image from Adam Eaton's twitter profile (@AdamSpankyEaton). He'll be back in that uniform sooner than later.

Prior to yesterday’s Diamondbacks game against the Indians, I was looking around Diamondbacks’ stats pages and noticed that, somehow, Adam Eaton had weaseled his way into more spring training at-bats than a fair number of people expected to make the 25 man roster. Notably, Jason Kubel, Miguel Montero, Lyle Overbay, and Geoff Blum.

If you need a quick refresher on Adam Eaton, we previewed him in our spring training preview post. In summary, he’s a 2010 19th round pick of the Diamondbacks and played in every level from Rookie ball to AA last year and then continued his season by leading the Arizona Fall League in runs scored.

FYI: This is not the Adam Eaton you are looking for.  Although, the Dbacks’ Adam Eaton does get his paychecks occasionally. He’s fast (42 stolen bases with a 71% success rate), hits for average and power and he’s fearless. In summary: go read this story.

He’s the type of player I love and, even though he was optioned back to Mobile after yesterday’s game, he definitely made an impression this year. I’m going to make a bold prediction that he’s going to turn out to be the 5th outfielder waiting in the wings, in case of injury or trades.

At the start of the season, there was endless talk about what to do with Gerardo Parra. Now the Dbacks were going to be putting a gold glove on the bench. How could this be?! He must be on the trade block!

And, over and over and over again, we’ve heard that this isn’t the case and that he’s very much a part of this team.

Well, if it helps, it seems as though the coach staff is putting their money where their mouths are.

Currently, Gerardo Parra is 3rd overall on the team in terms of games played (23 – Eaton and AJ Pollock are tied with 24); he’s leading the team in at-bats (63 – Willie Bloomquist is next with 52); he’s also leading the team in plate appearances (67 – Paul Goldschmidt is next with 61).

And, in order to ensure that he’s playing well enough to stay off the bench, he’s leading the team in runs, hits, and stolen bases (granted, there are only 2, but still). All-in-all, it really doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere.

Even though this blog has talked about Miguel Montero over and over again (he wants to stay a Dback, but they’ve stopped contract talks, there seems to be an ongoing search for some depth at catcher and, if something happens to Montero during this season, there is very little depth at catcher), after yesterday, there is still more to say.

image from flikr user afagen (flikr.com/photos/afagen/3803285289/)

It seems as though, with a good season, Miguel Montero will likely price himself  of the small-market budget of the Diamondbacks. Jack Magruder of Fox Sports Arizona reported on the specifics yesterday. And, the quotes from Miguel Montero certainly didn’t do anything to calm the speculation.

“Who knows? It can happen. It’s part of the business. I’m here right now. I have to enjoy the moment here, because you never know where you are going to be tomorrow. It’s like everybody’s life. You are here today. You don’t know where you are going tomorrow,”

Will 2012 give the Diamondbacks the arrival of Adam Eaton? A true 4-man outfield? The departure of Miguel Montero?

162 games is a long time. Everything is possible. But, one thing IS for certain – I’ll be buckled in, waiting to find out and prepared for anything.

I’m not a baseball executive, I have never been a baseball executive, and – barring an event of cataclysmic proportions – I will never be a baseball executive.

However, that being said, I feel like there is something a’brewing in Arizona.

Earlier this off-season, the Diamondbacks claimed Craig Tatum off of waivers. When it happened, it was considered an all-around good move, given that the Diamondbacks have almost no organizational depth at catcher.

Earlier this morning, Ken Rosenthal‘s column addressed some of the rumors floating around during spring training. The end of his column focused quite heavily on the Diamondbacks.

The D-Backs seek a long-term solution at catcher — Miguel Montero is a free agent after this season, and the team is thin at the position in the minors. Club officials have targeted 10 to 15 potential trade candidates, and eventually could use their relative surplus of starting pitching to acquire the catcher they need.

It is true. The Dbacks have a full rotation and a whole pile of pitchers in the minor leagues that are very nearly (or entirely) ready to step into the rotation on a moment’s notice. And, this holds true looking at the prospect rankings, where it is clear that the Dbacks have strength in pitching. So, how about catchers? Is the outlook that thin?

