I have a top-rate catcher as my starter: ClaytonRollins    He is still young, he has a few more points he will gain vR....but he's already a heck of a hitter.  Defense could be a bit better, but I haven't worried about it.  .306-.389-..481-.870 in his three seasons, and that was after an off-season next year. His CERA has been 3.72, 3.71 & 3.60 over the last three seasons.

But I'm interested in who you would use for your backup.

The last two years I have used BonkLawton.  I start him vs. lefties (partially to rest Rollins) and he "bonks" LH pitching pretty well. Last year in 31 games vL, he was .346-.398-.543-.941.  The year before he OPS'ed .839 vL.  His CERA that year was a ridiculous 2.90. So he has been better than functional. Since he's 26, he might gain a point in improvement, fielding-wise, but I doubt it.  He's OK there, anyway. But his 4.02 CERA was .42 MORE that Rollins this year...even though his numbers are a bit better.

But I have two other guys that might be better than Bonk.

LonnyAlomar has a few points left to will improve in contact and vL. He's a AAA guy, 23 years old. He doesn't have a bunch of power but he hits pretty well.  No major league experience, but he had a very good AAA season last year and a very goo ST this year.  He's the best overall defensive catcher of the bunch.  He has no options left, however...so if I would want to move him down, I would lose him through waivers.  I like him. He had a pretty good spring.

And then I have RichLogan.  I acquired him mid-season last year.  Has a couple of options remaining....and he's 23, too.  He will gain a few more points in vR and Eye...but he's topped out elsewhere.  h..he'll gain a point or so on defense.  Not much pitch calling ability.  That doesn't worry me much. He's had some MLB experience and had a so-so AAA 1/2 season for me.  But he had a smoking ST.

I've thought about offering both Alomar and Logan as trade fodder and getting something in return for one of them, since they basically both can play up.

I've thought about demoting Lawton and bringing one of the other guys up..probably Logan because he has options.

I've even thought about offering Rollins because I could probably get something quite valuable in return and then going with 2 of the other guys...which still wouldn't be bad.  But I like Rollins, I must admit that.

Anyway...how would you manage these 4 guys.  Who is up, who is down, and who gets offered?

Thanks...

moe

I'm not sure Rollins every really needs rest, and he's the best hitter of the bunch. I highly value PC and defense and so would probably look to trade each of these guys, honestly. Logan, especially, would never catch a game at the ML level for me. That said, you presumably want to keep at least one of them, so I would do exactly that - keep one.

I'd keep Rollins and have a defensive stud as his backup. 80-80-90 (AS-AA-PC) level, and I don't care if he can't hit his weight. Use him as a defensive replacement for Rollins (however aggressively you feel comfortable) and I'm pretty sure you can get 162 starts out of Rollins at 100%.

That leaves you 3 good trade chips (because you should be able to find others who - like you - like the big bat at C) to deal and shore up any other weaknesses you have at the ML level.

What zbrent said.  Get a defensive catcher for your #2.

+2 zb and tec.