Top 15 Dynasty League Catchers For 2010: Take Two
It has been some time since I have updated my dynasty rankings, so let’s get to it. The catching position has some tremendous young options (like Matt Wieters & Carlos Santana) who not only should be top options for years to come, but could be tremendous in 2010. Then there are aging veterans (like Jorge Posada), who you don’t know how much longer they have left. How do we put it together? Let’s take a look at how I currently have them ranked:
- Joe Mauer - Minnesota Twins
- Brian McCann - Atlanta Braves
- Victor Martinez - Boston Red Sox
- Matt Wieters - Baltimore Orioles
- Miguel Montero - Arizona Diamondbacks
- Kurt Suzuki - Oakland Athletics
- Ryan Doumit - Pittsburgh Pirates
- Geovany Soto - Chicago Cubs
- Jorge Posada - New York Yankees
- Carlos Santana - Cleveland Indians
- Chris Iannetta - Colorado Rockies
- Mike Napoli - Los Angeles Angels
- Bengie Molina - San Francisco Giants
- Jesus Flores - Washington Nationals
- Russell Martin - Los Angeles Dodgers
Thoughts:
- How high do you push Matt Wieters if you are in a Dynasty League? He certainly stays outside the Top 2, but I could see flipping him with Victor Martinez. At 31-years old, Martinez is far from on the last legs of his career, though you have to wonder how long he’s going to remain behind the plate. He’s already been spending time at 1B and there are rumors of him seeing time at DH if David Ortiz struggles. If you want someone who you know will have catching eligibility after 2011, then I’d go Wieters. Still, Martinez is going to be one of the elite in 2010 and will also have catching eligibility in 2011, so don’t simply dismiss him.
- Jorge Posada certainly falls a few spots, because let’s face it, how much longer does he really have left?
- Carlos Santana is going to see time in Cleveland in 2010, it’s just a matter of when. He’s that good and could be a great asset for dynasty leaguers for many years to come. If you are going to draft him, just make sure you get another option who can buoy you in the position for a long stretch of time this year, just in case he isn’t recalled as quickly as we’d like.
- Bengie Molina’s resigning puts a wrinkle in Buster Posey’s 2010 value. He’s not going to get a chance to play until late in the season, if at all, in 2o1o. Keep that in mind before putting too much stock into him this season. While he’s got solid long-term potential, you can’t select him high and completely ignore 2010.
- Posey’s now zero value for 2010 allowed Russell Martin to get a spot on the list. He’s a 10/10 option, which you get very rarely from a catcher, so that certainly adds value. The problem is, a lot of his speed has been disappearing over the years, reducing him from a top option to more of a low-end starter/backup.
- I’ve spoken about Jesus Flores before as a potential long-term solution at the catching position. If he stays healthy he has a ton of upside, though he’ll battle Ivan Rodriguez for playing time in 2010.
What are your thoughts on these rankings? How would you change things?
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If we’re talking DYNASTY then Weiters is #3 RIGHT NOW…. Victor is 31 going into this year, he’s got only a couple years left as a catcher, then he’ll go to first, then probably DH. I’d say he’s got maybe 4 more productive years.
Most are down on Posada, but he’ll be DH’ing a lot this year. This is probably the last year where he will have some worth.
Kurt Suzuki is interesting this year. Got some speed and is going northward with his home run pop. Rotoprofessor: what do you think his line will look like?
Mike, I’m going to do a full writeup on him in the near future, but here’s a quick look at his line:
.294, 19 HR, 80 RBI, 80 R, 10 SB
From a catcher, that would be a pretty good line
Suzuki gets a lot of playtime too so that .294 average weighs more than someone like McCann’s.
I’m not sure the Wieters vs. Martinez decision is as clear cut as some think. In a Dynasty league, who you value more depends on where your team ranks in the league you play in. When I saw your rankings, my first thought was Wieters is #3 all the way. He’s almost 8 years younger than Martinez and will probably start outproducing him by 2011.
I took a quick look at their 2009 stats before posting my claim and changed my mind; it wasn’t as simple a decision as I thought. Martinez bested Wieters in contact rate, walk rate, power, and OBP. Now, I drafted Wieters as a prospect and still have him on my team so it pained me a bit, but the fact is that Victor Martinez is doing what I hope Wieters will do this year.
Since my team ranks somewhere in the top half of the 20 team league I play in, I’d still take Wieters over Martinez. Why? Because, well, I drafted him and I get giddy just thinking about what he’ll do for my team as he matures. Even so, for those teams in our league that rank in the top 5 of 20 teams, Martinez’s proven bat and fantasy stats give him the edge.
Which side of the fence you fall on will depend on whether you need a catcher with an established skill set or if you can be patient as the next elite backstop develops his skill set in 2010.
Hey RotoProf, long offseason of no posting on my part.
Anyway, as an owner of Buster Posey in a keeper league, I was disheartened by the news of the Giants re-signing Bengie Molina.
However, I don’t think Posey’s value has diminished to 0–on the contrary, I think his value just take a temporary plummet as the Giants play the “delay the service/arb clock” game and don’t give Posey a shot until mid-to-late June. Then, Posey grabs the job and Bengie takes on the role of veteran backup once his(Molina’s) crappy hitting line convinces the Giants he is through as a starting catcher.
Then, look out!
(At least, this is the argument I use to convince myself to keep Posey as one of my 10 keepers by next week’s keeper deadline in that league.)