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Catching Notes

Posted by Matt Imbrogno at 11:00 am 4 Responses »
Feb 102011

There were two articles in the New York Daily News yesterday that involved catching, and more specifically, Jesus Montero. The first was from Anthony McCarron and it reminded us that Russell Martin is the team’s starting catcher. Despite that, Montero is obviously determined to catch (as he should be):

“I want to be behind the plate,” Montero said Tuesday during a break from a session in the batting cage. “I want to show everybody that I can catch with the Yankees.”

This hearkens back to something we heard from Montero about a year ago. It seems as if nothing’s going to keep Montero from working on his defense and becoming a viable catcher in the Majors. We should realize, though, that’s a process that won’t be complete any time soon. From GM Brian Cashman:

“Russell Martin is the starter,” Yankee GM Brian Cashman said Tuesday. “With Russell, it gives us the ability to transition to the next generation in the best way possible”

While Cashman acknowledges that Martin is the starter, he also makes what we were all already thinking known: Russell Martin is essentially a stopgap until Jesus Montero is ready to catch full time. That could be in 2011, it could be in 2012. We know that Jesus Montero will more-than-likely see time in the Majors at some point this season. The only question is the role that he’ll play. I can’t see him being with the big club unless he’s going to play every single day.

McCarron mentions the “competition” for back up catcher job involving Montero, Austin Romine, and Francisco Cervelli. This is about as much a competition as last year’s fifth starter competition was. This job is Francisco Cervelli’s, no matter what. Even if Montero and Romine rake in Spring Training while playing passable defense, there’s no way the Yankees put either one of them on the bench. While Romine’s stock dove in 2011, he’s still got upside and needs to be playing every day to improve. It doesn’t need saying, but I’ll say it anyway: Jesus Montero needs to be in the lineup every day.

Next, John Harper has notes about Montero being a keeper. This is obvious. I’ve argued all along that the Yankees need to keep Jesus Montero at almost any cost. Even if he can’t catch, his bat will still be cheap and is likely to play anywhere on the diamond, including DH and 1B. Harper shoots down the idea of the latter:

With Mark Teixeira signed for six more years, first base is not an option for Montero

Not so fast, John. Montero may not be able to play first base consistently for the next six years, but afterwards, the possibility is most definitely open. Tex’s contract expires after the 2016 season. Jesus Montero will turn 27 after the 2016 season. He will be entering his age-based prime and will have had a few years of experience at the ML level. Even playing first base would add positional value for the Yankees and Montero.

Harper ends the article with this:

If it’s Felix Hernandez, the decision is a no-brainer. But what if it’s Chris Carpenter? Surely Montero would be too much to give – unless the Yankees were three games out of the wild-card race and six behind the Red Sox.

Desperation could make that a call Cashman prays he doesn’t have to make.

1. The Mariners aren’t trading Felix Hernandez. Though I should note that Hernandez is the only type of player the Yankees should look to acquire if they trade Montero: a young, top-flight starting pitcher.
2. Harper’s right to say that Chris Carpenter is not worth giving up Montero. However, his caveat is also wrong. Even if that scenario comes true, the Yankees should NOT give up Montero for Carpenter–or anyone.

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Expectations: Russell Martin

Posted by Matt Imbrogno at 11:00 am 6 Responses »
Feb 012011

Yours truly committed a sin of omission yesterday and forgot to include Russell Martin in my defense of the Yankee offseason, so here’s my apology to you (and Russell, on the off chance he’s reading this). Signing Russell Martin was a good move for the Yankees. He’ll be making just $4MM, which is affordable for the Yankees. He also has a year of team control left, so if the Yankees like what they get out of him in 2011, they can tender him a contract and keep him around for 2012.

On the field, he gives the Yankees a good defensive catcher and someone who can at least not embarrass himself at the plate. The .307 wOBA and his 86 wRC+ may belie my point a bit, but those numbers are a bit mundane because of a big drop in power–.081 IsoP over the last two years. In that time, though, Martin has had a 12.0% walk rate, leading to a .350 OBP. Essentially, that’s all Martin has to do for his time with the Yankees to be worth it: play good defense and avoid making outs. CAIRO projects Martin to have a .336 wOBA, which would be more than acceptable, considering Martin’s defense.

