A Yankees’ Dilemma: Who’s the Back-up Catcher?

The New York Yankees have their catcher position locked up for the foreseeable future. Brian McCann is the clear cut long-term starter and Francisco Cervelli is the current back-up, and arguably the best back-up catcher in baseball. The minors are rich in catching prospects. Some, like Austin Romine and John Ryan Murphy we have seen already while others, like Gary Sanchez and Luis Torrens, are working their way up the ladder.

Fellow Yankees’ blog, The LoHud Yankees Blog of The Journal News, recently wrote an article explaining that now is the time for the Yankees to pick a backup catcher. They are absolutely right, the Yankees have too much talent at catcher and quite a few holes to fill elsewhere that it doesn’t make much sense to keep so many around. I think there are three approaches the Yankees could take.

Jul 23, 2014; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli (29) runs off the field for a rain delay during the fifth inning of a game against the Texas Rangers at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

1. Trade Francisco Cervelli. Like I said, Cervelli is quite possibly the best back-up catcher in the bigs. That means he can, and should be, starting for several teams right now. The Phillies are amongst the first to come to mind and they have some nice young arms, like David Buchanan, who can step in and make an impact in the Bronx. The White Sox, Tigers and Rangers are all teams that have serviceable catchers, but could be in the hunt for an upgrade.

2. End the Austin Romine experiment. It’s not that I dislike Romine, but he has had his chances. Neither he nor Murphy were spectacular with the bat this season, but as Mark Newman told LoHud: “I think they get frustrated up and down in Triple-A. At some point you’ve got to either put them up there or trade them because they’ll die (if you leave them in the minors). You’ll destroy their value and then you won’t get anything for them.”

Moving Cervelli opens a spot on the roster, and simply put, I like what I have seen from Murphy more than Romine. Murphy came up this season and actually handled major league pitching. It was a small sample size, but Murphy was able to hit .284 in the bigs this season. Romine has never been able to hit over .231 in any of his three call-ups, whether it be a short look or not. Cervelli was never a monster with the bat, but he was good behind the plate and could be relied on to make contact when the Yankees needed him to do so.

Murphy seems better suited to fill that role and would be cheaper. The reason the Yankees need to trade Cervelli is because I don’t see a solid return in trading Romine and Murphy unless another solid prospect is thrown into the deal.

3. Be patient. Sanchez had an interesting season. It wasn’t terrible, it was simply more of the same. At 21-years old, many thought (or at least hoped) this would be the season Sanchez matured into the leader and elite prospect he was assumed to be. It was the quite the opposite, as he spent time in Tony Franklin’s dog house (even serving a team implemented five-game suspension for behavior issues) and didn’t progress offensively. That being said, the Yankees could probably get their best return in the trade market by sending Sanchez elsewhere. Or they could simply be patient, fill the back-up role with a cheaper option until he has a full season of Triple-A under his belt. By 2016, Murphy could become trade bait and Sanchez could earn his pinstripes and day in the Bronx.

The Yankees have many issues heading into the 2015 offseason, but this seems like this is one of the better problems to have. They can’t go wrong with their decision because all of the options should have a positive outcome. That being said, it seems logical to get some value out of their catching surplus and make a move that could help strengthen other voids on the roster. This Yankees team needs to make a move, because fans aren’t going to take another playoff-less season in 2015.