The Athletics have outrighted catcher Beau Taylor off the 40-man roster, as first noted on the Pacific Coast League transactions page. The 2011 fifth-round pick is now a free agent, as his initial minor league contract has expired. The A’s have 34 players on their 40-man roster.
Taylor, 29 in February, made his big league debut in 2018 and went 1-for-5 with a double and a walk in seven plate appearances. While the seven games in which he appeared this year represent the entirety of his MLB experience to date, Taylor has shown strong on-base skills in the upper minors, hitting .261/.364/.363 with a 13.5 percent walk rate against a 23.3 percent strikeout clip in Triple-A across the past two seasons. Defensively, he’s been a bit below average in terms of throwing out would-be base thieves (24 percent) but has generally drawn average or better framing marks dating back to the 2014 season.
With Taylor now off the 40-man roster and Jonathan Lucroy hitting free agency, the only remaining backstop on the Oakland 40-man roster is Josh Phegley. The A’s have a well-regarded prospect looming on the horizon in the form of Sean Murphy, but he’s only played three games at the Triple-A level and is likely viewed as a prospect in need of additional development. Additional help behind the plate figures to be an area of focus for the A’s this winter.
Just clearing space for the 40 man to get another prospect off the rule 5 draft.
Depending on the series of moves we likely see Barrera protected. If Lowrie is re-signed Barreto and Fowler might end up getting traded for pitching, which leaves Barrera as a good option to take over in left in a couple of years, and White or Martin to take over at second whenever Lowrie is done.
I honestly think we feel better about the guys we drafted and developed than the guys we traded for at this point. Martin, White and Barrera all tore the minors up this season, and Martin and Barrera are plus defenders
I would hate to see them trade Barreto. The guy is the next young player to break out. He could easily give you 25 home runs.
Just curious, why don’t we see to many power hitting catchers ? Gary Sanchez I guess is an exception but he’s more of a DH only type player. The last few I can think of are Derek Norris (kind of), Wilson Contreras, Weiters (eh), yan Gomes (eh).
Do they only focus on their defense and pitch framing now with less emphasis on offense? Just curious.
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Mike Zunino is another one too. I don’t think it’s any sort of trend, I just think it’s based on an individual’s skill set as opposed to anything else.
It’s just strange to see so few powerful catchers anymore. And the ones who do hit for power can’t actually hit the ball consistently enough to stay relevant.
Wilson Ramos, Salvador Perez, and J.T. Realmuto are all counterpoints to your argument. Perez had the most dingers of any catcher in the league, won the gold glove, albeit with a down overall offensive year. J.T. was one of the best overall players in the league if you value his defense behind the dish as more than the average defender. Ramos is a capable defender albeit unspectacular with a long history of consistent offensive output.
Gary Sanchez isn’t a DH. Tired narrative. He was worth +6 Defensive Runs Saved, despite leading passed balls. He also has a elite arm strength throwing out runners:
“Sanchez’s arm keeps pitchers from worrying about stolen bases. His throws have averaged 86.8 mph this year. That’s the 4th fastest among catchers with at least 10 attempts. 2017, he averaged 87.8 mph, 3rd-fastest.
“Sanchez’s pitch framing — ability to persuade umpires to call strikes — has helped prevent 4.8 runs this season, the same number as Romine.”
https://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2018/10/whats_gary_sanchezs_yankees_future.html
No texting during school!
Plus he sucker punches guys when they’re down and calls for his pitchers to throw at guys heads.
Class act that Sanchez.
Molina and posey….
Poseys hardly hits for power anymore and for yadi yes he’s obviously a power hitting catcher (some years) but I’m talking about catchers who have come up in the past 2-4 years, while there are some there aren’t many anymore.
Salvador Perez has still has pretty good pop. Posey’s days of being a power threat look to be in the past.
Grandal, Ramos, perez
I wouldn’t call Yadi a power hitting back stop. I think he’s driving the ball more because the Cardinals needed him to.
Realmuto’s 21 HRs probably turns into 30 once he gets out of Marlins Park. Gentlemen, start the bidding…..
40-45 at the wind tunnel known as Yankee Stadium. Ahem, Orioles…
Angels desperately need catching depth. Wouldn’t be surprised if Eppler would look into a minor league deal for him.
Or he just signs another minor league contract with us. He signed a minor league contract with us last offseason after electing free agency.