That’s where I want to take this post. What should we reasonably expect from Martin in 2011? I’m comfortable going with the .336 wOBA projection, though I could have us temper those expectations because his wOBA has been under .310 for the last two years. CAIRO assumes 547 PAs for Martin in 2011, so let’s run a quick WAR projection, assuming a league average wOBA of .327 (2010′s league average) and plus 4.5 defense (average of 2009-2010 DRS), we get a rather lofty 4.0267 WAR projection for Martin. That’s really high, but I think it comes from a few things: the nice positional adjustment (+12.5), good projected defense, and a lot of PAs. Despite this calculation, this is not a fair expectation of Martin.

As noted, he hasn’t hit that well lately and I doubt he gets that much playing time. Why not? Well, we all assume that at one point, Jesus Montero will be (once again) destroying the International League and he’ll be ready to join the big league club. At that point, I think we’ll say goodbye to Francisco Cervelli and we’ll see Mr. Martin shift to the back up catcher’s role. When Montero comes up, there’s no way he’s not going to be playing every day.

If Russell Martin can give the Yankees about half a season of competent play, keeping the seat warm for Jesus Montero, I’ll be happy. If he can do more than that, I’ll be even happier.

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Creating Lineups

Posted by Matt Imbrogno at 1:00 pm 3 Responses »
Jan 242011

We pretty much know what the 25 man roster is going to be at this point, so let’s see what the different lineups will be. Using the latest round of CAIRO Projections from RLYW.net, I’ll put the player’s projected wOBA vs. RHP/LHP next to his name/position.

These projections are a combination of what I think the lineups WILL be:

vs. RHP

1. Jeter, SS .334
2. Swisher, RF .353
3. Teixeira, 1B .381
4. Rodriguez, 3B .382
5. Cano, 2B .379
6. Posada, DH .352
7. Granderson, CF .363
8. Martin, C .333
9. Gardner, LF .336

So against RHP, everyone projects to be at least average, with the middle of the lineup solidly above that mark. The median wOBA is .353. Let’s see what they could do versus LHP; there are a few ways this could go.

Option 1 vs. LHP (Granderson sits, Gardner to CF, Jones to LF)

1. Jeter, SS .364
2. Swisher, RF .367
3. Teixeira, 1B .393
4. Rodriguez, 3B .392
5. Cano, 2B .354
6. Posada, C .358
7. Jones, LF .332
8. Martin, C .357
9. Gardner, CF .310

The median wOBA here is .358. That’s not much of a change from the vs. RHP lineup, but it’s still a slight uptick. If we replace Gardner with Curtis Granderson (and his .297 projected wOBA vs. LHP), the median wOBA stays the same, since his would then be the lowest wOBA instead of Gardner’s. So, quickly, that tells us no matter which lefty outfielder is replaced, there won’t be much of a difference in the lineup. I suspect Joe Girardi will just keep the hot hand in there until he cools. All three outfielders in that shuffle–Granderson, Gardner, and Jones, are good enough at what they do that neither will leave an extraordinarily huge hole when absent from the lineup.

Just about everyone, myself included, sees a bounce back for Derek Jeter. After all, how could we not? Last year was the worst year of his career and there’s almost no way he can be that bad again. I wonder, though, if his slide continues, will Girardi pull him from the leadoff spot? If he does, who takes his place? I say it’s one of Gardner or Swisher. Gardner could work because he sees a ton of pitches, walks, and can steal bases. Swisher could take it because he’s a switch hitter with no drastic platoon split and provides a little more power, which would be useful for those batting behind him. He does strike out a bit more, though, but he showed in 2010 that he can cut back on them.

The rest of the lineup is just fine if you ask me. You could switch Tex/A-Rod if you wanted to, but the difference would probably be negligible. If anything, this lineup gives me confidence that the Yankees can still make the playoffs. Any lineup that features those hitters has more than a puncher’s chance at making it to October. Making it through October with that (current) pitching staff would be a challenge, but this team can definitely make it there. And once you’re there, anything can happen.

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Musing About The Bench

Posted by Matt Imbrogno at 11:00 am No Responses »
Jan 202011

The Yankees are on the cusp of signing veteran outfielder Andruw Jones to be the team’s first OF off of the bench. They signed Russell Martin to be the starting catcher for now, with Francisco Cervelli as the back up, and Jesus Montero on the way up. Jorge Posada will be the primary DH and could probably catch every once in a while. The team will also (likely) have Ramiro Pena and Eduardo Nunez to man the extra infield spots. Just so we can see it lined up:

OF–Andruw Jones
C–Francisco Cervelli
IF–Eduardo Nunez
IF–Ramiro Pena

Having two back up infielders may seem excessive, but the way the Yankees’ OF will be structured, I think it’s okay. All three starters are good enough both offensively and defensively that they won’t need many days off. Jones can spell one of Curtis Granderson or Brett Gardner against tough lefties and is also a balanced enough player that he wouldn’t need a replacement fielder after batting for one of those guys. The outfield is also, generally, younger than the infielders. Those guys–especially the guys on the left side–will need more days off for regular rest than Gradnerson, Gardner, or Nick Swisher will.

