What Should The Orioles Do At Catcher?

The Orioles are poised to move on without the services of Matt Wieters, who will likely command a three- or four-year deal in free agency (despite recently cutting his forearm in a household accident). And that's probably the best move for both parties; Wieters should take advantage of the opportunity to get paid, and the Orioles don't need to get sentimental and overpay for the services of Wieters, who is a fine, not great, option at catcher and whose production can partly be replicated for less money.

Well, if not Wieters, then who? If you believe Dan Connolly's sources, that player might be Nick Hundley:

The best fit, without a doubt, is Colorado’s Nick Hundley, who spent part of 2014 with the Orioles and performed well. Pitchers liked throwing to him, he got along well with Joseph and Wieters and he made a real connection with catching instructor John Russell.

The Orioles definitely have an interest in a reunion with Hundley, according to sources.

Ken Rosenthal later solidified the team's interest with this tweet:

Hundley, in view of one source, is #Orioles’ Plan A. Team’s interest in him first reported by @danconnolly2016.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 21, 2016

The easy joke (and one I made, because I like low-hanging fruit) is that the team viewing Hundley as Plan A is comical/worrisome. Now is always a great time to panic!

Anyway, as I see it, here are the Orioles' catching options this offseason:

• Sign a catcher to a multiyear deal (Jason Castro, Alex Avila, maybe even Wieters, etc.)
• Ink Hundley or someone else to a one-year deal and give Chance Sisco more time
• Move ahead with Francisco Pena (or Audry Perez) in a backup role
• Begin the year with Sisco on the major league roster and give him the backup job

That last option almost certainly won't happen. The first one probably won't either, especially since there is strong competition for Castro's services. As a platoon bat with Joseph, Castro and Avila both make sense (Castro moreso). To his credit, Castro also rates well as a pitch framer, as does Joseph. Wieters and Avila do not, and neither does Hundley. There are a handful of other catchers out there, but most of them are not enticing options.

It's not hard to understand the clubhouse and familiarity aspect with Hundley. And we're talking about someone who is going to split duties with Joseph, not a full-time player. However, Joseph has never played in more than 100 games in any single season, so it's not like we're discussing an insignificant amount of work. Whoever the other catcher ends up being, he's going to play a lot. And anything more than a one-year deal for Hundley should be out of the question. 

The second and third bullets above are most likely. And if you believe in Pena's pitch-framing abilities, then just going with him and Joseph wouldn't be the worst decision. Neither is very good with the bat, but having two guys who are good pitch framers, have strong throwing arms, and don't make a bunch of money would free up some room for the Orioles to do something else.

Should the Orioles Consider Acquiring Kurt Suzuki?

Do you think the Orioles need a better catching option? According to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com, the Orioles and Cardinals have both expressed interest in acquiring catcher Kurt Suzuki from the Twins. This season, Suzuki is batting .308/.367/.393 (.339 wOBA) in 331 plate appearances.

Get well soon, Matt Wieters

The 30-year-old Suzuki has a career batting line of .258/.315/.377 (.305 wOBA). So he's likely playing over his head right now, thanks in part to a .330 BABIP (career .274). He's cut down on his strikeouts this season and is walking slightly more, but his plate discipline numbers aren't all that different other than him making a bit better contact on pitches outside the strikezone.

Currently, the MLB average catcher has a .309 wOBA. That's about what Steamer projects for Suzuki for the rest of the season (.304 wOBA), while ZiPS has him hitting marginally better (.315 wOBA). Still, hitting like an average MLB catcher would be helpful considering the two catchers currently on the O's active roster: Caleb Joseph and Nick Hundley. In 138 plate appearances, Joseph is hitting .195/.274/.305 (.263 wOBA); in 81 plate appearances with the O's, Hundley is batting even worse: .213/.244/.325 (.251 wOBA). So Suzuki's bat would be helpful in that regard.

But what about defense? Earlier in his career, Suzuki showed flashes of high-quality defensive prowess, but he's probably about average now. The same goes for Hundley. But in limited work, Joseph has seemingly been outstanding behind the plate and would have to be considered the best defensive catcher of the three. (The Orioles also have Steve Clevenger at Triple-A Norfolk. He's probably an upgrade to Joseph/Hundley offensively, but anywhere from average to below average defensively.)

If the O's made a move for Suzuki, he'd certainly be the team's everyday catcher. For the rest of the season, Steamer projects Suzuki to be worth 0.8 fWAR (in 171 PAs), Joseph to be worth 0.3 fWAR (in 99 PAs), and Hundley to be worth 0.6 fWAR (in 119 PAs). If all of them stay healthy, they'll receive many more plate appearances than that -- particularly Suzuki. And sure, those are just projections, but it's also reasonable to suggest that Suzuki has already played his best baseball of the season. (Right now, he's at 2.2 bWAR and 1.5 fWAR; he hasn't had a season above 0.2 bWAR or 0.6 fWAR since 2011.)

