I keep thinking to myself that Boston Red Sox GM Theo Epstein has something up his sleeve. I keep thinking to myself there has to be a reason why he just Victor Martinez go without much of a fight.
I keep thinking these things to myself because with Martinez officially a Detroit Tiger, the starting catcher for the 2011 Red Sox is Jarrod Saltalamacchia. I have a hard time believing that a team with World Series aspirations and a team that has question marks at short, third, center, right and the bullpen will go with Saltalamacchia as their catcher in 2011.
Let’s call it like it is—Saltalamacchia has been a complete bust at the Major League level. It was Saltalamacchia, not Elvis Andrus or Neftali Feliz, who was the key piece in the 2007 trade that sent Mark Teixeira to the Atlanta Braves.
Because of various injuries and well, sucking, “Salty” hit just .243/.309/.383 with 19 HR in 721 PA in a Ranger uniform. Every time the Rangers gave Salty the ball, he would drop it like Jackie Smith in Super Bowl XIII.
Salty was traded to the Red Sox exactly four years to the day he was traded to the Rangers, and of course landed on the DL. He landed on the DL with a leg infection, came back and then landed back on DL with a torn ligament in his left thumb.
At some point, a player like Salty goes from super prospect to prospect to I can’t believe he never made it. Right now, Salty is in the "I can’t believe he never made it" phase of his career.
Salty will be 26 when the season starts, and the whole prospect thing has passed him by. I think the Red Sox are sorely mistaken if they think he can just all of a sudden blossom into a serviceable Major League catcher.
Unfortunately, the Red Sox don’t have a lot of options at catcher besides Salty in 2011. There is talk of bringing Jason Varitek back, and as much as I have enjoyed him over the years, that ship has sailed.
The other free agent options out there include Rod Barajas, Bengie Molina, Miguel Olivo and A.J. Pierzynski. Pierzynski is probably the best option out of that group, but I don’t see him anywhere else besides on the Chicago White Sox.
Epstein has really backed himself into a corner with his catching options for 2011. If Saltalamacchia doesn’t pan out, he will be just another in a long list of recent low-risk, high-reward players that didn’t work out in a Red Sox uniform.
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