• In mlb.com‘s top 20 prospect rankings, clocking in at number 9 is Michael Perez. Michael Perez was drafted in 2011 and is 19 years old and clearly not major league ready, having played only 7 games in the rookie league this past year.  After that, there’s not another catcher on the list.
• Fangraphs tosses in 22-year old Rossmel Perez onto their list at #15, giving Michael Perez an honorable mention.
• Baseball Prospectus, however, lists their top 20 and leaves both catchers off the list entirely.

So, yeah. There really doesn’t appear to be much in the way of organizational depth when it comes to catchers to replace Miguel Montero, if he leaves for more money at the end of the season.

So, today’s afternoon news comes as a little bit of a surprise.

Not that he was going to be a long-term solution, but it is true. Every organization needs a 3rd catcher, waiting in the wings. It’s part of any truly comprehensive emergency contingency plan. It’s a small thing, but it is an important thing.

So, when taking into account that the Diamondbacks’ cups runneth over with quality young, controllable pitching + the Diamondbacks have a seemingly large gap in their system at catcher + there isn’t really a ready and waiting candidate in the event that either Miguel Montero or Henry Blanco go down with an injury, it seems like there might be something in the works for the Diamondbacks. More specifically, something involving a young, controllable catcher no more than a year away. Or, more likely, with a little bit of MLB experience under his belt.

And, recent comments made by Kirk Gibson don’t really do anything to quell these thoughts that are swirling around in my head.

Spurred on by the suggestion that Patrick Corbin (see yesterday’s post) could spend the start of the year back in the minor leagues (article from mlb.com):

“You’re assuming that’s where he’s going. There are some things that still could happen. There’s various things that could happen.”

So. There’s that.

There’s no specific deadline that the Dbacks have to adhere to (given that Montero is a Diamondback until the end of the season, if all goes according to intial plan), so things may stay just as they are until the trade deadline (or later), but it seems like this is somewhere where we, the fans, will see some movement, sooner rather than later.

Looks like it’s time to break out the magic 8 ball. Again.

In what would initially seem a slightly odd and sudden move, both Miguel Montero and GM Kevin Towers suddenly announced Wednesday that talks of an extension have been put on hold.

Nick Piecoro indicated that the two sides were unable to find common ground (twitter), although Miguel Montero did tell Jack Magruder that he considered the Diamondbacks to be his priority following this upcoming season.

Regardless, it looks like Miguel Montero will be joining a relatively stacked group of free-agent catchers (Napoli, Martin and Ianetta) in 2013 (kudos to MLBtraderumors for keeping tabs on these things).

Previous reports have indicated that the length of the contract was not the obstacle, so process of deduction leads us to conclude that it was – as usual – coming down to the dollar amount.

Over the weekend, we looked at why the two sides might not have been able to reach an agreement. For more speculation about each side’s possible thoughts on an extension, feel free to re-visit this post and read up on Montero’s history of inconsistent playing time, his valuable offensive contributions in 2011, and how he could price himself outside of the Diamondbacks’ budget by testing the free agent market – simply by staying healthy.

And, given the recent Yadier Molina extension (5 years @ $75 million), the timing of the sudden “breakdown” in contract talks seems little suspect. Again, Nick Piecoro indicated that both sides are insisting that they weren’t affected by that recent news, but it seems highly coincidental that two groups of people who were already (one would assume) not seeing eye-to-eye on value would all of a sudden just spontaneously decide to end negotiations following the signing of the third largest contract for a catcher – ever.

Perhaps the announcement isn’t so much odd as it is reflective of a gap between the sides that was either:

1. Larger than previously appreciated. Or,

2. Suddenly larger following the events of earlier this week.

Although Yadier Molina has shown far more durability over his career, their offensive production had been comparable in the last few seasons – with Montero even collecting a slight advantage over Molina in some categories.

