Astros and the Free Agent Catching Market
by Stephen Higdon on Oct 31, 2008 12:17 PM CDT
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PrintYesterday was the first day to file for free agency and so yesterday is the first day we've been able to get a concrete idea of how the free agent market will look. The other day when I polled you to see what you thought was imperative for the Astros to do this season, at least one of you mentioned that you wanted to find a FA catcher to fill in for the dream team of JR Towles and Humberto Quintero. In all honesty, when I posted the poll, I didn't even consider the idea because I believed the FA catching market to be weak, old, and over-priced.
The list of those who filed for free agents yesterday from MLBTradeRumors (the link has full list of FA by position) pretty much confirms that there's just not anything better/worthwhile out there:
Brad Ausmus (40)
Paul Bako (37)
Rod Barajas (33) - $2.5MM club option for '09 with a $0.5MM buyout
Josh Bard (31)
Michael Barrett (32)
Henry Blanco (37) - $3MM mutual option for '09 with a $0.3MM buyout
Johnny Estrada (33)
Toby Hall (33)
Jason LaRue (35)
Paul Lo Duca (37) - Type B
Miguel Olivo (30) - $2.7MM mutual option for '09 with a $0.1MM buyout - Type B
Ivan Rodriguez (37) - Type A
David Ross (32)
Javier Valentin (33)
Jason Varitek (37) - Type A
Gregg Zaun (38) - Type B
Is there any untapped potential in this list that I'm not seeing?
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Is there a law against catchers having an OBP above.300?
There are a lot of bad OBPs on that list. Personally, I am willing to try the combination of Towles and Quintero next year. I’m not ready to give up on Towles, and Quintero looks like he can be solid, maybe not terrific, back up in the majors. Having said that, I can understand why a lot of Astros’ fans believe the Astros need to sign a FA catcher. I think even Allyson Footer has stated that view.
I think David Ross may be worth a non-roster invite. He had a decent year or two with the Reds, and certainly seemed to hurt the Astros with his bat. If,by some chance, LoDuca or Oliva were not offered arbitration (a possibility IMO), either of those guys might be worth a one year contract, if cheap enough and if the organization thinks Towles needs more AAA time or is traded.
I notice that David Cameron selected David Ross....
as the catcher on his “best bargain free agent” team.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/the-2008-all-free-agent-bargain-team
My suggestion of signing Ross to a minor league contract may be a bit optimistic (he may require more than that). But I think he will be a cheap option to take a risk on.
Greg Zaun
Type B FA, probably won’t cost too much, better than everyone else. He’s old, but (conceivably) he’ll be paired with Towles. And hopefully Towles won’t suck.
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