So, yeah, Russell Martin says he can, or at least would like to try to catch RA Dickey. And he says it because he caught knuckle baller Charlie Haeger back in LA.
This echoes a similar sentiment once heard from a former Jay catcher—and forgive me for the sacrilege of putting these two names into the same article— J.P. Arencibia. But, thank ya Jeez-us they are not even remotely close to the same entity. Martin could catch circles around Arencibia. He’s the kind of defender that, when he says he could handle the adjustment to a knuckleballer, I believe him. It’s not like he’s saying, Yeah, I caught him a couple times during the winter, I can do it.
An industrious baseball opinion generator would go back to see how Martin handled Haeger in his LA days, but, good or bad, how do you really measure a catcher’s ability to catch a knuckler? It’s like recording a roulette wheel for consistency. Even Thole has his bad days with Dickey. Some catchers do knucklers better than others, but most of that some really suck at doing anything else. So, Thole is great as long as you measure great against other catchers who do nothing more than catch RA Dickey. If Martin can do it, Thole’s play time would basically be Sunday day games and the times he gets to run out and warm up pitchers while Martin is putting his gear on. If the Jays didn’t play it this way, they’re just wasting a resource. Martin should—assuming Dickey can handle the vicissitudes of the capricious animal we call baseball, catch Dickey.
Notice how I didn’t once mention Dioneer Navarro ? Yeah, well, that’s because, as Hawk Harrelson would say, he gone! Navarro was looking at being the Jays full time starting catcher during a contract walk year. He was making 5 million this season—which is good money—but, a good, fulltime 2015 campaign in a market that already lusts for anything that can catch and kinda-hit… well, he would get paid, son! (or daughter).
The catching scene just got interesting because you can almost guarantee that one of the three is not going to be with the club come next year. My money is on Navarro getting traded to a contender. For what, I don’t know, but rest assured it will be decent. A shame, but only in the sense that, if there was one season you were going to get max effort from the guy, it would be 2015.
Okay, next up is the idea of Torii Hunter coming to Tori Onto. I’ll pass on this one. But, it does fit the bill of the Jays bringing in some older, declining role player who can take up the mantel of team soul, or conscience. Torii Hunter would not be a replacement to Melky. Not offensively or defensively. But he would be a senior leader, mixer, shaman, mojo-shepherd, who can do a little situational damage and might benefit from a power uptick thanks to Rogers Centre confines, Yankee Stadium, Boston’s Monster, etc… but older guy swinging hard for the fences isn’t Torii’s game. He’s a do what’s needed player, which is why the Jays love him so much—or at least the concept of him.
But it’s not enough to warrant bringing in a 39-40 year old. Knuckleballer in that age bracket, okay, sure, they hold up. Slowing, defensive/injury liability? …meehhhhh. I think this is one of those moments where the Jays play the “we like younger, replacement parts that no one has ever heard of because they’re cheap, and give us flexibility,” card. Bottom line is you’d be paying for the name, and the hope that there is still some left in the tank.
If you’re doing it purely for the clubhouse guy dynamic and the rest is bonus… Oh, poop, just stop with that. I mean, how many years have the Jays brought in clubhouse guys? How many of those years did they make it to the post season? I love Mark DeRosa as much as the next guy, but, you don’t bring in players because you think they’ll make great broadcasters someday. And how many older farts have the Blue Jays employed that have done that now…? Seriously, screw the clubhouse personality shopping list. If yhe Jays have no sense of themselves, one older player is not going to create a positive, enduring culture. Torii Hunter won’t make Bautista a blue-collar Joe that everyone relates to suddenly.
However, one older player with a good persona isn’t going to screw up the culture that the younger could be generating either. So, as far as I can figure here, Torii Hunter would be a decent at best outfielder who would be an injury and production risk, but wouldn’t teach the young kids to use cocaine and might consider doing some color broadcasting in the future. Sweet. I’m sold.
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