Available catchers

[The Gray Eagle]

With the Sandy Lion officially gone, Vazquez is the only catcher on the 40-man roster. The Red Sox will obviously be adding a catcher to the big league roster.

There are plenty of backup catcher types available, but as you'd expect, most of them can't hit much at all.

These guys were just non-tendered and are now free agents:
Kevin Plawecki: age 28, career 218/304/322 in 978 PA
Kevan Smith: age 31, career 272/318/381 in 708 PA
Elias Díaz: age 29, 250/301/355 in 815 PA
Luke Maile: age 28, 198/252/304 in 657 PA (4 of his 10 career HRs have come against Boston)
Josh Phegley: age 31, 227/269/363 in 1185 PA
Caleb Joseph: age 33, in 223/270/350 1358 PA

Plawecki is sort of interesting as he is 28 and some say he has a good defensive rep and an OBP over .300, which is rare for these kind of guys.

The club's evaluation of these guys' defense will probably be the main factor in whether they're interested in any of them.

There are a bunch of other free agent catchers (who are mostly either old and/or can't hit.) This list is taken from @Red(s)HawksFan in the Leon thread:

They've got just one catcher on the 40-man roster right now, and that's Vazquez, and no one else in the organization who's played above AA. And incidentally, two of the three that have reached AA are Rule 5 eligible so they might even disappear. Seems pretty clear back-up and AAA catchers are on Bloom's shopping list this winter. The only question is what is their ceiling for a back-up catcher, because the clear upgrades over Leon are likely to be pricier than he projected to be (~$2.3M per MLBTR).

Here's what I could find of available free agents with a minimum career OPS over .600:

Robinson Chirinos .767 (age 36)
Jonathan Lucroy .751 (34)
Russell Martin .746 (37)
Alex Avila .744 (33)
Wellington Castillo .738 (33)
Francisco Cervelli .738 (34)
Matt Wieters .724 (34)
Jason Castro .703 (33)
Blake Swihart .656 (28)
Austin Romine .647 (31)
Martin Maldonado .644 (33)
Rob Brantly .626 (30)
Rene Rivera .626 (36)
Bryan Holaday .626 (32)
Chris Herrmann .626 (32)
Ryan Lavarnway .613 (32)
Erik Kratz .606 (40)
Juan Centano .601 (30)

Not all that inspiring, but plenty of serviceable guys if they're willing to play for cheap and in a back-up capacity.

Then there's always the trade market. I wouldn't want to see the Red Sox part with anything of value for a backup catcher. Maybe they could pick up a young, promising guy in a trade though.

 

[The Talented Allen Ripley]

I don't really care if a backup catcher can hit... if he could, he'd be a starter. I care mostly about a backup catcher being cheap, which Sandy Leon definitely wouldn't have been (relative to what he'd bring to the team).

 

[chawson]

A couple other guys who fit on that list are:

John Ryan Murphy, age 29, .219/.265/.357 in 674 PAs
Alex Avila, age 33, .235/.348/.396 in 3465 PAs

In any case, this pitch framing chart could be helpful in the search. (I was surprised to see Avila as a plus pitch framer, always thought he was an all-bat guy.)

This is maybe a little granular, but in my mind, the Sox could prioritize a catcher who can get called strikes on the outside and low-outside edges of the plate to right-handed hitters (Zones 16 and 19). Sale, Price and EdRo all live there, and Eovaldi’s cutter does too. Avila, Murphy and Plawecki all fit the bill.

With Rick Porcello gone, Sandy León’s utility on the Sox would have been greatly diminished. Sandy was the king of getting strikes on high fastballs (Zone 12) — Porcello’s key to success — so it made sense that he became Rick’s semi-regular caddy last year.

 

[KiltedFool]

Would be a certain irony if the Sox picked up Plawecki. Projected at $1.5.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

Can any of them kick?

2 birds (Ravens, Blue Jays?) one stone.

 

[Savin Hillbilly]

Would be a certain irony if the Sox picked up Plawecki. Projected at $1.5.

On Chawson's chart, Plawecki ranked second in strike rate of all catchers with 1000 or more pitches caught.

Another intriguing thing about him: His road offense has been very consistent the past three years, with wRC+ in the high 90s. He and the Jake just did not get along.

Git 'er done Chaim.

