Washington Nationals: Replacing the replacement-level catchers

Matt Wieters has struggled through two seasons behind the dish for the Washington Nationals, so a league-wide search for a catching replacement begins.

The Washington Nationals have had a problem at catcher ever since Wilson Ramos went down injured at the end of 2016. Once again, it’ll be at the fore of the front office’s mind this off-season.

Buster Olney cited Fangraphs last Friday with this fun fact about catchers.“Top MLB Catchers in WAR this season: 1 J.T. Realmuto 2) Francisco Cervelli. And the rest of the field is far behind them”

The stars of yesteryear are waning. Buster Posey is out the year, Joe Mauer is both not very good and a first baseman, and Yadier Molina is aging. Even much-hyped Yankees backstop Gary Sanchez is slashing only .194/.289/.419. All-Star J.T. Realmuto is a unicorn as the lone superstar left behind the dish.

This may not be a one-year aberration either. Seemingly, twelve teams have a secure catching situation for 2019. That means the other 18 teams will be on the lookout for improvements or augmentations from this year’s crop of uninspired free agent catchers.

Complicating matters, catching remains one those ephemeral baseball talents that sabermetrics has yet to quantify in a way that satisfies anyone. Take stolen base prevention. We gather information on everything, including catcher pop time, caught stealing rate, the frequency of attempted steals, but none account for every variable to be an independent metric.

Unfortunately, pick your metric and Washington Nationals starting catcher Matt Wieters has not been very good. A 32-year-old, four-time All-Star has a role, but not starting catcher. Oblique and hamstring injuries have limited Wieters to 68 games, but frankly, he’s played plenty. Wieters is sporting a .230/.312/.349 slash line, which isn’t ghastly, but his 74 OPS+ and 76 wRC+ make it clear Wieters’ bat is solidly 25% below average.

It’s concerning how long this problem has persisted in DC. On the Nats’ career catching WAR list, Wieters ranks ninth all-time with 0.1 total WAR. His backup Spencer Kieboom ranks one spot ahead at 0.2 total WAR. In the nineteen seasons of Nationals baseball, only two catchers have more than 1.0 career WAR. Brian Schneider had a 3.4 WAR between 2005 and 2007, and Wilson Ramos with a 10.2 WAR from 2011 to 2016.

The bright side of suiting up a replacement level catcher is he should be easily replaceable. The bad news is, as Buster Olney points out, there will be competition for even the barely-above-average backstop in this market.

That said, there are names available. Many of the names from our mid-season trade targets list still apply, but Mike Rizzo and company should consider shelling out for the following targets.

Yasmani Grandal – Los Angeles Dodgers

Yasmani Grandal may well receive a qualifying offer from Los Angeles this off-season. The Dodgers certainly have the financial resources to bring him back, but they also have multiple catching prospects that are near major-league ready in Keibert Ruiz and Will Smith.

Having benched Grandal in favor of veteran AJ Ellis during their 2017 World Series run, it wouldn’t be shocking to see LA take a similar approach in 2019.

If not the Dodgers, someone will pay the soon-to-be 30-year-old backstop this winter. He finished outside Buster Olney’s mini-list of competent catchers, tied with Willson Contreras with 2.8 WAR this season, which good for third overall league-wide. He’s a legitimate first-division catcher.

An All-Star in ‘15, Grandal has been a remarkably consistent offensive force for five seasons, averaging 124 games, 390 ABs, .234/.333/.775, with 21 HRs and a 111 park-adjusted OPS.

He strikes out too much with a 24.1% strikeout percentage in 2018, and 23.9% in his career. He walks the right amount with a 13.6% walk percentage in 2018, and 13% for his career. He also hits for power with an excellent .212 ISO in ‘18, .202 ISO for his career. In other words, he’s a perfectly modern player.

Wherever he signs, Grandal should set the market for free-agent catchers. The Yankees gave Brian McCann $17 million per year on average in 2013, which remains the most-ever given to a free agent catcher. Buster Posey’s $22 million, Yadier Molina’s $20 million, and Russell Martin’s $20 million all top the AAV for catchers. Joe Mauer plays first base now, but he still hits like a catcher, and his $24 million marks the high-water mark for the position.

