With all the attention being paid to the surplus of catchers in Toronto, I'm surprised no one's really looked at trades involving Milwaukee's catchers. The Brewers have two solid young catchers in Lucroy and Maldonado, and unless Roenicke wants to platoon them - Maldonado hits lefty - or the front office really wants to hold onto both as injury insurance, the team would probably benefit more from trading one of them than from rostering both.

I look at Milwaukee's current roster and don't see any glaring weaknesses other than at shortstop, where I expect the Brewers will just ride with Segura and hope he pans out despite his 71 wRC+ and 10 errors in 43 games this season. Their pitching staff was about league-average this year, but everyone can use more pitching. The Milwaukee farm system was rated one of the worst coming into the season, and while it's improved with the Greinke trade, most sources I've seen still have it rated among the bottom 10. I don't expect the Brewers to really make a playoff push this year, so maybe that's an avenue to look into as far as getting a trade done.

I'd like JD to take a good hard look at this situation. Either Maldonado or Lucroy will be pretty expensive, but the possibility of having a good, controllable catcher for the next four or five years sounds a heck of a lot better than trying to deal with band-aids and stopgaps while Alfaro continues to develop.

Maldonado doesnt hit lefty, hes RH and very limited offensively.. he is a younger version (26) of Torrealba

Oh the two i'd want Lucroy, he is far more consistant hitter; but, i dont think there is any away the Brewers will let him go, The catcher position for the Rangers is critical at this point as we have NO big league catcher on the roster So whats our best options: Napoli - rumors are he looking for 4yrs so I would think the Rangers will pass. Pierzinski - Most likely wants to go back to W/Sox. Martin - over rated. That leaves a trade: Saltilamacia - left handed power, with the home run porch in right could be interesting! Perez in KC said to be untradable because of his contract 13:$1M, 14:$1.5M, 15:$1.75M, 16:$2M, 17:$3.75M club option, 18:$5M club option, 19:$6M club option
■2017-19 salaries may increase by additional $5M overall based on performance, awards in 2012-16
Could be a steal! But KC wants a starting pitcher. I dont think Perez would be enough, it would take a Holland or Ogando.
Then there is the Toronto cathing surplus, weve all been over that, so im not going back over that again.
Finally, there is Mauer! Would you? Could you? Do we dare? He is way over paid! I'm sure Minnesota would pay part of his salary, but, his contract would mean we wouldnt have to part with a top flight prospect. So the question is ■11-18: $23 million annually ■full no-trade protection Mauer might wave the no trade to go a contender.
In short the Ranger catching position ts a mess and its going to get desperate around here soon! What would you be willing to do?

Any word on Cleveland possibly trading Carlos Santana.

@Roy

Yeah, if someone overpays for him, he's gone.

@Eric,
Is it worth overpaying. His contract isn't bad plus he can play 1B and switch hits.

That said I guess nothing happens until we resolve Hamilton and Napoli.

Don't expect any resolutions from Hamilton or Napoli. Smart money is they won't even receive legitimate offers. I think the Rangers would only want Hamilton for 3 years @ $15M AAV, which obviously isn't competitive, and Napoli closer to 3 years @ $8M-$9M AAV, which he can also do better than.

I have a sneaky suspicion one of Upton/Gordon/Santana will be on the Rangers next season.

My mistake on Maldonado hitting lefty - I confused him with Milwaukee's third catcher George Kottaras, whom they sent to the A's at the trade deadline. If Oakland non-tenders him (which is quite possible since he hit .184 there this year), he might be worth looking at as a cheap but efficient option. Kottaras has never really had a shot as a full-time catcher, but his production could definitely benefit from catching 100-120 games a year. He strikes out a bunch but he walks a ton, and his 2012 offensive numbers (.211/.351/.415) are likely skewed down from having more than a fifth of his PAs at the O.co. I'm sure his patience at the plate would be a good influence on certain other hitters in the lineup.

A quick side note, anyone else get annoyed trying to look up "carlos Santana" for his BR page only to find the singer...had to go all the way to like the 3rd page of google.

Carlos Santana would be a very good pickup and would be able to Lockdown the Rangers catching position until 2017 at which point he will probably his free agency and sign a nice hefty deal. He is signed through 2017 though so no need to even worry about arbitration. He improved in 2012 over his 2011 campaign which is always a good sign for young catcher, I could see him being a 4 WAR catcher for quite a few years. He would be a little expensive yes, but Cleveland is most likely a seller at this point as their farm got hurt for the Ubaldo trade and still hasnt really recovered. We could make a push for both Choo and Santana, it would cost, but we would be receiving two players who would really put our lineup where it needs to be.

Considering our current catching options for next year (Soto and Martinez), I think overpaying a little for a catcher might be worthwhile. I think values are fluctuating, anyway, and may not be more consistent until the ridiculous TV contracts are commonplace. If we don't back up the truck for Greinke, I'm okay with a little overpaying.

Fajita, perhaps this is a silly question, but if you want Carlos Santana's B-Ref page, why don't you go straight to B-Ref instead of wasting your time with Google?

Because I have one of those google tabs, so when i want a players BR page I simply type the players name in and it is generally the first link.

Wouldn't mind getting Salty back if BOS is still willing to deal him. He's not perfect - he's Napoli without the walks - or on the positive side you could look at him as Soto with way more power. He's a FA in a couple years though.

I wonder if we could pry Ryan Hanigan away from the Reds. They're set for the long-term at C with prospect Devin Mesoraco, and he's going to get more PT this year at Hanigan's expense so maybe they decide to dangle Hanigan while his trade value is still high. He threw out 48% of basestealers which is mind-boggling, and they value his bat and he has a team-friendly contract so I bet they keep him as a backup. Oh well.

Is it just me or are none of Toronto's and Boston's expendable catchers attractive options at all? Oh, Salvador Perez, ye of little fiscal weight and monster value...

Speaking of which, I hope Texas pulls a Longoria/Perez with Profar.

The only one that is somewhat attractive is Arencibia, mainly because of the league minimum salary and age though.

It's looking like Toronto might not trade a catcher until they know TDA is healthy.

What about the Nats? They have four catchers too, including Ramos, Flores, Suzuki and Leon.

I would take Leon in a heartbeat. Some Nats fans like him but are willing to trade him for the right player. I was thinking some combo of Engle Beltre, Julio Borbon or one of the middle infield prospects.