Twins catcher Jason Castro received unwelcome news upon completion of his previously scheduled knee surgery. He ended up requiring a full repair of his meniscus, which is expected to keep him out for the remainder of the season, as MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger was among those to report on Twitter.
The Minnesota organization was already preparing to weather an absence from Castro, but the belief was that he’d only miss about four to six weeks. Instead, the Twins may be on the hunt for a full-time replacement. For the time being, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press tweets, the team expects to continue to rely upon Mitch Garver and Bobby Wilson.
Castro, 30, is playing on $8MM salaries both this year and next. He was not producing much at the plate to open the season, with a .143/.257/.238 slash over 74 plate appearances, but the organization surely intended to exercise patience with a player who had produced at a solid rate in the first season of his three-year free-agent pact.
It remains to be seen just how aggressively the Twins will ultimately pursue an upgrade behind the dish. There are several plausible rental players that could be made available, but at this stage it’s unlikely that they’ll be moved. Odds are, the Minnesota brass will use the next two months to evaluate the internal and external possibilities, and to assess the team’s overall situation, before deciding upon a trade deadline strategy.
Bobby Wilson just got excited
More like Mitch Garver as he’ll be the starter. Granted Bobby Wilson should now be entrenched as the backup.
Garver’s not much of a catcher. Decent arm, but terrible catching wild pitches.
If he caught them they wouldn’t be wild pitches
Dang. I never like seeing guys miss seasons.
Blake Swihart a replacement??
No thank you.
Agree. Who the hell would want to play for Minnesota?
That’s a fair question….
I don’t know, maybe… Someone who wants to live in some of the highest QOL suburbs in the country, and play in the state with the worlds largest privately held corporation, the remnants of the airline that pioneered the great circle route to Asia, and the only major transcontinental railroad to be constructed without federal land grants, and the furthest inland seaport in the country
He would have to get traded, so he wouldn’t have a choice guy.
That’s just mean-spirited. Bully.
yeah yeah… minnesota though.
TwinsVet, do you need to retreat to your safe space?
We don’t have those here
I have my adult coloring books, thank you very much.
I know it’s not the best solution to catcher, but now that Swihart requested to be traded, I feel we’ll hear The Twins in more rumors surrounding Swihart.
Not happening. Twins want a defensive catcher who can call a game.
What about Caleb Joseph of the O’s. Their young catcher seems to be catching more.
I wish the the Twins and Rays would go ahead and work out a trade for Ramos, he would be a major upgrade for Minnesota and he’s healthy and has been hot hitting for a month now, I worry about waiting around and he slumps or gets hurt and we lose him at the end of the year for nothing.
Didn’t his price go way up?
Swihart come on down. Haha
Is Realmuto a possibility still or are the marlins still asking way too much? he could be a long term solution, with the twins not really having any catchers worthwhile in the minors
Now that’s a great idea! Guy can surely hit…defensively…??? He’d be a nice addition.
Come back John Ryan Murphy
That’s your answer for an everyday catcher? I’d rather have Eric fryer lol
Tough luck…..
Can someone help direct me to information on pitch framing metrics? I keep hearing Castro was great at it but I’ve never really been able to grasp those metrics
Good question!
A lot of it has to do with the pitcher you catch also. Russell Martin is a good framer but his numbers in 2015 took a hit catching RA Dickey, and he took a slight hit thanks to Dickey’s knuckler in 2016. That stat does not tell the whole story sometimes, much like OBP if a pitcher is more than willing to walk players with a base open to get the force play or knowing a walk won’t hurt their team.
Thanks! I now wonder how much Castro’s framing ability is factoring into pitchers like Berrios, Romero and now even Gibson with his higher than normal K rate this year. Twins have always been known as a pitch to contact club under Terry Ryan outside of maybe Johan and Liriano, until the new regime came in. Is that more on the pitchers or the catchers ability to steal the outside corners with framing
Maybe Swihart ends up with the Twins and tries to play catcher again.
Stop with the Swihart nonsense. He is not a catcher. He is someone who can catch. There’s a difference. Victor Martinez can catch, too, but I don’t think he’s the answer, either. Minnesota would not have signed Castro if they didn’t value defense first.
Not like you’re teeming with quality options.
Come on bud. Swihart can catch could also improve with time and full time reps at the position. There’s not a ton of catchers available right now either.
Rick Hahn would be more than happy to get an overpay from a division rival for Wellington Castillo. lol
The White Sox could then recall Kevan Smith from AAA who was Omar Narvaez’s platoon partner for much of last season. They could both fill in a catcher until Zack Collins and Seby Savala are ready to share the position later next season or by 2020.
Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but how about swihart?
that was a joke. I don’t see it happening. I bet the A’s would give up lucroy, admittedly I pay zero attention to them so I don’t know if he’s playing well or continued to slide or if they have a young guy to go there. just stating off contract and state of them team
Lucroy would be a good option. He’s hitting well, if I’m recalling correctly. Don’t know about the defense now though.
As an A’s fan, unless the A’s suddenly flame out (they just went 7-3 on an East Coast trip vs. BOS, TOR and NYY and will have a very soft June schedule) I don’t see Oakland trading him this season. While Lucroy’s power has gone AWOL, his average and OBP is solid and his game calling has been excellent.
In other words, I highly doubt the A’s would trade Lucroy.
Josh Phegley would be an option. W/Maxwell as the backup C (mainly because Maxwell bats L w/all else being pretty equal) he could be had for someone like John Curtiss.
Do the Twins have the prospect capital to land Realmuto? Nick Gordon?
I would think that would take Gordon and Gonsalves plus one or two others. I definitely like him and wouldn’t hate getting him but…
With catching taking such a toll on players, I’m not sure I’d be okay with giving up too much for that position. Realmuto is worth a bunch, deservingly. I just would rather go after a Lucroy or someone else who would cost significantly less but would still be a clear upgrade.
I agree. I just can’t see giving up the best farm prospects for a catcher…
Maybe one, but not our next best pitcher too.
Mauer back to catcher role….part time