The big thing Joe Girardi will need to avoid is having the three weaker backups–Cervelli, Nunez, and Pena–in the lineup all at the same time. I’m sure at some point this will happen, likely because of late inning defensive replacement (LIDR) moves. I doubt that Girardi will ever put all three of them into the starting lineup in a game that matters.

The catching rotation will depend on two things: How Russell Martin and Jesus Montero start the season. For arbitration/free agency reasons, I’m sure the Yankees will look to keep Montero in Scranton-Wilkes Barre for at least the first month or two of the season. If Martin falters, though, and Montero mashes, we could see the Montero Era start sooner rather than later. That would do one of two things: send Francisco Cervelli back to the minor leagues or mean the end of Russell Martin as a Yankee.

Where we could see some interesting maneuvering is with Jorge Posada. Obviously, he can catch. He won’t be doing it much considering his spot as a full time DH, but he can do it. Perhaps some rest will do him well when he does get a chance to catch. Posada could also be called upon to play first when Mark Teixeira needs a day off, though I imagine that duty would fall to Nick Swisher first, with Andruw Jones taking RF for the day.

Aside from the eventual call up of Jesus Montero, the performance of Brandon Laird could also shape the bench as the season moves along. Laird’s been a third basemen for his entire minor league career, but played outfield in the Arizona Fall League this past season. If he can keep up the bat that’s advanced him through the minors, while playing non-statue defense at third and in the outfield in early 2011, we could see him swapped out for one of Pena or Nunez. Greg Golson could also make a play as an LIDR and we could easily see Colin Curtis get some playing time, too.

The Yankee bench may not be sparkling, but what team has a sparkling bench? No matter what, the bench in the Bronx will feature either young or cheap parts that will not be heard to replace. This, like the bullpen-building strategy, is one that has a lot of advantages, especially for a team like the Yankees.

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Expectations

Posted by Matt Imbrogno at 3:00 pm 5 Responses »
Jan 032011

A new year is upon us and soon, a new baseball season will be upon us. We’re going to have expectations with certain players, as we always do. We have to think of realistic expectations, though. For this post, I’m going to look at each player still on the Yankees from the 2010 team, examine his 2010 wOBA and see if that’s a reasonable expectation for 2011.

Robinson Cano, .389 wOBA

Last year was a career year for Robinson. He ripped the cover off the ball and everything seemed to click for him on offense. He ripped righties and lambasted lefties. He hit for a high average. He hit for power. Expecting another year like that would be unfair, but, Cano is in his age-based-prime and clearly has an incredible talent for hitting. I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see a .389 wOBA from him again. Somewhere in the .375-.385 range seems right for Robinson.

Nick Swisher, .377 wOBA

Cutting the fat, yeah, I think this is definitely do-able. His 2009 wOBA was .375, just two points off of last year’s career high mark. He had basically the same year production-wise, he just did it differently. I’m confident that Swisher can definitely put up a .370+ woBA again in 2011. What I’m not sure of is if it will look more like 2009 with a lot of walks and a lot of power or if it will look like 2010, with similar-but-slightly-diminished-power and a higher average.

Mark Teixeira, .367 wOBA

I have no problem saying this: Mark Teixeira will have a wOBA higher than .367 in 2011.

Alex Rodriguez, .363 wOBA

I have no problem saying this: Alex Rodriguez will have a wOBA higher than .363 in 2011.

Brett Gardner, .358 wOBA

This is the most interesting case. Obviously, Gardner proved himself in 2010. He survived the entire year and hit much better than we all expected him to. His super-plus defense made him a huge value for the team . Part of me thinks that Gardner can do it again. Part of me doesn’t. If I’m setting an over/under for Gardner’s wOBA, I’m going to say .340.

Jorge Posada, .357 wOBA

Posada’s another catch-22 of sorts. In one way, we should expect equal or worse performance from Posada in 2011 because he’s getting old. Older players, especially catchers, tend not to hit at .357 wOBAs with regularity. On the other hand, Posada is a good hitter who’s stayed above average in terms of offense for a while. As a full time DH, he’ll be without the physical burden of catching. Because of that, we could see a rise in offense from Jorge. I think .357 is a fair over/under and I think Jorge will be over. I may be in the minority there.

