The Reds and Ryan Hanigan have agreed to a three-year contract that will pay the catcher $4MM. Hanigan, who is represented by Tom O'Connell, will also have the chance to earn another $800K in escalators based on playing time.
2011 is Hanigan's final pre-arbitration season, so the deal buys out two of his arb years. According to Olney, the 30-year-old will make $450K this year, $1.2MM in 2012, and $2.05MM in 2013. The deal also includes a $300K signing bonus and $400K in possible incentives in each of the '12 and '13 seasons. The Reds will have Hanigan under team control for one more season after the contract expires.
Splitting time behind the plate with Ramon Hernandez for the last two years, Hanigan hasn't displayed much power, but has posted exceptional on-base numbers. In 536 plate appearances in 2009 and 2010 combined, the longtime Red hit .280/.381/.374.
As MLBTR's Transaction Tracker shows, Hanigan's will be the fifth contract extended for at least three years by the Reds this winter. ESPN.com's Buster Olney first reported the agreement and John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer confirmed that the Reds announced the deal.
excellent contract for a back-up catcher
Three years for a back-up?
A good back up
I think its a great deal.
Your clearly didn’t read the statistics in the article, nor paid any attention to the best catching tandem in the major leagues last year.
Psh, comprehension is overrated.
When I posted this there were no stats up yet. Sorry that I don’t follow the Reds too closely. And I would definitely agree with Brandon Woodworth that the McCann Ross combo is far better
Not as a split squad, because they aren’t a split squad. They don’t split games. David Ross is a backup, not a part-time player, or full-time player.
Hernandez and Hanigan split time, which makes them part-time players, thus combining together to make a full-time outfit. They didn’t have any backups. Together they were BETTER than McCann in the majority of statistical categories for the same games played last year.
Agree all you want to, but the stats don’t lie.
Okay. I understand what your saying, but if that’s the case, they really don’t have any competition. The only tandem that split time last year that I can think of was Mathis and Napoli, and that’s gone now.
No doubt. That’s what makes them special. You’re just not going to find 2 catchers to split time the way they did and contribute equally well. McCann/Ross just simply aren’t comparable to these two, so I am not sure why it was even argued. McCann played 3x the amount of games Ross did.
But yet, like I said, some people just don’t pay attention to stats.
You stole my joke!
link to mlbtraderumors.com
Pistols at dawn.
He starts almost as many games as Hernandez and I think this is Ramon’s last year in Cincinnati, because we have two really good catchers in the minors (and no, that doesn’t include Corky Miller)
Mesoraco should indeed be ready next year after a little more seasoning.
Hanigan may not hit for much power yet, but it’s generally the last thing to develop. Still, he’s 30 so I’m not sure there’s a whole lot of improvement to be made.
To be honest, I think he should be starting over Hernandez. I’m having a hard time seeing Hernandez repeat that OBP and AVG, and he’s not going to provide significantly more power than Hanigan. Hanigan is a great contact hitter with great plate discipline(81 BB to just 63 K in his career so far).
Both had 2.4 WAR last year, but Hanigan did it in 109 less PA’s. I think it would benefit the team more if Hanigan is the primary catcher with Hernandez backing up. I think they need the boost in OBP more than they do in power, although they were ranked in the top 2 last year in both. I think the Reds have a slight edge over the Brewers in offense, but the Brewers look like they’ve got the better rotation. The Reds are gonna need all the help they can get on offense, the Brewers really do look like they can win that division.
Problem with Hanigan is he wears down pretty quickly. He isn’t a 120 game catcher because of his size. He is at his best as a backup and playing about 80-90 games per year
That’s all we’ll need him for when Mesoraco arrives.
Me like me some Mesoraco!
Solid deal. He should be backing up either Mesoraco or Grandal by 2012. Wonder which of those two gets traded?
I’m betting on Grandal. Mesoraco is still younger and on the verge of the Major Leagues. Not to mention, he has tremendous power.
Yonder Alonso will be traded too.
