No one carries two catchers in one catcher leagues. If you do, you probably suffer from mushy brain. So in 12 team leagues, you have 10 to 15 catchers at any time to choose from. Hey, Miguel Olivo’s dressed like Johnny Weir and he’s hitting! What do you know, Rod Barajas looks less Barajas-y! Skinny Pudge is seeing fat pitches! Most catchers are passed around like blow at a Eric Dane/Rebecca Gayheart clam bake. That, there, is reason enough to punt catcher. There’s always available options on waivers.
The top 3 options at catcher last year, who still have eligibility this year, are Mauer, Martinez and McCann. (Wieters might have to flip his W over to keep with the theme.) After those guys we have Suzuki, Posada, Montero, A.J. and Napoli. Three waiver wire pick-ups (Suzuki, Montero and A.J.), one guy who went in the last rounds of drafts (Posada) and one guy who I had to beg with people all year to hold onto (Napoli). It’s like this every year with catchers. If you hopped out of a DeLorean to tell me Ramon Hernandez, Ryan Doumit, Chris Iannetta, Jeff Clement and Jesus Flores ended up in the top 10 catchers in 2010, I’d say, “I told you Iannetta was a good bargain,” and I’d ask if I used, “The Resurrection of Jesus Flores” as a post title. Catchers are unpredictable and bunched together in value. Open up those little oddly proportioned arms and embrace that fact.
Finally, the last reason why you should punt catcher. Bengie Molina. He’s available in every draft. Always is. No one drafts this Flying Molina Brother until around the 15th round. His stats last year were 52/20/80/.265. Victor Martinez’s stats were 88/23/108/.303/1; he gets drafted 23rd overall, according to Mock Draft Central. The difference between the two was 36/3/28, some average and a steal. Flying whoop. With Adrian Gonzalez, who gets drafted right around V-Mart’s spot, vs. Jorge Cantu, a 1st baseman around Bengie’s spot, the difference is 24 homers. A shortstop comparison would be Rollins vs. Yunel. A pitcher comparison would be F-Her vs. Ryan Dempster. At catcher, you can get away with not having a top one and it won’t hurt your team as much. No pepper games allowed, but you can always punt catcher.