Curtis Granderson, .346 wOBA

Curtis Granderson’s season was a bit odd, wasn’t it? There were some good things–10% walk rate, .221 IsoP–but some bad things as well (most of the season against LHP). All together, it added up to an above average, but not spectacular, .346 wOBA. Call me an optimist, but Granderson will out do that .346 wOBA. I’ll put the over/under at .355 and take the over.

Derek Jeter, .320 wOBA

I have no problem saying this: Derek Jeter will have a higher wOBA than .320 in 2011. Jeter may be getting older and 2010 may’ve been a career worst year, but there’s no way he can hit that poorly again. At least, I hope there’s no way he can hit that poorly again.

Francisco Cervelli, .315 wOBA

This is fair and I expect him to do that again. If he does, with less playing time, I’ll be happy.

Russell Martin, .306 wOBA

His 2009 wOBA was .307 after a .351 wOBA in 2008. Martin’s bat seems to be trending downwards, which is troubling. Despite a super low wOBA though, he was able to put up over 2 fWAR in 2010, thanks to his defense. In the last two years, Martin has had a low BABIP despite relatively high LD%s, so maybe 2011 is when he gets a BABIP rebound. That would definitely cause a wOBA rebound. Given the last two years, I think we should expect around a .310-.315 wOBA for Martin, but he could easily out perform that.

Ramiro Pena, .233 wOBA

Same as Cervelli.

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Yankees Sign Russell Martin

Posted by Moshe Mandel at 1:00 pm 27 Responses »
Dec 142010

Russell Martin has agreed to a one year deal with the Yankees, reports Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com. While it is just a one year deal, Martin does have another year of arbitration eligibility left and will therefore remain under Yankee control in 2012 if they tender him a contract. I like this move, and I believe that it is a good first step in the Yankees “Plan B.” They need to fortify the entire roster, get Andy Pettitte to come back, and then address the hole in the starting rotation on their own terms. There is no reason to run out and make a move for a starter in a panic when you are bringing back every key player from a 95 win club.

Some think that this means Jesus Montero will be traded, but I see it more as insurance for the club if Montero struggles out of the gate. He will serve as a placeholder for Jesus much like Bengie Molina was for Buster Posey in 2010. Why Martin? This is what i said when he was first mentioned as a non-tender candidate:

Martin’s career has evaporated over the last two seasons, but he would likely represent an upgrade defensively behind the plate over every catcher that the Yankees have, and he still has some pop in his bat. He could take the Cervelli role in the 3-headed Yankee catching monster while allowing Jesus Montero to ease onto the roster slowly. If the Yankees get lucky, he could revert back to his old self and become an extremely valuable trade chip or allow the Yankees to explore trading some of their catching assets.

Those of you who have been complaining about the Yankees’ defense behind the plate should be excited, as Martin represents a marked improvement over what the club had back there in 2010. If he recovers any of his bat, he will go from being a decent piece to being a valuable asset.

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Martin to Start if Signed?

Posted by Matt Imbrogno at 11:00 am 8 Responses »
Dec 102010

Via George King and Hardball Talk, the Yankees have made an offer to Russell Martin and apparently want him to start if the joins the Bronx Bombers. This is big news.

If true, it apparently signals a shift from the mindset that Jesus Montero was going to get the starting catching job out of Spring Training. Of course that doesn’t mean Montero won’t be on the Yankees in 2011, but we can see a path developing here.

It would seem that the Yankees are waiting on Cliff Lee, to whom they’ve apparently made a seven year contract offer. What does this have to do with Montero? Like we’ve all said all off season, if the Yankees don’t sign Lee, it’s possible that they go out and trade for a starter. If they do, Montero is likely to be part of the package. It will be very hard for the Yankees to get an impact starter like Zack Greinke or Francisco Liriano without giving up Jesus Montero.

If the Yankees don’t trade Montero–regardless of signing Lee or not–they could still give Martin the starting job, while starting Montero in AAA. This would give him more seasoning time, which never hurts, and delay his arbitration clock. I doubt the latter is the intention, though, since the Yankees will more than likely be able to afford Jesus’ arbitration raises.

I’m of the opinion that the Yankees will probably land Lee, making it unnecessary to trade Jesus Montero (unless they feel they could use the depth if Andy Pettitte retires). I think there’s a small chance they sign Martin to be the stater. If that’s the case, I hope they just stash Montero in AAA until they feel he’s ready. On another Montero note, the latest round of CAIRO Projections from Replacement Level has Montero projected as a .337 wOBA hitter in 2010. That is something I would most definitely accept.