Honestly I say they dont trade either. Jocketty built up the catching core in the minors and he seems confident to not break it up. also it seems like the reds REALLY want to keep alonso by really pushing him at 3rd and in left field. Billy Hatcher (1st base coach and his outfield instructor) said hes made TREMENDOUS strides in left field.
~Corey
No one is saying to trade them this year, but if both guys develop, one has to go. No sense spending a #12 overall pick on a backup catcher OR wasting a potential 25-30 HR backstop as a backup.
I have an idea: What if both Meseroco and Grandal and develop, why not keep them both on the roster as Catcher and work them out in the OF. On days they don’t catch, put them in LF. This would allow them to carry an extra pitcher! I know.. Stupid idea, but…
Certainly possible…. that would mean the Reds probably trade Yonder Alonso to open up LF…
Sure. I don’t like the idea of Alonso playing LF. He can barely handle 1st.
Agreed … he has not looked good at 1B this spring. I like Alonso’s potential with the stick but unless the NL suddenly switches to DHing he has to be considered a trade chip at this point. No way he sits on the bench or at AAA until Joey V’s deal runs out
As much as I hate the Reds I do have to admit they do wonders with their money
That was my 600th comment!!!! Kinda funny that some nobody in baseball took a while to go from 599 homers to 600 and it me a while to make the jump because I have been having trouble logging in for the past few weeks.
Absolutely correct. Someone who hits 600 homeruns is a nobody.
/sarcasm
Only 600 HR what a loser…
You stole my joke.
link to mlbtraderumors.com
Pistols at dawn. Bring your own shovel.
Brandon Phillips must feel sad……:(
It’s all good.
New plan. Pistols at midnight. Mencia doesn’t get out alive.
BP is earning more money this year than Hanigan will for the next four. I think he’s probably not all that sad.
Ryan Hanigan: 70 Games – 5 HR/40 RBI – .300/.405/.429/.834 (AVG/OBP/SLG/OPS)
Ramon Hernandez: 97 Games – 7 HR/48 RBI – .297/.364/.428/.792
COMBINED: 167 Games – 12 HR/88 RBI – .299/.385/.428/.813
Brian McCann: 138 Games – 21 HR/94 RBI – .289/.349/.486/.834
David Ross: 59 Games – 2 HR/28 RBI – .289/.392/.479/.871
COMBINED: 197 Games – 23 HR/122 RBI – .289/.370/.483/.852
Combined Ross and McCann played 30 more games than Hanigan, whilst not obviously splitting time behind the plate. Ross is a clear backup, not part of a catching tandem, which would involve split time. McCann is a full-timer. Not to mention, their AVG and OBP were both lower than each of the Reds catchers. At the bottom of the lineup, this equated to more runs being scored towards the top of the lineup, which the same can’t be said for McCann/Ross.
Ross will have a decent looking season here and there. He leads you in with gaudy numbers one year…very deceiving You’re forgetting his 20 homer year in Cincinnati, then a followed up that year batting .203 as a full-time catcher. Since he’s been in Cincinnati…trust me when I say, “He’s not very good.” He serves his purpose as a backup.
Neither Hanigan or Hernandez are backups. They split time.
Umm…..why are you using McCann’s 2009 line? You have Ross’s 2010 line, but McCann’s is from 2009. So no, Hernandez’s OBP last year wasn’t higher than McCann’s. And the rest of what you came up with is wrong because you used slash lines from two different years.
As for Ross, he’s technically led the the Braves in OPS the past two years. He’s likely the best backup catcher in the league right now. The Braves only need him for a backup, and he thrives in that role. Not worried in the slightest or deceived by his numbers.
You are correct, I accidentally used McCann’s 2009 numbers. Here’s his 2010 splits:
143 Games – 21 HR/77 RBI – .269/.375/.453/.828
So if we add Ross and McCann:
202 Games – 23 HR/105 RBI – .279/.384/.466/.850
The argument was that McCann and Ross are the best catching tandem in the major leagues. Ross is a backup and obviously doesn’t split time with McCann, so that argument is false. McCann plays nearly every game behind the plate. Hanigan and Hernandez split time behind the plate. COMBINED, Hanigan and Hernandez beat McCann in almost every category except for HR and slugging percentage (which obviously inflated McCann’s OPS a bit).
