The catching mess

John Ryan Murphy had another disaster of a game Sunday. The Twins' No. 2 catcher was 1-for-6 at the plate, was unable to stop a bounced curve in a key situation (Trevor May's eighth-inning wild pitch) and, of course, committed the two-out throwing error in the bottom of the 15th that allowed Washington to extend the game to the 16th, when they won.

I predicted at the start of the season that Murphy would eventually supplant Kurt Suzuki as the regular catcher. Off what we've seen so far, it's incredible that he made it through the entire 2015 season with the Yankees. He's got to be a better player than this, but we aren't seeing it.

Murphy's hitting .094 with a .246 OPS -- that's on-base plus slugging, not his on-base percentage. In 79.2 innings caught, he has been victimized for seven wild pitches and one passed ball. Suzuki has 90.2 innings with no passed balls and four wild pitches.

Suzuki hasn't hit much either, but he's in no danger of losing his job to Murphy. 

Assuming that Murphy has an option left, it might seem logical to move him to Rochester, but earlier in the weekend the Twins inexplicably waived John Hicks, the third catcher on the 40-man roster. He was snatched up by Detroit.

The Twins presumably wanted the 40-man spot for a non-roster guy they want to call up, but they didn't make an immediate move. I find it difficult to believe they thought they could slip a decent defensive catcher with options through waivers.  I also doubt that they'll try to create another 40-man opening so they can add Juan Centeno or some other catcher. Murphy is staying.

But there certainly will be roster moves today after that disaster of a weekend in Washington.

Parsing the catchers, part one

Juan Centeno has never
hit more than one homer
in a minor league
season, but he already
has one this spring.

As is typical in spring training, the Twins have eight catchers in camp. It's a markedly different crew this year, however. Kurt Suzuki's still around, of course, but the other three backstops who spent time on the 40-man roster in 2015 -- Chris Herrmann, Eric Fryer and Josmil Pinto -- are all gone, as are Dan Rohlfing and Tyler Graves, two other non-roster invitee catchers for 2015 camp.

I have mentally split this year's catching crew into four two-man parts:

• The presumptive major leaguers, Suzuki and John Ryan Murphy. 
• The cup-of-coffee imports, John Hicks and Juan Centeno.
• A pair of catch-and-throw high minors guys, Stuart Turner and Carlos Paulino.
• Two guys hoping to get out of A ball, Mitch Garver and Alex Swim.

John Hicks was
2-for-32 with the
Mariners last season
and hit .245 for
Triple A Tacoma.

Hicks, who the Twins picked up on waivers early in the offseason from Seattle,  is on the 40-man roster. He got 34 at-bats with the Mariners last year, and that's the extent of his major league time. Centeno, who was with Milwaukee last year and the Mets before that, has had 66 plate appearances spread out over three years; he's a non-roster invitee. They're both 26. Centeno hits left, Hicks right.

Presumably they are competing with each other to be the first option should something before Suzuki and Murphy. They've both hit some in the minors. Centeno has a .298 batting average (with little power) in more than 600 Triple A at-bats, and Hicks has a .280 career batting average in the minors with some power, although most of that has come in the lower levels. (I saw Centeno homer last Saturday during my Fort Myer visit against a Baltimore reliever.)

Hicks' roster status probably gives him a leg up on Centeno, but the Twins would probably be just as happy if neither ever saw Target Field. That would mean Suzuki and Murphy remained healthy and productive enough to stay on the roster and in the lineup.

Notes, quotes and comment

Byung Ho Park donned a Twins jersey -- No. 52
-- at a press conference Wednesday.

The Twins trotted out Byung Ho Park on Wednesday morning for his introductory press conference. All the standard things were said.

Terry Ryan repeated that Trevor Plouffe will be the third baseman next year and that Miguel Sano will be in the outfield. I continue to be skeptical.

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The Twins filled out their 40 man roster on Wednesday by picking up catcher John Hicks on waivers from Seattle. His record says he's a poor hitter, but his caught stealing rates are pretty impressive, and he apparently has options left, so he can be readily sent to the minors. More catching depth!

The Twins added a good-catch, no-hit receiver in Juan Centeno on a minor league deal earlier in the week, so they are stockpiling quite a few of these guys. I had presumed that Stuart Turner, who also fits that mold, was going to be the primary Triple A catcher this year; now I'm not so sure about that.

Or perhaps they are setting themselves up to move Kurt Suzuki, I don't expect that; I can't imagine that there's much to be gotten in a trade for Suzuki, But I can't dismiss that possibility now.

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Wednesday night was the deadline for tendering contracts to arbitration eligible players. The Twins had six such, and they retained all six. No real surprise, although I wouldn't have been too surprised had they non-tendered Eduardo Nunez or Casey Fien.

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Among players who were cut loose by teams Wednesday night were a pair of big-power first basemen with a lot of swing-and-miss to their games, Chris Carter (Houston) and Pedro Alvarez (Pittsburgh). They are, to some degree, what I expect Park to be. Presumably the Twins expect Park to hit for a better average than those two, but he's going to strike out a lot. Park's also a year older than Carter and Alvarez. As we gauge how the Korean fares in American ball next year, Carter and Alvarez might be interesting yardsticks.