Deadline Primer: Catcher On The Rise

Zuck has had 1/2 a great season and a great month and a great month and a half.  Trade him now if you can get a fair prospect for him.  We do not know what will happen next year, it is not likely we will be contenders until 2018 at the earliest.  Turner or Garver could be here next year, along with possibly Murphy or you could pay big buck(which Twins should be able to afford given trading 2 pitchers this year, for Ramos or Wieters. 

Banking on Zuck is not an option.

Just curious, but do we have any breakdowns for Murphy on a month to month basis? His numbers just aren't good overall, but he also planted himself in quite a hole to begin the season. It seems as though he's been at least a little better the past month or so.

Mitch Garver is amongst the Twins milb batting leaders in slugging, OPS, HR and RBI. Every report I've ever heard has him as quality behind the plate and throwing. He's not ready now, and there is no guarantee as to how he turns out, but he provides future optomism.

I'd still trade Suzuki if the market bears a solid offer. But it sure appears we'really going to have to sign a veteran of sorts in the offseason.

Based on what I expect TR to get for Suzuki I think we have no choice but to keep him.  It might not be popular, but the catching cupboard is too bare.  We can see what TR gets in trades when we look at the next catcher on the list who is stumbling in AAA.  Trading santana and Dozier who have young replacements ready makes sense, Suzuki does not. 

Let's not fall into the same trap that resulted in the second Suzuki contract or the Hughes extension.

The guy you're seeing out there is not the real Kurt Suzuki.

If the Twins can get even a decent prospect for him, trading Suzuki is a no-brainer. He is not going to be part of the next Twins contender. Trade him.

How many of these guys do you think WILL be part of our next contender?

The guy you're seeing out there is not the real Kurt Suzuki.

Disagree.  This is the real Suzuki.  He has a few hot weeks, a few OK weeks, a few really stinky weeks.  In the end he is a catcher who is not good, but not terrible and can play a lot of innings.   Some teams value that.  

But I highly doubt this is a sell high moment on Suzuki.  Every GM would know what they are getting with him.  

Since the Twin's system is so flushed with catching talent that we can give away talent at the position, how is Hicks doing for the Tigers??

I don't get the connection between the value of Pomeranz return and Suzuki (or Santana) for that matter. Young starting pitchers will get a good return in any market. I don't think it has any meaning for Suzuki's trade value.

His trade value will depend on the supply and demand of catchers. It will depend on how other team's value defense at catcher. It will depend on how they project second half offensive performance. No team is foolish enough to take first half stats and use them to project second half stats. Slash stats need a larger sample. They probably go back to 2014 to project (if they use stats at all). In that case, they would see Suzuki as a slightly better than league average hitter (relative to catchers) with a very poor arm, history of poor framing numbers and adequate ability to block pitches.

That has some value to a team like the Indians, but they have many other options in the market. Considering offense and defense, Suzuki probably isn't a significant upgrade to many other teams in a starting role.

I don't really see a case for keeping Suzuki this season. Worst case, if the cupboard is bare in 2017, there's nothing stopping this team from resigning Suzuki or a Suzuki type in FA.

Trade him now, gather data on Murphy the next 2 months, re-evaluate in November.

How is Murphy doing down in Triple A?

How is Murphy doing down in Triple A?

His strike out and walk data is OK. He has a very poor ISO. He has not been very successful throwing out runners. Not enough data for slash stats to be meaningful. There is very little that can be seen in 183 PAs of AAA ball.

Does it matter this season? I would rather have 2 months of MLB data to see if Murphy is a legitimate candidate to be a full time C for 2017-18.

Sorry, I was just asking.  I have no idea.  Stopped paying attention.

Murphy is hitless in his last 5 games (gotten on base once) and has 4 hits in his last 35 PA (or, 4 for July, if you will).

Trade him.

The Twins are not contending this year. They are not contending next year. Suzuki is not in this team's long-term picture. They need to trade him and sink or swim with their young catchers the rest of the year while working to put themselves in the picture to answer the catching question.

He has value. You trade him. The Twins have not made much in the way of major veteran-for-prospect trades over the last six years that might have put them in a better position today. They need to do that now.