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Laird Likely To Stay Put
According to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan, the Rangers don't plan on trading catcher Gerald Laird despite some interested parties. In fact, Laird could catch 100+ games this year despite last year's Jarrod Saltalamacchia acquisition. Salty could take a smaller role with the big club or get some Triple A seasoning. It's easy to forget that he skipped that level.
The Rangers prefer Laird's strong defense and spotty offense to Salty's subpar defense and offensive potential. And it's not fair to write Laird off offensively quite yet; he hit well in a half-season in '06. '07 was his first year catching full-time.
The Rangers have a third future MLB-quality backstop in Taylor Teagarden. They've also got Cristian Santana and Max Ramirez in the organization, two guys who are less certain to become starting catchers in the bigs. Interesting prospects nonetheless. Jon Daniels has an uncommon surplus on his hands.
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With Larid, Teagarden (who will be the best of the bunch) Salty, Ramirez, and Santana it sucks to be John Daniels. I would think that if they don't convert Salty to a firstbaseman then they should trade him asap while his value is high. Teagarden should be ready by mid '09 at the latest. Ramirez and Santana are going to be fighting for PT and I would guess that Daniels should work on getting some high upside young raw pitchers for them. I think the Twins are about the only other team that has even close to the Catching Depth that the Rangers do. Do the Yankees have anyone in thier system to replace Posada? Or the Mets? I would think that they could take a flyer on Ramirez or Santana.
Posted by: Bleacher_Buddha | March 11, 2008 at 06:11 PM
is Cristian Santana have any relation to Johan lol...just wondering
Posted by: Larsen101 | March 11, 2008 at 06:12 PM
Any ideas what it would take for the Red Sox to get a guy like Salty? I'd assume a lot due to him being the centerpiece of the Tex deal with Atlanta.
Posted by: matt8149 | March 11, 2008 at 08:39 PM
If teams are inquiring after Laird I have to imagine Barrett is as well. He's only a year removed from a .307/.368/.517 121+ season so I'm hoping for a hot offensive start and then he's used in a trade for OF help.
Posted by: GiggityGiggityGoo | March 11, 2008 at 09:20 PM
Salty's value goes down the drain if moved from catcher to a corner infield position.
Really dumb for the Rangers to do this unless the kid simply can't catch.
Posted by: bjsguess | March 11, 2008 at 10:37 PM
Even more: Besides the guys you mentioned, the Rangers also have Leonel de los Santos, Jonathan Greene and Thomas Tellis at catcher. Santos will be in the AZL, strong defense, decent bat.
Posted by: teeball | March 11, 2008 at 11:14 PM
man taylor teagarden is a cool name. with that kind of name i think he is predestined to be good. seriously i agree they cant convert salty. it might make sense for their club but the value an offensive catcher brings is far more than a good hitting 1b. given that the rangers dont have much at 1b though, i wouldnt be surprised if hes the full timer next year(09).
Posted by: Joelcards | March 11, 2008 at 11:38 PM
Saltalamacchia and Laird make an ideal pairing at the big league level. You start Saltala....geez...Salt and spot start Laird when they play teams with a good running game. That Salt guy has little to be gained at AAA unless they're worried about his free agency clock ticking and they may as well find out if he can play, which I think he can. If he hits .275 with 25 HRs every year, he doesn't have to be that good defensively.
As for Teagarden, Ramirez, etc., there are questions about those guys so I suspect the "surplus" will go away. If not, and Teagarden truly ends up knocking on the door and healthy, they can easily spin him off to a team in need.
Posted by: Devlsh | March 12, 2008 at 12:09 AM
The thing about Teagarden is he is superior defensivly to Laird. When he is ready the rangers would be foolish not to trade Laird/Salty. With Tea/Laird they would probably have the best defensive combo of catchers possibly in the history of the game. With Tea/Salty they have an even better Defensive/Offensive combo than the mentioined Larid/Salty combo.
If the Rangers cannot compete in the west by the deadline I believe that Salty and or Laird are dealt. I think the rangers will look to add a couple of SP arms. Espcially since McCarthy is hurt.
Posted by: Bleacher_Buddha | March 12, 2008 at 05:25 AM
I think Salty goes to AAA, and you can get during the length of Spring Training that he works with Matt Walbeck every day. If he can indeed get better defensively I'd say he's gone at the trade deadline. And Laird too.
Posted by: Mike Simms | March 12, 2008 at 12:33 PM
Salty is not moving to 1st Base full time. The Rangers have Chris Davis there who should be their opening day 1B in 2009. Santana has the highest ceiling of any of the prospects at the catcher position but he is years away. Laird will be traded sometime this year. People forget the Rangers also have Chris Stewart who is a great candidate as a career backup catcher. Salty will either be traded, hit enough to split time between C/DH/1B, or move to LF b.c. Teagarden is the catcher of the future and Salty would be wasted backing him up.
Posted by: SteveBuechele | March 13, 2008 at 02:21 AM