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A Look At The Catching Market
Victor Martinez, John Buck, A.J. Pierzynski, Miguel Olivo and Yorvit Torrealba have all agreed to multiyear deals this offseason and the pool of available free agent catchers figures to shrink a little more if Henry Blanco works out a deal with Arizona, Matt Treanor returns to Texas and Russell Martin signs with one of his AL East suitors. Here's a look at which teams could use catching depth and where they might find it:
Teams with potential interest in catching depth:
- Baltimore - The Orioles have Matt Wieters, but could look to upgrade over Jake Fox and Craig Tatum.
- St. Louis - The Cardinals are looking for a backup catcher and they consider Gregg Zaun a fallback option.
- Milwaukee - The Brewers could add a backstop to compete with Jonathan Lucroy, George Kottaras, Mike Rivera and Wil Nieves.
- Los Angeles - A.J. Ellis was a serviceable backup last year, so the Dodgers' need for catching is mild.
- San Diego - The Padres are looking for someone to back up Nick Hundley. Something tells me that Luis Martinez won't still be the only other catcher on the team's 40-man roster this spring.
- Colorado - Now that Olivo's back in Seattle, the Rockies may look to find a new complement to Chris Iannetta.
- Diamondbacks - If their discussions with Blanco fall through, they could be looking for depth.
Catchers on the free agent market:
- Josh Bard
- Gerald Laird
- Bengie Molina
- Gregg Zaun
- Henry Blanco, Russell Martin and Matt Treanor are all free agents, but are reportedly nearing deals.
Potential trade targets:
- The Pirates appear willing to part with Ryan Doumit.
- It wouldn't be shocking to see the Angels trade Jeff Mathis or Mike Napoli.
- The Yankees (Francisco Cervelli) or Red Sox (Jarrod Saltalamacchia) would have surplus catching if they sign Martin.
At least seven teams could be in the market for a backup catcher and there are not that many viable options on the free agent market, so teams with catching depth will likely draw interest in their extra backstops this winter.
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