Re-switching gears back to Martin.

There is always the possibility that what was said was not true. The starting catcher comment came from Martin’s agent, Matt Colleran. King’s article doesn’t have confirmation of that from the Yankees, so it’s possible that Colleran is doing his job and trying to get some leverage on his client’s side.

It’s also possible that the Yankees said that to Martin as an empty promise. Of course, they could give him the starting job out of Spring Training (if they sign him) then find countless reasons to take that job away from him.

Until we see a confirmation of this from the Yankees–or see it happen on Opening Day–I don’t believe Russell Martin will be the Yankees’ starting catcher. I do think, though, there’s a good chance he’ll be a Yankee anyway.

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Notes: Lee, Jeter, Liriano, Martin, Melky

Posted by Moshe Mandel at 3:00 pm 10 Responses »
Dec 092010

A number of Yankees Hot Stove stories out there this morning:

1) The Yankees have apparently upped their offer to 7 years, although Joel Sherman reports that the deal is actually more complicated than that:

The Yankees’ offers work on a scale in which the shorter the term, the higher the annual average value. It is believed the bids work something like this: five years for $125 million; six years for $144 million; seven years for $161 million; or $25 million a year, $24 million a year and $23 million a year, respectively.

This is an interesting plan, although I cannot see a pitcher of Lee’s age doing anything but taking the largest offer. I have said all along that I thought a 7 year deal was way too long, and I stand by that position. That said, it may be time to reluctantly conclude that this is an inflated market, and that these sort of deals may be where baseball is headed. As EJ noted yesterday, MLB may be due for some contract inflation due to soaring revenues.

2) Sherman with some encouraging news on Derek Jeter:

Jeter is renowned around the Yankees for having a set routine and hating to deviate from it. Yet in response to his poorest campaign, Jeter is going to break with his habitual offseason plan and do one-on-one sessions with Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long, The Post has learned. Jeter may travel to Arizona, but Long more probably will go to Tampa, likely in January.

The two had begun to implement some changes late in the year that showed some positive results. Essentially, as a way to shorten a too-long swing, Long wants to continue to get Jeter to better control the direction and the length of his stride.

Derek worked on his conditioning and flexibility prior to the 2009 season, and he later credited that work for helping him to one of the best seasons of his career. It is good to see that Derek is willing to change his routine to hone his craft, particularly now that he is signed to another expensive contract. A bounce-back season from Jeter would go a long way towards helping the club remain the best offense in the AL East.

3) The Yankees apparently called the Twins about Francisco Liriano, but were told that he is not available. I would imagine that the call was part of Brian Cashman’s Plan B, and I am curious to find out what his other targets might be should the Yankees whiff on Cliff Lee.

4) According to multiple reports, the Yankees and Red Sox are both working hard to sign Russell Martin. With the Yankees declaring Jorge Posada to be the DH and considering the uncertainty that surrounds Jesus Montero, a Martin signing would help remove a lot of the risk from the Yankees catching situation. The Red Sox may need Martin even more, so it should be interesting to follow this as it develops.

5) Old friend Melky Cabrera signed with the Royals, who also signed Jeff Francoeur. Neither player is good at all, and I often wonder whether it might be better for teams like KC to play minor league free agents and perceived AAAA-types in the hopes of discovering a decent asset.

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If Martin, then what?

Posted by Matt Imbrogno at 11:00 am 5 Responses »
Dec 082010

Last night, I posed a bit of a question on Twitter. I asked, if the Yankees sign Russell Martin, which is definitely a possibility, what happens to their current catchers?

Jorge Posada doesn’t count. He’s the DH. I’m sure he’ll see a handful (more maybe a bit more than that) at catcher, but he’s no longer a C/DH. He’s a DH/C. I mean Jesus Montero and Francisco Cervelli. There are two ways I see this shaking out:

A) The acquisition of Russell Martin means that Jesus Montero will not be starting the season with the New York Yankees. Now, we can take that two ways. One means that the Yankees sign Martin and use him as a starting catcher while Jesus Montero gets a little more seasoning in AAA. There are obvious advantages to this. While Montero raked in the second half, a little more time in the minors (usually) never hurt anyone (Ryan Howard, Andrew McCutchen). He could work on his approach at the plate which, while good, could probably use some fine tuning. He did have solid walk rate of 9.1%, but his K% jumped up to just over 20%. The 20% K rate isn’t that bad considering Montero’s power, but it’s the highest of his career by far. And there were all sorts of conflicting reports about his defense. Was it improved? Did it deteriorate? Letting him work on it for a bit in the minors without real pressure would be a good thing. The seasoning argument is definitely one that can be made.

