jeff Clement: Unbelievable power and a pretty good late flier if you ask me. If you were to take someone like Pierzynski over Clement, you deserve to lose your league. Sorry, sometimes the truth stings. You rub it with some vaginal ointment.

J.R. Towles: I was high on Towles in 2008. And then he promptly flopped. I couldn't have dumped him any quicker two weeks in to the season and right before his demotion to AAA. But I'm back on the badwagon, baby! You really just need to throw out the first half of 2008 and call him for what he was -- an unprepared rookie. Just pretend like it never happened. When he finally got called back up, he was hitting .304 in almost 50 games at Round Rock (Asros' AAA affiliate). He has speed and some power. He also plays in a band box, which should augment his power alley numbers. The absolute best case scenario is he is the next Russell Martin. The draft is winding down, the hour is late... it's time to man up and draft Towles.