Treanor was awful against LHP in 2010, and Yorvit hits RHP a lot better than LHP.

I wonder if this might lead to a possible increase in Yorvit's playing time and a release of Treanor in favor of Napoli's bat at C, which would also open a roster spot and PA's for Moreland and Murphy.

I wonder if Torrealba could catch 130 games with Napoli catching the other 32 or so.

I bet Torrealba could help Napoli prepare for calling better games.

Could Cash and Teagarden hold down the backup role in the event of serious injury? This is probably what makes Treanor's release very unlikely.

Torrealba has been in the league 10 years and played in over 100 once. Why are you so quick to hand him such a large workload?

Wasn't Napoli behind Molina for the Angels? I could be wrong about that, but if he was, wouldn't Molina have been able to teach him how to call a better game? I'm just saying that because it's not like he's some young guy, he's been in the league for a few years.

"Can't teach an old dog new tricks." - Mahatma Gandhi

It was Napoli and Mathis in a platoon last year, with Mathis getting most of the starts in the first half because Napoli is a terrible defensive catcher. But then Mathis broke his wrist, and then LAA lost their 1B to injury too, so Napoli started at first most of the 2nd half, doing some duty as catcher. They signed another catcher - can't remember who.

So the bottom line is that Napoli is a defensive liability. The fact that Torrealba has never been an iron man type helps explain why Texas has said they will go with 3 catchers on the 25.

LFloyd, most catchers are around 100-125 games, so it's not such a black mark as you may think. Pretty sure Yadier lead MLB with 130 starts last year, McCann 2nd with 129.

Rodney,

That's my point. You can't plan on Yorvit playing 130 games. Yadier is the best defensive catcher in the game and he can only catch 130 games. Increasing Yorvit's workload from 95 to 130 is crazy.

McCann started 129 and caught in 136 games in 2010 (appearing in 143 games overall with some interleague DH/PH duties).
Mauer started 107 games and appeared in 112 at catcher in 2010 (he DHed some appearing in 137 games overall).
Yadier started 130, caught in 135, and PH in one other game.
V-Mart caught in 110 games.
Wieters caught 126.

Essentially, Yorvit is always on the low end for starters, so it's not unwise to assume he'll need a partner to pick up at least 60 games.

LFloyd,

I've heard many talk about Yorvit playing around 110 games for the Rangers. I think he is already expected to take on an increased role. However, in 2007 he played 113 games.

You would only be increasing that by 20 games, not his career high but rather what the Rangers already projected for him for 2011 before the Napoli signing.

We can debate about whether it is best, but I don't think its crazy.

Why are you so quick to believe that because of the fact Yorvit has never played 120-130 games that he can't? Simply because he has never done it doesn't mean he's totally incapable of doing so. During his career he has played up to 113, just increasing that number by 10 would be 123 which would leave only 39 games for Napoli to catch against LHP. I think the risk of losing Treanor on waivers because of depth problems at the position is the bigger down side to increasing Torrealba's workload 10-20 games from what he was already projected to play in 2011. I've read in numerous places that the Rangers think of him as someone who can give them around 110 games, that was before they had Napoli and the opportunity to open up a roster space as well as at bats for better hitters.

Dave H,

Again, why do you assume that because Yorvit has never started that many games that he can't start that many games?

Couldn't it easily be because of many other factors that he has never played over 110 or so games? For example, maybe the teams he played on had better options and didn't need him as much. He's never been that great offensively so other teams he played on didn't have the incentive to catch him more than 100 or so games?

There are many other possible factors to explain this. It makes no sense to assume that because he has never played that many games that he can't do it.

Well, for one my friend Joe, it's one thing to catch games in Colorado, and quite another in Arlington in the dead of the summer, where it's 98 degrees at 7:30 pm. You have to factor that in, too. You have to.

For me, the one concern I have at catcher is Taylor Teagarden, who was actually pretty good last year when he was playing 4 or 5 games a week prior to the Molina acquisition. I would almost rather see them carry Teagarden as #2 than Treanor, if only to let Taylor get more experience. He's never really had a full shot at a season-long gig.

