Travis d'Arnaud to Braves - 2 years/$16M

[MrTPlush]

I am not really concerned about catcher if they improve SS. If they don't upgrade SS it is a bit more concerning. Pina is not that bad...whether he starts half the time or if he starts almost all the time. I don't think people understand how bad the catcher position is. Pina, with his defense, is likely middle of the pack. Hardly a big concern.

[Jopal78]

At some point don't they have to try to break Nottingham in at the major league level? He had one good year at AAA and one down year at AAA, but he's been with the organization going on 5 years and has over 500 plate appearances in AAA. There comes a time when you find out what you've got, or you cut bait.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

At some point don't they have to try to break Nottingham in at the major league level? He had one good year at AAA and one down year at AAA, but he's been with the organization going on 5 years and has over 500 plate appearances in AAA. There comes a time when you find out what you've got, or you cut bait.

 

Yep ... and this might be the year.

[RollieTime]

IF we were to sign Didi & Moose, clearly a big IF, we could end up with a lineup something like this (with extremely back of the envelope possible median 2020 wRC+ ranges)...

 

Cain (95-105 wRC+)

Yelich (165-175 wRC+)

Hiura (125-135 wRC+)

Moose (105-115 wRC+)

Braun (105-115 wRC+)

Didi (100-110 wRC+)

Grisham (95-105 wRC+)

Manny (85-95 wRC+)

 

That's a pretty nice/deep lineup with one truly elite guy in Yelich, a budding superstar in Hiura, two really solid veteran run producers in Moose/Braun, two positive regression candidates in Lorenzo/Didi, a young guy that should be solid with a lot of potential upside in Grisham & then Pina, a really good defensive catcher who hits about average for the position.

 

That would still leave plenty of room for them to explore a great starting pitcher like Wheeler as well as I assume Moose and Didi would cost roughly $25-$27 million between the two. I do hope they bring in someone like Avisail Garcia for the outfield though and don’t totally hand the keys to Grisham without some type of good fallback option.

[SRB]

Sounds like you just described a platoon guy. Glad we agree. Hope we can pair someone up with him that can catch 70-80 games and chip in offensively.

 

In the sense that all catchers in baseball are platoon guys, sure! Alternatively we can pair him with someone who can catch 40+ games and will not cost $16 million.

 

Pina is valuable insofar as he hits both RHP and LHP equally well. I would target a guy with splits that strongly favor LHP, like Nick Hundley.

[wntrtxn21]

Sounds like you just described a platoon guy. Glad we agree. Hope we can pair someone up with him that can catch 70-80 games and chip in offensively.

 

In the sense that all catchers in baseball are platoon guys, sure! Alternatively we can pair him with someone who can catch 40+ games and will not cost $16 million.

 

Pina is valuable insofar as he hits both RHP and LHP equally well. I would target a guy with splits that strongly favor LHP, like Nick Hundley.

 

Hundley was so horrible last year (.200/.233) especially bad against LH pitching (.118/.167) that I thought he retired. He's 36 and doesn't hit a lick.

[Lukeday]

Why doesn't he just retire?