shortsavage's top 25 catchers

[Mookie4ever]

That's a lot of love for Kendall and Mathis. Yorvit Torrealba is just awful, it is impossible to finish any higher than dead last with him on your team.

[Pogotheostrich]

Mathis is too high
Estrada is too low
Piazza and Jo-Jo is too low

deos Mathis even have full time duty yet?

La duca ?
Matheny before Piazza ?

I agree with everything here. Schneider seems too high to me too.

[shortsavage]

That's a lot of love for Kendall and Mathis. Yorvit Torrealba is just awful, it is impossible to finish any higher than dead last with him on your team.

Torrealba should be starting Colorado. He plays sound enough defense to win over a pitching staff and get lots of starts, while he has always had offensive potential.

[stevethumb]

boy NL catchers sure look weak this year...mbarrett is the best of an ordinary lot

[El Gaupo]

Minor point.. but I can't see spending $26 on any of the above catchers. Maybe in a year or two Mauer could put up numbers that warrant that type of coin

[El Gaupo]

Posada had the fourth most total bases of all catchers last season, only bettered by Pudge, Varitek, and V-Mart. I think he has another season left in the top tier.

Is Doumit going to get the 400+ at bats needed to be a top 15 catcher with Humberto Cota around (btw, I moved Doumit up to 24)?

Notice how close the dollar values for my #13-#23 guys are. I didn't initially weigh McCann's second half heavily enough. He is now at $6 and #13. Similarly, I'm bumping Johjima up to $6+ and he's now at #15.

Mathis will be starting in Anaheim. He's why the Angels aren't bringing Bengie Molina back. Given his offensive success in AAA last season (especially with his power, 21HR), I feel comfortable ranking Mathis in my top 15.

I think Piazza is going to fade a ton this season. His batting average was a career low last year (ignoring his 1992 season when he only had 69 at bats).

Thanks for all of the feedback so far. I'm going to keep looking at these rankings and give an update soon. I should have 1B done before long, too.

It's a pretty good list. better than what a lot of so called experts occasionally put out.

[shortsavage]

Here's a revised list. Thanks for the input everyone.

Even if you do not appriciate my rankings, I hope at least you now have discovered how deep this year's crop of catchers is going to be.

1. Martinez, Victor J./A+/$24
2. Mauer, Joe/A+$20
3. Posada, Jorge/A/$16
4. Varitek, Jason/A/$16
5. Rodriguez, Ivan/A-/$14
6. Lopez, Javy/B+/$12
7. Kendall, Jason/B+/$12
8. Barrett, Michael/B/$11
9. Pierzynski, A.J./B-/$9
10. Hernandez, Ramon/B-/$8
11. Lo Duca, Paul/C+/$8
12. Barajas, Rod/C+/$8
13. McCann, Brian/C/$6
14. Mathis, Jeff/C/$6
15. Johjima, Kenji/C/$6
16. Doumit, Ryan/C/$6
17. Schneider, Brian/C/$6
18. Estrada, Johnny/C/$6
19. Matheny, Mike/C/$6
20. Piazza, Mike/C/$6
21. Willingham, Josh/C/$5
22. Torrealba, Yorvit/C/$5
23. Molina, Yadier/C/$5
24. LaRue, Jason/C/$5
25. Molina, Bengie/C-/$4

[Philly Pride]

Why is Bengie Molina so low? If he's on the right team and stays healthy he's a top 10 catcher. I know that's a pretty big if, but still...

Actually, Kendall's a very good fantasy catcher since he gets stolen bases, which everyone on that list other than Joe Mauer does not, plus he has a potential for a good average. So don't hate him