In 2008, there were five catchers who cracked the $20 barrier. Would 2009 see a repeat performance?
Top 10 N.L. Catchers 2009
| Rank | Player | $ | Sal | +/- | AP | SW | 2008 (4x4) |
| 1 | Brian McCann | $20 | $25 | -5 | $24 | $24 | $25 |
| 2 | Miguel Montero | $16 | $3 | +13 | $2 | $2 | $3 |
| 3 | Yadier Molina | $15 | $9 | +6 | $8 | $6 | $13 |
| 4 | Bengie Molina | $15 | $13 | +2 | $12 | $11 | $20 |
| 5 | Russell Martin | $12 | $25 | -13 | $25 | $25 | $21 |
| 6 | John Baker | $11 | $7 | +4 | $6 | $4 | $7 |
| 7 | Chris Iannetta | $8 | $16 | -8 | $15 | $13 | $13 |
| 8 | Carlos Ruiz | $8 | $3 | +5 | $2 | $3 | $0 |
| 9 | Ryan Doumit | $8 | $17 | -9 | $17 | $17 | $20 |
| 10 | Jason Kendall | $6 | $4 | +2 | $1 | $4 | $6 |
| Average | $12 | $12 | -0 | $11 | $11 | $13 |
No, and it wasn't even close.
Only McCann was able to duplicate the feat (barely, earning $20.03 if you bother to expand the decimals). Geovany Soto disappeared entirely from the Top 10, while the other three $20+ earners fell short to varying degrees. Doumit and Martin were disappointing, while Bengie Molina turned a tidy profit for his stingy owners.
The chart above represents a far more traditional earnings scheme for catchers. We anticipate that there won't be many elites, so we hedge our bets. The market paid for who they thought the elites (Martin and McCann) would be, while refusing to give raises to almost anyone else. Iannetta gets a raise because he's young and approaching his peak; Ruiz gets a raise because you can't pay him nothing. Everyone else gets the same salary or a pay cut.
The salary and tout (AP and SW) columns are some pretty vanilla, Stage Three stuff. Neither Patton nor Sports Weekly win a player outright in a hypothetical three-way battle with the market (average salary), but Patton comes within a dollar or ties the market on every player except Kendall. Sports Weekly is somewhat stingier - shorting the Molinas, Iannetta, and Baker by $2 or more - but overall comes pretty close on average of matching the market and Patton.
The agreement is a little less apparent when it comes to cost, but still evident.
Ten Most Expensive N.L. Catchers 2009
| Rank | Player | $ | Sal | +/- | AP | SW | 2008 (4x4) |
| 1 | Brian McCann | $20 | $25 | -5 | $24 | $24 | $25 |
| 2 | Russell Martin | $12 | $25 | -13 | $25 | $25 | $21 |
| 3 | Geovany Soto | $4 | $23 | -19 | $23 | $18 | $20 |
| 4 | Ryan Doumit | $8 | $17 | -9 | $17 | $17 | $20 |
| 5 | Chris Iannetta | $8 | $16 | -8 | $15 | $13 | $13 |
| 6 | Bengie Molina | $15 | $13 | +2 | $12 | $11 | $20 |
| 7 | Ramon Hernandez | $5 | $11 | -6 | $6 | $11 | $11 |
| 8 | Yadier Molina | $15 | $9 | +6 | $8 | $6 | $13 |
| 9 | Chris Snyder | $2 | $9 | -7 | $6 | $6 | $9 |
| 10 | John Baker | $11 | $7 | +4 | $6 | $4 | $7 |
| Average | $10 | $16 | -6 | $14 | $14 | $16 |
There are few sharp pricing differences here and there. SW makes a (relatively) great call on Soto, Patton's pessimistic bid almost nails Hernandez, and SW incorrectly assumes that Baker's going to fall flat.
But with the exception of Hernandez, the market and the touts have these 10 players all ranked in the exact same order. They might disagree on how much to pay them, but they almost entirely agree on where they stand on a player by player basis.
This is the ultimate Stage Three ennui. If the top half dozen catchers or so fly off the board and you don't own one, you might very well find yourself going past $6 for Hernandez...especially since, once again, Patton and Sports Weekly don't buy a player here outright.
The most discouraging news here isn't so much that the 10 most expensive catchers lost money, but that there aren't any freebies or $1-2 finds in the Top 10 earners this year. In 2008, Iannetta (cost $2), Jesus Flores ($1), and Baker (unauctioned) all cracked the Top 10 earners. And this year?
N.L. Catchers $2 or less 2009
| Player | $ | Sal | +/- | AP | SW | 2008 (4x4) |
| Buster Posey | -$1 | $2 | -3 | |||
| Ramon Castro | $2 | $2 | 0 | $1 | $1 | $4 |
| Chris Coste | $1 | $2 | -1 | $3 | $7 | |
| Ronny Paulino | $6 | $1 | +5 | $1 | $1 | $1 |
| Yorvit Torrealba | $6 | $1 | +5 | $1 | $1 | $4 |
| Ryan Hanigan | $3 | $1 | +2 | $2 | ||
| Robinzon Diaz | $3 | $1 | +2 | $1 | ||
| Mike Rivera | $1 | $1 | +1 | $1 | $3 | |
| David Ross | $5 | $0 | +4 | $1 | ||
| Henry Blanco | $3 | $0 | +2 | $1 | $0 | |
| Humberto Quintero | $2 | $0 | +1 | $1 | $0 | |
| Javier Valentin | $0 | -0 | $3 | |||
| Johnny Estrada | $0 | -0 | -$1 | |||
| Sal Fasano | $0 | -0 | $1 | |||
| Angel Salome | $0 | -0 | $0 | |||
| Average (15) | $2 | $1 | +1 | $1 | $0 | $2 |
Paulino, Torrealba, and Ross are all OK, but this isn't really where you want to go panning for gold.
If you went dumpster diving, though, the goal wasn't to get Ross so much as it was to avoid the losses on guys like Snyder and Iannetta. The theory is that you pay dirt for your catchers, hope to grab Paulino and Torrealba, cope if you get Rivera and Coste and get your profits/stats elsewhere.
In retrospect, that was probably the way to go. Miguel Montero was a find, but he was really the only huge winner behind the dish in the N.L. last year. Paying big bucks only kinda sorta worked if you bought McCann, and given what happened to Soto and Martin, you shouldn't like those odds.
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