The issue of how many games he could catch is one issue. Here are 2 others that need more discussion:

CJ Wilson has a strong preference for Treanor as his personal Catcher. We'll see during the spring how he feels about Yorvit, but if he's going to be your #1 pitcher, it seems reasonable to factor in what he thinks will make him most effective.

And Mike Napoli, if teams viewed him as a legitimate defensive catcher, would be a top-7ish catcher in all of baseball. The fact that his trade value wasn't much higher indicates that every team in baseball is terrified of having him behind the dish.

Joe. I haven't assumed that he can't start 130 games. I've just assumed that it's a good idea to have a solid backup plan around. In all reality that's always the case even if you have the great Joe Mauer.

@ Dave, I just went with starts because, especially in the NL, some of those appearances could have been only 1/2 inning.

And, Yorvit has a career 95 wRC+ against LHP (99 last year)...I think I would take that from a catcher over limited starts, because I think Napoli will get the lions share of LHP non-CJ starts.

Whenever I imagine Teagarden at the plate, I think of Bugs Bunny throwing a single fluttering and dancing butterfly of a pitch and striking out 3 New York Giants all at the same time. Tea simply can't make contact with the ball, period. He just proved it again this winter with like 30 strikeouts in 45 PAs. It's embarrassing to have him on the 40-man roster (at least I think he still is).

TeaBag 61 & 60 wRC+ the last 2 years, uggggggly.

And Cash's bat is not much better although he did have a .650 OPS one year when he got a few more PA's.

I see Jose Felix played at Frisco last year. If he proves he can hit maybe they could fast track him to be the backup if one of our major league guys goes down with injury.

Also, is it possible Treanor might clear waivers if you exposed him at the right time?

@Rodney. They're looking for you over at LSB apparently.

Thanks Dave.

Napoli can pitch hit (vs. lefty relievers) and catch the last few innings to take off some of the mileage off Torrealba and Treanor. Catching 6 or 7 innings is less taxing than catching 9. I think they like Treanor because he caught CJ well.

You put Napoli behind the plate you are putting the late innings in the hands of a guy who scored out defensively behind both Taylor Teagarden and Max Ramirez last year.

You want him to pinch hit fine ... but then turn the catching duties over to a real catcher.

I haven't seen the stats, but I lived in LA from 2000 to 2009, and watched about every Angel's game. Napoli defense didn't make me think of Pudge, but I didn't think he particularly stunk or anything. Scioscia ( a former catcher) has a fetish about superb catching defense, and will play a guy (Mathis) who literally hits lunder 200 for no power if he's a better with the glove. I think that's given Napoli a worse rep than he deserves.

Also, no reason to remove depth week one of spring training. The at bats will assuredly work themselves out after injuries set in. Shoot, Beltre is already nursing a calf strain. There will be plenty to go around after injuries/ineffective play from youngsters for Murphy, Young, Moreland, and Napoli. If not, we have an exceedingly unusual and amazing problem- and great ammo come July to trade for Greinke or King Felix.

Ok so, Beyond the Boxscore does catcher defense rankings which are of course not extremely reliable. However, even if the rankings aren't really reliable, and extremely high score/rank probably means you're at least not a bad catcher, and an extremely low score/rank probably means you're not a very good on defense.

Where do they rank Mike Napoli? #113 out of 120. I think it's safe to say that Napoli's not a very good defensive catcher. But who's sitting at the very bottom of the list? That would be Jeff Mathis. I don't think this means that Mathis is necessarily worse on defense than Napoli; in fact I think that's unlikely. However, it does lead me to believe that Mathis's defensive reputation might at least partially be the classic "well he can't hit worth a damn, so he must be good at defense" line of thinking.

Teagarden has had long-term opportunities to start...in the MiLs. And he sucked.

Napoli started 59 games at catcher in 2010...for a manager that was a former catcher. He has averaged about 70 starts behind the dish for the last 5 years. If I'm not mistaken, the Angels have been pretty good teams during those years primarily because of the success of their pitching staff.

I'm not sure why we have all now decided that Napoli is not a real option at catcher. He may not be an asset, but it seems odd to label him as a complete liability behind the plate.