The O's need to figure out if they are willing to sacrifice some defense behind the plate for better hitting. That likely will depend on the price, which shouldn't be that high since Suzuki is not any kind of massive upgrade and is also a free agent after the year (he's on a one-year, $2.75 million contract). Orioles' coaches seem to value Joseph's rapport with the pitching staff, so he'd likely remain as the team's backup catcher if they pick up Suzuki.

Perhaps the Orioles should find a taker for Hundley (which they may have tried to do last week) and promote Clevenger instead of giving up anything for Suzuki's services. Suzuki would probably help, but maybe not as much as you think.

Photo via Keith Allison

Orioles Could Use an Upgrade at Catcher, Should Consider Russell Martin

Losing Matt Wieters for the season was a devastating blow for the Orioles. He was playing fantastic baseball through the first month-plus of the season -- particularly at the plate (.308/.339/.500). Wieters will take about nine months to recover from Tommy John surgery and work his way back, which means he could be ready by the start of next season. It was not all that surprising when it was announced that he would need season-ending surgery, but the finality of it all still stung.

Without Wieters, though, the O's have done OK. They are four games above .500 at 40-36, are in second place in the AL East (trailing Toronto by 2.5 games), and are just one game back of the second wild card spot. And, unlike previous years, they aren't getting overly lucky; they have a +9 run differential -- not great, but fine -- and are 13-11 in one-run games. Considering how valuable Wieters is to the O's, it's impressive that they've hung around -- though the second wild card spot certainly makes that easier.

So the Orioles are down to three in-house options at catcher: Caleb Joseph, Nick Hundley, and Steve Clevenger. Dan Duquette recently said that the O's aren't looking to trade for another catcher, because "we've been able to transition from Matt as an everyday catcher to a tandem of Caleb and Nick Hundley during the season and remain competitive." So that's something. Still, Duquette is under no obligation to be honest about anything, especially when it comes to potential trades.

Joseph, who recently turned 28 and made his major league debut in May only a few days before Wieters played his last game of 2014, has received the majority of the time. Until recently, nearly all of Joseph's value has come from behind the plate instead of at it. He's thrown out 45% of runners on the basepaths so far, and he has an advantage over Hundley since he's been in the Orioles' system his entire career (since 2008) and is more familiar with much of the pitching staff. He had a batting line of .141/.235/.225 (.217 wOBA) in his first 83 plate appearances. But he hit his first major league home run against the Yankees on Sunday, hit another home run (and had three hits) on Monday, and now has a (better) batting line of .171/.264/.303 (.260 wOBA). But, yeah, that's still pretty bad.

The 30-year-old Hundley was acquired from the San Diego Padres on May 24 in exchange for left-handed reliever Troy Patton. Hundley has appeared in only 11 games for the Orioles, and he hasn't been good. He's batting just .162/.195/.189 (.174 wOBA) in 42 plate appearances and hasn't played well defensively either (caught just 17% of runners; FanGraphs and Baseball Reference both have him below average defensively). Really, Hundley had one good season in San Diego (in 2011) and has mostly been a somewhat useful player because of his defense. He has a career wOBA of .296 in 1,854 plate appearances.

The Orioles' best offensive option at catcher is probably Clevenger, who is currently the everyday catcher at Triple-A Norfolk. Clevenger won the backup catching job in spring training and stayed with the Orioles through late May, batting .243/.300/.378 (.295 wOBA) in 80 plate appearances. Defensively, Clevenger performed about average. Beyond this season, Clevenger and Joseph may battle for backup duties behind Wieters.

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As noted above, the O's are clearly within striking distance of both a wild card spot and finishing first in the East. The real goal is obviously to win the division, and no team in the East appears to be that much better than the Orioles. One way to upgrade the roster would be for the Orioles to go after the Pirates' Russell Martin. It's worth wondering whether the Pirates would even be willing to move Martin in the first place. The Pirates are eight games back in the NL Central but only 3.5 back in the wild card. Surely they aren't ready to throw in the towel.

But if they get to that point in the next few weeks, Martin would be a clear improvement over Joseph, Hundley, and/or Clevenger. In 2014, Martin is batting .271/.415/.400 in 177 plate appearances. He's a career .256/.352/.396 hitter over nine seasons. And he's an elite defensive catcher.

Martin is in the last year of a two-year, $17 million contract. The Pirates may be reluctant to part with him because he's been so solid for them, and it's possible that they would extend him the qualifying offer after the season. If the O's were to trade for him, they wouldn't be able to make him the qualifying offer.

But a move for Martin would be a move for 2014. It would mean taking a chance on acquiring Martin to push for the playoffs and sacrificing some prospects. Jon thinks a trade for Martin could potentially include a package of Eduardo Rodriguez, Branden Kline, and Adrian Marin. That's a steep price for a rental. But if it means less of Joseph and Hundley and a better chance at making the playoffs, it could be worth a shot.

Stats and records as of June 25.