Since Aaron has been smitten with a nasty case of food poisoning and is back in the states where people periodically do things besides check the internet, I’ll be doing the catcher evaluations solo this time around.

Drafting catchers in fantasy is sort of like going to a family function filled with relatives you’ve met once or twice and don’t really like that much. You’d rather not do it at all, but since you’re locked into the situation all you can do is find the least painful alternative and get it over with. Keep your expectations low and you’ll be a happy owner–all I really ask for out of a catcher is that he doesn’t hurt me anywhere and can get on base at a decent clip.

Since in that oft-forgotten world of ‘real’ baseball, catchers are most needed for their defense and ability to call games, their usefulness diminishes quickly in a game that only values offensive production. This year the talent pool at catcher is typically thin from a fantasy perspective. To put this into perspective, Yahoo!’s crack staff has Geovany Soto and J.R. Towles ranked 8th and 10th respectively in their preseason ranks, and the two of them have only 120 MLB AB total between them.  When two rookies with no service time are slotted for starting gigs, you know it’s slim pickings.

From a roto standpoint, the catcher position does beg the question of positional scarcity–how much should that concern you during your draft? How early should you reach for Russell Martin or Victor Martinez because they’re head and shoulders above nearly alll other players at their position. But more on that later. First, we break down our catching options. More after the jump…

The Obvious: Russell Martin, Victor Martinez

The first two catchers taken off the board will inevitably be Russell Martin and Victor Martinez. I personally like Martin a tad bit better because of his power/speed combination. In only his second season martin hit 19 HR and stole 21 bases, with 87 RBI and 87 runs scored. That kind of speed from a catcher is a lovely asset, especially if you don’t land one of the premier base-stealers like Hanley or Reyes. However, is it worth reaching for? Martin has gone as early as the second round in a couple of experts drafts, which seems to me a bit early for a somewhat unproven catcher. Anything 3rd round or later seems to make sense. Victor Martinez drove in an incredibly sexy 114 runs last year and there’s no reason to think he won’t do it again. Fortunately for roto players, his atrocious D and poor throwing arm won’t cost you anything in the standings.

The Second Tier: Mauer, McCann, Posada

Mauer and McCann were both disappointments stat-wise last year, both struggling with injuries that limited their offensive output.  McCann significantly regressed last year, losing about 60 points last year both in average and on-base percentage. A lot of owners–myself included–wasted high picks on McCann in 2007. Mauer played only 109 games last year and hit a bunch of singles, burning owners who were looking for a second consecutive stud season out of him. Still, I’d gamble on Mauer bouncing back to at least the neighborhood of his 2006 form when he had 181 hits and won the batting title with a .347 average.

Jorge Posada was the Anti-McCann/Mauer last year, shocking perhaps even himself by hitting .338, 51 points above his previous career high at age 35. While I wouldn’t expect that again, a .290/20/85/90 line seems about right to pencil in, which is more than you can ask for from the catching wasteland.

Of the three of these, I’m taking Mauer, then Posada, then McCann.

The Third Tier: Saltamacchia, Johjima, Geovany Soto

By this point at our social function we’ve already sifted through the relatives we actually like talking to, and now we get to the phase of perfunctory small talk with the vaguely tolerable relatives at the party, your pleasant aunt with no personality whose name you can’t remember, your uncle the school teacher who you met once ten years ago. This fun comes in the form of Jarrod Saltamacchia, Kenji Johjima, and Geovany Soto.

Saltamacchia was the golden child of fantasy for a week or so last year when he came out of nowhere midseason, but by the end of the year a .333 on-base percentage and .721 OPS suggest he’s a fringe producer in mixed leagues. You can throw around words like ‘upside, young, growth, ceiling,’ or what have you, but 19 BB’s to 72 K’s is not something I’m spending a high pick on. Johjima is a valuable asset for the Mariners for all things non-bat related, for mixed league fantasy purposes he’s a servicable option who won’t hurt you too bad. Geovany Soto hit .353 in AAA for the Cubs, but the road is littered with the remnants of overambitious fantasy owners who reached for those can’t miss prospects too early. If you need any reminders, go read the saliva laced previews of Howie Kendrick’s 2007 season from fantasy experts. In other words, worth a gamble, but don’t go overboard.

The Fourth Tier: Everyone else

At this point, all that’s remaining at the party is some dregs at the buffet, your drunk uncle and his sullen, uncommunicative wife who secretly resents him. You’re checking your watch and thinking of any excuse you can to leave and go check EWC. Or watch paint dry. We could get into the remaining options at catcher, but to be frank I’d almost rather take other talent available to me, not draft a catcher at all, and then grab one off of waivers later on.  As the old saying goes, There’s always a Ronny Paulino out there for you when you need one.
Instead of going over a bunch of crappy catcher options, it is more interesting to discuss the notion of positional scarcity. A lot of fantasy players will draft V-Mart or Russell Martin early trying to get a leg up on the competition at the thin C spot.  Some owners are giddy over Utley and willing to use a top 5-10 pick on him this year because he gives you All-Star production from a position where talent is scarce. My basic feeling in fantasy baseball is that with a 24 man roster, positional scarcity doesn’t really give you a huge advantage and in early rounds you should just take the best talent on the board available to you. Unlike in football, where having Antonio Gates or Jason Witten gives you a decided comparative advantage because there’s only 8-10 players in your starting lineup, the advantage you gain from getting better production out of one spot doesn’t seem to warrant the risk of missing out on scarce top notch talent, especially in the crucial early rounds when you’re building your teams engine.

On that note, happy hunting everyone, and enjoy roulette wheel of catcher (mis?)fortune.