Saturday, July 29, 2017

Notes, quotes and comment (catcher edition)

The Twins on Friday announced that Anthony Recker cleared waivers and was outrighted to Rochester.

There didn't seem much reason for Recker to be on the 40-man roster, but it's interesting that the Twins opened another spot on the 40. They're down to 38 now after removing Recker and John Ryan Murphy, which would suggest that they are prepared to add before Monday's trade deadline rather than subtract.

That doesn't fit the conventional wisdom, which holds that the combination of the recent slump, the continuing win streaks of the Indians and Royals, and the horrid run differential have turned the Twins from buyers to sellers.

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The former Twins backstop is now the backup for Tyler Flowers in Atlanta. Flowers is hitting over .300 for the Braves this year; his batting average in two seasons in Atlanta is more than 60 points higher than it was with the White Sox. So the Braves are getting some good hitting from their catchers.

The new park there is apparently playing as a hitter's park, but most of Suzuki's damage has come on the road.

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Chris Herrmann, another former Twms catcher who is now with the Arizona Diamondbacks, has eight homers himself this year. He's also hitting .165, which is quite the comedown from last year's .284.

The D-backs have three catchers on their active roster, and Herrmann leads the trio in plate appearances with 185. But he's played almost as much in the outfield (12 starts and 142 innings) as behind the plate (17 starts and almost 185 innings). The other catchers are veterans Jeff Mathis and Chris Iannetta, each 34.

This might explain why the Diamondbacks were sufficiently interested in John Ryan Murphy to trade for him. There looks like a pretty good opportunity there for JRM.

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