Kuzul

When you play in a two-catcher league, finding a suitable replacement should there be an injury (or lack of playing time) is a difficult feat.  Sometimes you get lucky, stumbling upon a Miguel Montero, but that is rarely the case.

If you play in a two-catcher format, it’s likely that Carlos Santana and Buster Posey are already stashed away, owners anxiously awaiting their arrival.  Chris Iannetta is also likely owned, with his Triple-A success likely bringing him close to a return (for more on him, click here ).

Now, with Jorge Posada out for possibly more than a month with a broken foot where else do you turn?  Francisco Cervelli is an obvious choice.  He’s proven he can produce, and the Yankees have shown no inclination to bring Jesus Montero into the mix.

Of course, he’s got little power and his average has been buoyed by a .417 BABIP.  Yes, playing in the Yankees lineup helps, but there have to be a few other usable options out there, isn’t there? 

Here are a few options who are owned in less than 10 percent of both ESPN and CBS leagues (remember, the majority of leagues are one-catcher formats, so even someone who is owned in 50 percent of formats are likely owned in two-catcher leagues) who have a chance to become must owned options before long:

Alex Avila —Detroit Tigers

He has struggled mightily this season, hitting .140 with 2 HR, 2 RBI and 5 R.  His home runs actually came in the same game on May 5, the last hits he has had. He’s 0-17 since, striking out nine times.

He hasn’t been completely forgotten, however, thanks to Gerald Laird’s offensive struggles of his own (.153, 1 HR, 5 RBI).  All it’ll take is one hot stretch and Avila will have the opportunity to grab hold of regular playing time.  While he is striking out way too much (31.6%), he’s also been plagued by poor luck with a .162 BABIP.

It’s certainly not a given that he turns things around, but he has the opportunity to earn playing time, has realistic power, and should start to hit for a better average. In a deep, two-catcher format, how much more can you ask for?

John Jaso —Tampa Bay Rays

Entering the season the Rays had Dioner Navarro and Kelly Shoppach behind the dish, so why would anyone even consider Jaso making a fantasy impact?  Of course that means he’s going to hit .302 with 1 HR, 12 RBI and 8 R through his first 53 AB after Shoppach goes down to injury.

Don’t think his success has come courtesy of luck, either. His BABIP is at .319. His strikeout rate is at 11.3 percent, which is a little low, but he’s proven that he has a tremendous eye at the plate. He’s currently sporting a 16.7 percent walk rate. For his minor league career he had a strikeout rate of 14.1 percent and a walk rate of 12.1 percent. Yes, he may regress, but he’s got the chance for success.

He’s not going to hit for much power, with 57 HR in 2,155 career minor league AB, but he can hit and in the Rays lineup, that should lead to production.

Tyler Flowers —Chicago White Sox

We all know his name, but rumors of a potential A.J. Pierzynski trade would open up an opportunity for regular at bats. I have huge concerns, especially with his ability to hit for a high average. In the minor leagues he’s posted a strikeout of nearly 25 percent, meaning a mark over 30 percent could be extremely realistic.

I know, that’s what Avila has right now and I’m not voicing concerns about his average.  Trust me, it’s there as well, but I actually feel like Flowers has a little less power. He’s never hit more than 17 HR in a season, and has a career minor league fly ball rate of 36.8 percent.

In two-catcher formats he’s going to have value with regular at bats, but think Mike Napoli with a little less power. Just keep that in mind if he should get called up in the near future.

Conclusion

So, clearly there isn’t much sleeper depth at the catching position, huh?  I’d love to say that one of the Rangers catchers could step up and make an impact, but with the number of options who knows who is going to get an AB, and for how long (throw in the additional trade rumors to cloud things up even more).  All three of these players have the potential to be usable, but none are likely to be anything more than borderline options. 

Do you like any of them?  If you have lost out on Posada, who are you eying in your league off the waiver wire?

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Last Week: 5-2
This Week: CWS (5/17-18); at Oak (5/19-20); at LAD (5/21-23)

So what happened?

