Mahle traded to the Twins

[CJD]

(08-04-2022, 10:44 AM)bengalfan74 Wrote: I've heard some talk, not official of course, about moving Stephenson to 1B. Mostly to avoid the injury problems of course. 

Perhaps they'll move Votto to DH/ part time role next season ?

Honestly, that's probably for the best. A catcher who is good with the pitchers who can also hit well is one of the rarest things in baseball (Buster Posey style player) and Stephenson would lose a bit of that "specialness" if we reverted him to 1B, but we can't have him breaking bones from foul tips all season. First, it was a concussion on a play at the plate (with him as catcher, not runner), then it was his thumb on a foul tip, and now it is his collarbone on another foul tip. Either this guy is too fragile to be back there or is one of the most unlucky dudes ever. Either way, maybe taking him out of the line of fire is a good idea.

With that said, if we do that, we'll have a gaping hole at Catcher that we'd need to fill in some way if we want to compete. Papierski and Kolozsvary are not major league quality players, especially not if we hope to be a contender in the next few years.