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.
