Hello again my good friends and welcome on back! Midterms have been weighing me down this week, but now that my torture is completed let’s get back to the real test at hand, and that test is how to improve the New York Mets. We’ve rounded out 2010’s starting outfield and infield, let’s talk a little bit about the catching situation.
In 2009, the catcher’s position was predominantly manned by 4 men, one of them being Ramon Castro who was shipped out of town late in May. The other 3 wicket-keepers for the Mets were Omir Santos, Josh Thole, and the free agent Brain Schneider. This position is a tricky one to figure out for the Metsies. As far as I see it, the club can either go one of two routes when piecing together 2010′s puzzle.
Route #1 – The younger 2 of the 3 backstop’s, Santos (29 in 2010) and Thole (23 in 2010) will be the 2 catcher’s on the Mets 25 man roster, letting Schneider walk. I think no matter what happens Schneider should not be resigned. Despite his sweet defensive skills, he was an often aggravation at the plate, hitting a pitiful .218 with a miniscule .627 OPS in ’09. Those kinds of numbers just can’t be tolerated for a team with championship aspirations. I mean, the numbers Schneider posted can be delivered by a fair-hitting pitcher. Sorry Brian. So, other than getting rid of a headache, it looks the Mets got next to nothing when they dealt away Lastings Milledge 2 winters ago. Anyway back to 2010, Thole – though he certainly needs to up his defensive game a good deal – looked very promising facing pitchers at the major league level, batting .321 in his 53 PA’s. He’s more or less considered the catcher of our future, and it would make more sense for him to start over Santos instead of Santos getting the majority of the starts and leaving the touted prospect on the bench to wither and rot. Santos turned a good number of heads with his surprisingly solid play early in 2009, and I even thought he could be groomed into our future #1 backstop. However as the dog days passed on, Santos cooled off enormously at the plate, batting over .260 for a month just once over the span of June through September. He was in the minors a fairly long time before finally getting his shot with the ’08 Orioles, and his late season hitting may have shown why that was so. I just feel that he’s more of a backup catcher than a starter, while the younger Thole provides us with more of a threat with the bat day in and day out.
Route #2 – The Mets can let Thole start the year off in AAA to get some more seasoning. Absolutely nothing wrong with this, Thole can practice his catching skills under a smaller microscope than the one the Big Apple utilizes, and maybe he can even discover some sort of a power stroke down on the farm. I still wouldn’t commit anything larger than a backup role for Santos, so the Mets would be wise to try and ink a free agent catcher to a 1 year pact to keep Thole’s spot warm. This is similar to the way the Orioles signed Gregg Zaun for 2009 to keep star prospect Matt Wieters in AAA just until Baltimore’s higher-ups felt he was ready to handle the starting gig full time. Zaun is available again in this year’s 2010 free agent crop, the Mets can always try to ink him. Other free agent cacthers available this winter who likely won’t command more than a 1 yr contract include Ivan Rodriguez, Miguel Olivo, and Benjie or Jose Molina just to name a few. There are a slew of other names as well that the Mets can kick the tires on.
Personally, the choice is a tough one, but if I had to make an "on the fly" decision, I’d probably stick with Route #2. The Mets, particularly Jerry Manuel, have little margin for error next year, and getting Thole some additional seasoning at the young age of 23 simply can’t be harmful. His ‘D’ is a tad on the sluggish side, and any kind of defensive miscue or inability to handle the major league pitching staff could cost the team detrimentally early on, and a slow start is the last thing the 2010 Mets need. Route #2 is probably the best path to trek.
What do you guys think? Are you more in favor for Route #1 or Route #2? If you favor neither, how would you improve the 2010 Mets catching situation? Comment below, and as always my dear friends, thank you for stopping by!
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