 

[JBJ_HOF]

Kevan Smith absolutely CRUSHES left handed pitching, real nice statcast numbers as well. He had terrible framing numbers last year, but was average the previous two years. The Rays have had no problmes using either hit no glove or all glove no hit catchers.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

Austin Romine just signed with the Tigers for 1/$4M. He's right about in the middle of the available free agents in terms of offensive ability. Probably a good indication of the high end of what they're looking at to replace Leon via free agency.

View: https://twitter.com/beckjason/status/1205177077042794496

 

[simplicio]

Padres are looking to move Austin Hedges. 27 years old, Arb1 eligible at around $2.9m, FA in 2023, one of the best defenders in the game but his offense tanked this season.

 

[Green Monster]

Not sure how much of a candidate he was but..........Rangers just signed Blake Swihart

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/12/rangers-sign-blake-swihart-brian-flynn-3-others.html

 

[nvalvo]

Padres are looking to move Austin Hedges. 27 years old, Arb1 eligible at around $2.9m, FA in 2023, one of the best defenders in the game but his offense tanked this season.

Worth every penny, IMO. Statcast has him as the top framer in the game in 2019, tied for ninth in 2018, and 3rd in 2017.

Edited to add a bit more: Statcast thinks his 2019 framing was worth 20 runs. Also, he has one of the better throwing arms with a career 32% caught stealing rate, well above average. He can't hit a lick, though: he's Kevin Cash bad at the plate.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rR22G7MgXI

 

[Mueller's Twin Grannies]

Vaz couldn't hit either and figured it out this season. Maybe sitting under the learning tree of the launch angle revolution and learning from Mookie and Xander, et al, would bump that average up a few points. If not, it's not like the Sox aren't used to an all-defense catcher, only this one might be better for not too far off from the same money.

 

[JBJ_HOF]

Last year Vazquez batted .276 BA, .320 OBP, .477 SLG with an expected statcast line of .254 BA, .298 OBP, .447 SLG. He barreled 6% of balls after barreling 2% the previous 3 years. If this wasn't a cut payroll year I would have expected Vazquez to be on the trade block to be honest.

 

[simplicio]

Why, because you're expecting regression? Would you have kept Sandy as the primary?

 

[Cesar Crespo]

Why, because you're expecting regression? Would you have kept Sandy as the primary?

Because he's under control for 3 more years at $17.45 (probably $18.45) and is coming off a career year. His trade value is at an all time peak and I'm guessing they could get a really solid return for him.

And yeah, I expect him to regress a little. I'm not sure how much, he was decent in 2017 and injured in 2018.

Who would start over him I have no idea but I'm not really suggesting to trade him. I could just see the logic behind trading him.

 

[Plympton91]

Expanding on the discussion of the list of NRIs, and moving the catcher to the catching thread. Jett Bandy has had 3 partial years of major league experience as a backup. His major league production has gone entirely in the wrong direction since a promising first half season with LAAA. But, the last big league sample was just ~75 PA and his career AAA production, several years of which were age appropriate, is 274 / 336 / 461. That’s a right sight better than Sandy Leon.

I imagine he’s the current leader in the clubhouse for backup catcher.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bandyje01.shtml

 

[Manramsclan]

Expanding on the discussion of the list of NRIs, and moving the catcher to the catching thread. Jett Bandy has had 3 partial years of major league experience as a backup. His major league production has gone entirely in the wrong direction since a promising first half season with LAAA. But, the last big league sample was just ~75 PA and his career AAA production, several years of which were age appropriate, is 274 / 336 / 461. That’s a right sight better than Sandy Leon.

I imagine he’s the current leader in the clubhouse for backup catcher.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bandyje01.shtml

He also has an 80 grade baseball name.

I think there is value in finding a guy who is 29 and has some possible upside. Catchers do tend to figure things out offensively later than most.

What I don't like here is that Bandy has a reputation for being great at controlling the running game, but not a great reputation for framing. To me the latter is much more important than the former.

I saw that Eric Kratz signed with the Yankees. He does have a prior relationship with the franchise and is 39 so there is injury risk there. The Sox may prove right in signing a younger backstop in Bandy. Kratz has a good reputation as a pitch framer, however, and I would have rather seen that scrap heap signing for the Red Sox.

He does not, however, have the aforementioned 80 grade baseball name.

 

[Hoot Evers]

in order to open a roster spot for Cesar Hernadez, the Indians have designated catcher Eric Haase for assignment.

Haase has just 34 plate appearances at the MLB level, but has shown power in the minors. He apparently rates as a solid defender.

MLB Rumors:

"The Indians have designated catcher Eric Haase for assignment, the club announced. His roster spot was needed for César Hernández, whose one-year signing is now official..."