| By Jason A. Churchill |  | By 01-02-2009 |
The top talent in the Cleveland Indians’ farm system is now catcher Carlos Santana, acquired from the L.A. Dodgers for Casey Blake last summer.Santana, who, by most accounts, is the second best catching prospect in the game behind Baltimore’s Matt Wieters and a notch above Taylor Teagarden (Texas) and Tyler Flowers (White Sox), and well beyond Bryan Anderson (St. Louis), Lou Marson (Philadelphia)) and J.P. Arencibia (Toronto).
"He's a really good athlete, too," said a former member of the Dodgers' player development staff who now scouts for the crosstown rival Angels. "Coming in, his bat led the way and he played outfield and some third base those first few seasons. "But then they [G.M. Ned Coletti and Scouting/Player Personnel Director Logan White] sent him to Florida in October during the instructional period and that's when his catching career began."
Santana, 23 in April, is likely headed for Double-A Akron to start 2009 after posting 64 extra-base hits and 89 walks in High-A for the two clubs. His defense is coming along, but considering he’s only been catching since instructs in 2006, he profiles to above-average overall, and probably better as he hits his peak.
"I really liked him as a third baseman originally, that's how good his feet were. He reminded me of a Melvin Mora type defensively. But he could throw and was built well. His physical abilities profile well behind the plate and he looked awfully good back there this year.
"His bat will always be his best attribute; it could have played out in right (field) or at third. But it's an even bigger value with the gear on."
Casey Blake is a decent player and all, but star-potential catchers are as rare as proper English in the Federline household, and the wound goes even deeper with the recent rumors that Russell Martin’s defensive abilities are already decaying. Martin may need to ultimately switch back to his natural position of third base, where his bat really doesn’t play all that well.
A.J. Ellis, the Dodgers next available catcher, is an average defender and a capable bat, having hit .321/.436/.456 at Triple-A Las Vegas, but at 28 years of age this spring, his overall development is nearly complete and he doesn’t profile as a regular.
If Martin continues to slip, the Dodgers are left searching for a catcher – the toughest position in baseball to fill with quality – instead of simply plugging in a high-probability prospect – Santana. That’s going to be costly, in either trade talent or money – or both.
"Martin's obviously going to be starting 2009 behind the plate," said an NL scout of a rival club. "He'd have to slip even more, or show some major signs of the grind robbing him of offense, but if he has to move, where do you move him now? Probably to another team, I guess.
"I'd leave Martin at catcher for 115-120 games a season until he's simply bad, though, and he's not there yet, for sure. But I have no idea what they do if that happens. It would sure be nice to have a prospect to help out!"
While you have to applaud the idea of going for it when your ballclub has a chance to break through, I have to question the process that went into dealing away Santana in trade package that landed them a 35-year-old, slightly above-average player for two months, even if Santana remains merely a prospect with no guarantees.
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Comments
The following 17 comment(s) for this article are shown below:
| 1. By: FelixElRey on 01-02-2009 21:59:31 I'm all for reading about exciting young players, but will this situation affect the Mariners at all, or was this just an FYI article? Perhaps trading a catcher to the Dodgers and/or trading for Russell Martin, the "3B"?? Are we figuring on the M's hoping for Beltre to have a similar contract year and getting a ransom for him mid-season, or might he be shopped aggressively this offseason? |
| 2. By: 56Wabashaw on 01-02-2009 23:12:48 I don't think this was meant to have anything directly to do with the Mariners, but it is interesting to hear about other teams that screw up when it comes to trading prospects for ML'ers. Thanks Jason. This is why I come here. For interesting nuggets like this. Question for you Jason. Where would Clement be on that list of top catchers or is his catching still too much of a question mark to project him? |
| 3. By: Jason A. Churchill on 01-02-2009 23:31:01 re: FelixElRey Nope, not a thing to do with the Mariners, but not every single thing we do here is about the Mariners. when we do Mock Drafts, we don't skip all the other clubs, do we? You're going to start seeing more coverage on other prospects as time goes by, too. re: 56 If Clement were still technically a prospect he would have ranked somewhere in the second group. For me, his injury history/durability is as big a question as his defense, but yes, his basic defensive skills didn't progress nearly enough last year to convince anyone in or out of the organization - new regime and old - that he's am everyday major league backstop. |
