Mahle traded to the Twins

[CJD]

(08-04-2022, 11:55 AM)samhain Wrote: I think Stephenson should be protected and moved to first, but the organization seems extremely reluctant.  A catcher with his offensive skills is extremely rare.  It's an apples and oranges comparison, but it's sort of like having a freak TE like Gronk or Gates in an offense.  It's such an unusual advantage that the WAR gains in metrics get skewed heavily in your favor.  That's how I think they view it.  That's a dumb way to go if you want to keep your best offensive player on the field, but it's what it is.  Plus, what's the use of keeping him behind the plate to skew the WAR metric if you don't have anyone else in the offense to help you capitalize?  Soto, Biggio, Schwarber, etc, were all cathers until it could no longer be justified.  I think eventually the same happens for Stephenson.  

By 2024, Votto and Moose are gone and so are their contracts.  The team will have between 80-90 mil in payroll obligations in 2023.  Subtract those two albatross deals, and you're looking at 40 mil plus coming off the books.  They will have a practically non-existent payroll of 50 mil or so.  They can go out and buy a serviceable (thinking Barnhart caliber) to good catcher with that kind of payroll structure.  

I agree with you completely about how the Reds view it. A player of Stephenson's offensive caliber who also plays one of the most valuable defensive positions well is the type of player that a World Series team is built around (The same goes for a shortstop with elite offensive production), but if he is getting injured because of it, you eventually need to make the change. And I think they ultimately will. I just hope he doesn't get too banged up before they have that realization.

I'm really excited for the 2024 season because, like you said, they have the opportunity to buy out both Votto's and Moose's contracts at the exact time that so many of these top prospects are projected to hit the major leagues. That leaves them with a team full of cheap, young talented players and only a handful of veteran contracts. They could really go out and make a splash in free agency if the prospects like EDLC, Marte etc come through and shine as we hope they do.