He’s led the team in OPS because he plays 50 games a season. That doesn’t even qualify you as a rookie in the major leagues, let alone leading a team in any specific stat category. You’re right, he serves a quality role as a backup catcher, which I said before. As a full-time catcher? No — his stats in Cincinnati prove that. His numbers as a backup are deceiving compared to his full-time numbers in Cincinnati. But, that’s because he plays less. That’s the whole point.
I’m just saying that I’d take a .279, .384, .466, .850, 23 HR line over a .299, .385, .428, .813, 12 HR line. I imagine most people would….
Both tandems(and yes, despite McCann playing the majority of the time it’s still a tandem) got on base at the same clip. But the difference in OPS isn’t drastic, but it’s somewhat significant. OPS, imo is a much more important statistic than AVG. And since both got on base at the same clip, I look at their SLG and there’s a big gap.
Using baseball reference WAR….
Braves: 6.1 WAR
Reds: 4.8 WAR
Using traditional stats and advanced metrics, the Braves tandem still comes out on top overall. I see nothing that suggests the Reds catchers were better aside from AVG, which just isn’t enough.
“COMBINED, Hanigan and Hernandez beat McCann in almost every category except for HR and slugging percentage (which obviously inflated McCann’s OPS a bit).”
RBI, SB, BB, 2B, TB? I could be wrong about one or two of those, I didn’t check. I also didn’t add up hits, although with the higher AVG I assume the Reds have that.
As far as being the best catching tandem that splits time, the Reds were absolutely the best at it in the bigs.
The HR part is insignificant because the 12 Homers netted 88 RBI’s, which is more than McCann’s 77.
The catching tandem was a good portion and reason to the Reds success last year. Hanigan and Hernandez are also no slouches behind the plate. Hanigan being much better defensively than Hernandez, though, of course.
The splits you mentioned…
REDS CATCHERS (88 RBI, 0 SB, 62 BB, 29 2B, 221 TB)
McCann (77 RBI, 5 SB, 74 BB, 25 2B, 217 TB)
McCann is a helluva catcher, that’s for sure. I just think the offensive output from the Reds catching duo was much better comparably. Not to mention, it will only get better with Mesoraco’s arrival in the middle of the year.
How is HR insignificant? And why are you comparing the Reds catching duo against just McCann’s numbers? When you combine McCann and Ross’s RBI totals, it’s higher than Hernandez/Hanigan.
“I just think the offensive output from the Reds catching duo was much better comparably”
How though? Sure, when you combine Hanigan and Hernandez’s numbers and put them against just McCann’s, but when comparing the Braves duo against the Reds duo…….I just can’t see how anyone could say the offensive production was better when the numbers clearly indicate otherwise.
Either way, both tandems helped get their teams to the playoffs last year. I like the Reds, and I’m a Braves fan…….so I obviously hope that continues. So good luck to your Reds, I hope for the best(although I wouldn’t mind seeing Cueto kicked in the face at some point).
They are insignificant in this equation because Hanigan/Hernandez drove in more runs. What does a person hitting homeruns matter if he drive in less runs runs than someone with less homers? That’s how becomes insignificant.
The Reds split squad of Hanigan/Hernandez played the same amount of games combined that McCann did. You add David Ross, that adds over 40+ more games to their totals and skews their numbers. Comparably, for the same amount of games played, the tandem of Hernandez/Hanigan were better than McCann. They beat him in the majority of categories.
“So good luck to your Reds, I hope for the best(although I wouldn’t mind seeing Cueto kicked in the face at some point).”
Totally lost respect for you there. That’s a Cardinals fan cheap shot. Cueto is a good pitcher that was in the wrong place at the wrong time during that fight. I would’ve done the same thing he did. Go watch the video on YouTube — He had like 20 Cards on him and pushing him behind the backstop of home plate into the netting with not a single other Reds player around.