A slap in the face of the East Coast bias when it comes to its death grip on big league baseball. 

The Tigers entertained baseball’s two Goliaths last week—the Yankees and the Red Sox—and they sent both teams out of town with a spanking.

First was a nifty 3-1 series win over the Yankees, which featured not one but TWO shutouts of the Yanks’ mighty bats.

Then the Tigers came back and took the last two games from the Red Sox after dropping Friday night’s opener.

Take that, ESPN! And Ken Burns!

The Tigers showed that teams sometimes can play a good brand of baseball outside of the Bronx and Beantown, contrary to urban myth.

The good week leaves the Tigers 14-5 at Comerica Park, which is suddenly a House of Horrors for visiting clubs.

Hero of the Week

First, an apology.

A few weeks ago, on “The Knee Jerks” podcast I co-host with Big Al Beaton, I mocked manager Jim Leyland and took him to task for simply inserting rookie OF Brennan Boesch in the No. 5 hole left vacated by injured Carlos Guillen.

Why is he (Leyland) putting a rookie behind MVP candidate Miguel Cabrera, I fussed.

I fuss no more.

Boesch is MMM’s Hero because whenever he hits the baseball, the cover threatens to tear away from the core.

Boesch is driving in runs in Cabrera-like fashion, and his left-handed stick is giving the Tigers as good a 1-thru-5 batting order as any team in baseball.

Boesch is hitting .380 with 19 RBI in 71 ABs. He went 4-for-6 in Saturday night’s win over Boston. He already has two triples.

So wonderful has Boesch been that when Carlos Guillen returns from his injury, Guillen will play 2B, just so Leyland can keep Boesch, 25, in the lineup.

Sorry for all the fuss.

Goat of the Week

Tie: Max Scherzer and his battery mates. 

Last week, MMM was getting annoyed with Scherzer because his starts were beginning to resemble crash landings. Friday, Scherzer stunk up the joint again and was optioned to Toledo to get his act together.

The men catching Scherzer and the rest of the staff are wearing MMM’s patience thin, too.

Gerald Laird and Alex Avila, combined, make one Adam Everett.

I don’t expect Johnny Bench, but these guys are making me long for Vance Wilson.

I won’t disclose Laird’s and Avila’s batting averages before notifying their next of kin.

More Tigers rallies this season have ended or stalled with the bats of Laird and Avila than with anyone else on the roster by far. They may as well be lugging fire hoses up to the plate the way they’re dousing potential big innings.

The Tigers need more offensively from their catchers than what Lairavila are giving them. And I have just won the Understatement of the Year Award.

Upcoming: White Sox, A’s, Dodgers

Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies! It’s Brother Leyland’s Traveling Salvation Show!

The Tigers once again will criss-cross the country more than a presidential candidate on the last leg of a campaign.

It starts in Motown with a couple quickies against the stumbling, limp noodle bats of the Chicago White Sox. Then it’s on to Oakland for two with the A’s, then since the American League is running out of Left Coast teams for the Tigers to visit, the Dodgers welcome our Bengals this weekend.

As usual, all will occur sans a day off. Heaven forbid.

The White Sox offense is Paul Konerko and…waiting for Paul Konerko to come up again.

Konerko has 13 home runs, but the rest of the White Sox’s offense is horrendous. Their team BA is .230. They have just 152 runs (4.1 per game) and 279 hits (7.7 per game).

The A’s have lost five in a row, are 18-20, and they’re no offensive juggernaut, either. No one on the A’s has hit more than four homers. The team BA is .248.

The Dodgers are another story.

They’re red hot—winners of seven straight. And they boast OF Andre Ethier, who’s leading the majors in hitting (.392), and who has 11 HR, 38 RBI, and who has scored 25 runs.

Ethier is 18 for his last 40 with 12 RBI.

He’s a little warm.

Fun fact: He’s on the DL, but the Dodgers have 41-year-old catcher Brad Ausmus on their roster, the former Astro/Tiger/Astro/Tiger.

That’s all for this week’s MMM. See you next Monday!

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