The other thought is that if Montero isn’t with the Yankees to start 2011, it’ll be because the Yankees will have traded him. I’m not sold that this will happen, but if the Yankees sign Martin after failing to sign Cliff Lee, it’s a possibility. That possibility is even more ramped up if Andy Pettitte does indeed retire. I’m not exactly sure this course of action is even necessary, but I definitely won’t rule it out.

B) Acquiring Russell Martin makes Francisco Cervelli very expendable. Moshe Tweeted that he thinks this will happen. If the Yankees sign Martin, Cervelli will be moved for depth in the form of a reliever/platoon bat/utility guy, if not sent down. Sending Cervelli down wouldn’t be an awful idea. If Montero’s on the big team catching and Martin is there, too, there is no need for Cervelli. Starting him in AAA allows the Yankees to let Austin Romine begin the year at AA. He hit a bit of a wall last year and could use some extra time in the Eastern League before moving to the International League. The counter to that, though, is that putting him in AAA ruins Cervelli’s trade value a bit.

Cervelli’s value is already low since a) he’s not that good and b) had a (perceived) bad season in 2010. Having him start in AAA shoots that value even more. But, at the same time, it’s not like Cervelli would be the centerpiece of a trade or bring more than what Moshe suggested. If the Yankees get Martin, I don’t care much what they do with Cervelli. Trade him? Fine. Stash him in AAA for a rainy day? Cool.

Out of these options, though, I guess I’d go with option A.1: letting Martin start for a time while Montero gets some more seasoning in Scranton. I think Montero is definitely ready to start for the Yankees behind the plate, but it wouldn’t hurt for him to see more AAA at bats first.

Other notes: It appears my Mark Prior wish could come true. I don’t know how much upside is there anymore, but it’s worth it. I think we’ve all always wanted Prior in some way. Now, the Yankees could have him.

Friend of the blog Tyler Wilkinson had a suggestion last night. If the divisions were named after players, whom would each be named for? My thoughts:

ALE: Babe Ruth
ALC: Ty Cobb
ALW: Rod Carew
NLE: Jackie Robinson
NLC: Stan Musial
NLW: Willie Mays

What do you guys think?

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What The Failed Cervelli-Martin Trade Tells Us

Posted by Moshe Mandel at 1:00 pm 3 Responses »
Dec 032010

According to Michael Schmidt, the Yankees and Dodgers came close to swapping catchers on Wednesday, with the Yankees nearly acquiring Russell Martin for Francisco Cervelli. I said the following about Martin a few weeks ago:

Martin’s career has evaporated over the last two seasons, but he would likely represent an upgrade defensively behind the plate over every catcher that the Yankees have, and he still has some pop in his bat. He could take the Cervelli role in the 3-headed Yankee catching monster while allowing Jesus Montero to ease onto the roster slowly. If the Yankees get lucky, he could revert back to his old self and become an extremely valuable trade chip or allow the Yankees to explore trading some of their catching assets.

A deal could not be reached and Martin was subsequently non-tendered. Although I am sure the Yankees will pursue Martin now that he is freely available, he is likely to get offers from clubs willing to make him their everyday catcher. Regardless of whether he actually becomes a Yankee, Brian Cashman’s pursuit of him tells us a few things about the Yankees’ catching situation.

1) Jorge Posada is done as a primary catcher. He mentioned wanting to come to camp to compete for the starting job, but the Yankees’ search for another catcher suggests that if Montero does not win it, the Yankees are not comfortable handing the job to Posada. He will likely be treated as a backup catcher, getting 40 or so starts behind the plate while serving as the primary DH.

2) The 2010 season confirmed for the Yankees what many of us already knew: Cervelli is a backup catcher who should not be starting more than 50 or so games in a season. He is not good enough offensively or defensively to justify more responsibility, and was exposed by too much playing time in 2010. As such, the Yankees tried to acquire a catcher they could use as the starter should Montero prove to be not ready.

Failing to bring in Martin is not a huge deal, as the Yankees should be able to piece something together with their current catching options. But as the pursuit of Martin revealed, the Yankees are not particularly comfortable handing the position to Posada and Cervelli again if Montero ends up needing more minor league seasoning.

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