| 4. By: slick on 01-03-2009 00:44:18 The Tribe might have got a better prospect for Blake than they got for Sabathia in the long run. I really like some of the small moves the Indians have made of late with the Wood singing and the trade for Derosa. If Hafner can get more than 350 AB this year the tribe could be real good. As for the Mariners Catchers I would like to see Johnson really get a chance to play more this season. It is widely known that Bedard Silva and others pefer to pitch to the Catchers not named Kenji. Felix looked much better on starts when Johnson caught. Kenji did not hit much last year, but his true downfall was never being on the same page as the SP. |
| 5. By: Hackinator on 01-03-2009 14:24:59 Jason thanks for the report ... been reading your stuff for several years ...btw I work in downtown Akron and I am looking forward to watching the Aero's and their young stars....keep up the good work . |
| 6. By: Jason A. Churchill on 01-03-2009 16:29:07 Spread the word of PI on Akron, Hackinator, I might be coming to see the Aeros next summer! |
| 7. By: Hackinator on 01-03-2009 16:38:53 Let me know when , golf and baseball...!!!! |
| 8. By: rocketdawg31 on 01-03-2009 17:19:37 Jason...as ever, good stuff. It's nice to hear about other teams having catching problems. If I were Mariners FO, I'd be torn right about now...let's see, in summary: Current ML starter (Johjima) doesn't really belong on a ML roster based on 2008 performance.. but has been given tons of money to do something, anything for us; Clement can't catch a cold but could develop into a premium lefty bat... Moore looks to be comparable to Clement defensively and has big power potential... and Rob Johnson can catch all day, but he can't hit. Oy. Make it double oy. Which problem do you want to stick with? FWIW, I'd take my chances on a Clement/Johnson platoon, primarily (unless Johjima has taken the winter to completely re-work his hitting approach and just rakes in spring training). I think it's better to see what the kids have got over a full year and pray Clement can develop into at least an average defensive catcher...but Johnson by all accounts I've ever seen will never have the bat speed to be anything other than a banjo hitter in the bigs. That's the problem with the idea of this team contending in 2009. There's too many unknown variables. How fast do Clement and Balentien learn the league and become significant offensive contributors...if ever? How many ABs to give Endy Chavez? Is Clement hopeless defensively? How much offense will Gutierrez give you? And on and on. Questions, questions, questions....I'm so glad spring training is only six weeks away. |
| 9. By: Jason A. Churchill on 01-03-2009 18:17:05 In short, I think Moore is a better choice than any of them. Simply because he's closer to being legit in all areas and doesn't have any glaring needs, present or projected. |
| 10. By: rocketdawg31 on 01-03-2009 19:53:59 So, Jason, you're saying Moore has a better defensive ceiling than does Clement? I know Moore's bigger at 6'3" 220....I saw Clement in AAA and Seattle, I've never seen Moore. Does he move better than Clement? Block balls better? I've seen some stat (and I'll figure out where I saw it but I believe it was an espn.com article) saying Moore was among the worst catching prospects defensively- allowed a lot of passed balls, they said. But, I've also seen shortstops make 40 errors a year in the low minors and then make it to the show on their glove, so...I'll find it and take with a grain of salt. |
| 11. By: Jason A. Churchill on 01-03-2009 20:00:53 Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. I'd say he does everything physical better than Clement, defensively speaking. What you probably saw was the BA article listing things such as caught stealing pct and passed balls among minor league catchers. They mean very little, though. The official scorer, the pitcher, the infield defense... they all contribute to the above numbers. |
| 12. By: rocketdawg31 on 01-03-2009 20:47:56 Yeah, it WAS the BA article. (And, one of these days, I'll even subscribe to them....) Jason, you think Moore will get a late-season call-up if he's solid in 2009? |
| 13. By: Jason A. Churchill on 01-03-2009 21:03:27 Don't bother subscribing to BA. There is better stuff on the net that doesn't cost anything. For all the resources BA has, they do a poor job, IMO. |
| 14. By: bodhizefa on 01-04-2009 01:17:51 Don't bother subscribing to BA?! Well point us in the direction of all the better information then, and I'll ask no further questions on the matter!!! |
| 15. By: CrustyJuggler on 01-04-2009 12:53:26 Is Santana really a better prospect than LaPorta? I know LaPorta is pretty much considered a DH. Is that maybe why you rank Santana higher? |
| 16. By: Jason A. Churchill on 01-04-2009 16:37:21 It's not just me, Juggler. Baseball America has Santana as the Tribe's top prospect, and after talking to three scout types that have seen Santana extensively, including one of his old team's player development guys, I'm convinced he's a defender, too. So, yes. |
| 17. By: CrustyJuggler on 01-04-2009 17:02:08 Talk about getting fleeced. The Dodgers really took one in the junk there. That good of a guy for Casey Blake? Yikes. |
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