If the Washington Nationals are willing to pay the premium to get him, Grandal would provide a significant boost in production. He’ll surely command well over $100 million across 5 years, but if there’s a position to overpay for, catcher is it, and he’s the guy.

Despite Olney’s fear-mongering, he’s not the only guy.

Wilson Ramos – Philadelphia Phillies

Despite being a year-and-a-half older than Grandal, Wilson Ramos may be a less-risky alternative because his kryptonite in injuries, which can be manageable. The injury history likely limits a potential Ramos contract to three years max, ironically making him a more attractive option to teams wary of committing to a catcher on the wrong side of thirty.

That said, the flaws are glaring. Injuries have plagued Ramos ever since tearing his ACL with the Nats in 2016. During his six weeks in Philadelphia alone, Ramos has appeared on the injury report for his legs, wrist, hand, groin, and hamstring. Not that we’re counting, but that’s most of the body parts he uses to play baseball.

Still, the rigors of the position require most teams to carry at least two, and upwards of three trustworthy catchers on the 40-man roster. Think of catchers in baseball like quarterbacks in the NFL. A backup must be ready in case of injury, but the guys in the room work collectively to handle a staff and strategize for opposing hitters. Even when he’s hobbled, you want Ramos in that room.

The bottom line is that Ramos is a fan favorite who hits like a corner outfielder and has an established chemistry with Washington’s two most important pitchers, Stephen Strasburg, and Max Scherzer. Further, while toughness is one of those folklore-ish baseball qualities, Ramos has admirably fought through injuries and survived a kidnapping, so it’s safe to say he’s tough.

Ramos is brittle and he runs poorly, but if the price is right, Nats fans should be happy to welcome the Buffalo back into the herd.

Wild Card Free Agents

To hammer home this next point, let’s steal Buster Olney’s format. The top MLB Catchers in this year’s free agent class: 1) Yasmani Granda 2) Wilson Ramos. And the rest of the field is far behind them. Quite far behind. Take a deep breath, pretend it’s March, and prepare for these Spring Training invitations:

• Martin Maldonado has a good defensive reputation, 67 career Defensive Runs Saved, but he’s never reached league-average in wRC+, consistently posting sub-.300 OBPs. If the Nats want to roll with a defensive stud who can’t hit, they can stick with Pedro Severino.
• Brian McCann was stellar for the Braves in his twenties and held up surprisingly-okay with the Yankees and Astros into his thirties, but he fell off a cliff this year. The 35-year-old, bad-bodied catcher still takes his walks (9.7 BB%), but his power output plummeted. His ISO fell to .107 while his infield fly ball rate rose for the second straight year, combined with a 7.6% HR/FB rate. Essentially, McCann used to hit the ball far, and now he hits the ball high.
• Kurt Suzuki would be another positive retread for the Nats, but it feels likely he stays in Atlanta. For all their prospect depth, Atlanta’s best catching prospect, Willson Contreras’ younger brother William, is still a couple years away. If Suzuki is amenable, returning their catching tandem of Suzuki and Tyler Flowers makes sense for the likely NL East champs.
• Jonathan Lucroy is probably the best of the veteran flyers, but it’s like being the smartest kid in summer school. In 2014 and 2016, Lucroy was a legit star, but the last two seasons have been unkind. Defensively, after posting positive DRS numbers throughout his career, Lucroy fell to -15 and -8 DRS in the last two years while his power at the plate has all but evaporated with a .082 ISO.

But if you dare to dream, small kernels of hope appear for Lucroy: his hard-hit ball percentage has remained steady while his BABIP has fallen – creating the possibility that he’s suffered some bad luck. Perhaps escaping the spacious Coliseum will restore some of his power. It doesn’t look likely, but then again, neither was a 2.8% HR/FB rate for a guy with 99 career home runs.