So, while a good season in a contract year will likely be very helpful to the Diamondbacks’ goal of repeating  as division champions, they’re probably going to have to start saving their pennies, because the ink isn’t even dry on Molina’s new contract and it seems like Miguel Montero’s asking price is going up.

Today’s the day of the first full-squad workout in Arizona and we’re that much closer to real live baseball games.

One of the stories that has come out of Salt River Fields in the last couple of days is that catcher Miguel Montero and the team are still a ways apart on negotiating an extension.

image from flikr user afagen (flikr.com/photos/afagen/3803285289/)

What We Know: There’s History in Arizona

Miguel Montero was signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks as a high school player out Venezuela in 2001 (as an amateur free agent). He spent 5 years in the minor league system, before making his debut with the organization in 2006 as a September call-up. He’s played his entire career in the Diamondbacks uniform until this point, and has said that he would like to stay in Arizona.

It is also been revealed that both Montero and the club aren’t having any trouble agreeing to the length of the contract, but its the question of money where the two sides diverge. This was evident when it took until moments before his arbitration hearing for 2012 for the two sides to agree on a salary. Even in his arbitration figures, it was easy to see that the 2 sides have very differing ideas of Montero’s “value”. Montero filed at $6.8 million and the team at $5.4 million.

Although this is most often the case in contract negotionations, I think the reasons why this might be are particularly easy to see when it comes to Miguel Montero.

What We Know: Miguel Montero is Good. REALLY GOOD.

We know that Miguel Montero is very good at baseball. He was an all-star in 2011 and even earned himself some votes in the MVP ballotting. He was first in the NL in caught-stealing percentage (40%) – a number which he has DOUBLED since 2008 – and second in the NL at the number of runners he threw out. He also made the leaderboard in the number of putouts on the season (9th) for the first time. Defensive metrics for catchers are generally quite crap, but I think its safe to say that, at the very least, his defense at catcher has improved over time. He’s still high up there on the number of passed balls and errors, but those are stats that are affected by both the number of opportunities you have and are also relatively subjective. So, again, defensive metrics are still crap.

In terms of Miguel’s offensive production, his RBISs, batting average, slugging percentage, isolated power and on base percentage was second to only Justin Upton on the team. In comparison to other catchers in baseball in 2011, his RBIs were 2nd among catchers (second to only Victor Martinez), his 18 HRs were tied for 8th with Russel Martin, 2nd in doubles (again, behind Victor Martinez – and Miguel was 9th overall in the NL in the number of doubles he hit), he was 4th in batting average (again, first place went to V-Mart), 3rd in OBP, slugging and OPS (behind Victor Martinez and Alex Avila).

So, it is pretty clear that he delivers offensively for his team, but also that his numbers stand up against the best in baseball. And, considering that V-Mart spent more than 100 games at DH this year (and Alex Avila puled DH-duty 4 times), that’s some impressive company to find himself in. He can hit.

» Continue reading “Contract Talk. Or: Everyone Wants Montero To Stay (Including Miguel Montero)”

So, the Diamonbacks claimed Craig Tatum and, with the move, have filled their 40-man roster to the brim.

The move itself is one of organizational depth, with Miguel Montero and Henry Blanco set to spend the season sharing time behind the dish.

But, with catcher being a position where you’re liable to spend the majority of you’re time on the field avoiding wayward swings, throwing yourself in front of wild pitches, and generally challenging your knees to see how much abuse they can take, a little catching depth can be a valuable thing.  And, barring a miracle at Salt River Fields this spring, we can be pretty sure that Tatum’s already started scouting real estate in Reno.

So, why even bother mentioning this? Well, there’s at least one other roster issue that bears a mention that keeps turning over and over in my head, so I figured it was time to let it out.

However, let us start with a disclaimer. I am not a baseball GM. Nor do I play one on TV. If I were a baseball GM, my own decisions would probably turn out equally as well as if I determined my roster moves based on the outcome of the winner of a game of musical chairs.

However…

» Continue reading “The 26 Man Roster. Or: What’s Going To Happen At Spring Training?”