Not Buying The Montero v. Romine Competition For Backup Catcher

By On March 21, 2011 · 10 Comments · In Roster Decisions

Anthony McCarron fills us in on the purported competition between Jesus Montero and Austin Romine for the backup catcher spot:

Girardi said Austin Romine is still competing with Jesus Montero for the backup catcher’s job, at least while recovers. Both need to “show they can possibly handle this situation,” Girardi said. And while Girardi said Romine is a better defensive catcher than Montero, Girardi believes Montero has closed the gap somewhat. Neither has thrived on offense. Romine, 0-for-2 Sunday, is hitting .167. Montero, who doubled in one at-bat, is batting .212.

This reminds me a lot of the “competition” for the 5th starter role that was waged last spring between , , , and . While the team stated publicly on a number of occasions that it was an open competition for that rotation spot, it soon became clear that the job was Hughes’ to lose. The competition was largely a fiction being used to make sure Hughes did not become overly comfortable and continued to work hard on his stuff. Once he showed solid results and a willingness to put in the effort required from him, the battle was over and Hughes was crowned the winner.

In this year’s competition, the Yankees are paying lip service to Romine’s chances but are not actually treating him like a contender for the job. Montero has been afforded many more opportunities than Romine to showcase his game, with almost twice as many at-bats (33 to 18) and more innings behind the plate ( 12 games, 8 starts, 61 innings for Montero, 9 games, 3 starts, 40.1 innings for Romine). While the club continues to talk up Romine’s candidacy, their actions clearly state that the job is Montero’s, barring injury.

It seems that once again the Yankees are trying to convince everybody that a competition exists so as to push a player to continue working hard despite his status as a near lock to make the club. Once went down, Montero became the only viable option for the backup catcher spot, so the Yankees created a fictional position battle to make sure that he would not relax with his primary competitor on the disabled list. Much like in the Hughes situation, unless Jesus totally embarrasses himself on the field or does something off the field that shows a lack of commitment, the backup job is his.

That said, I do think that Montero is actually competing with someone: . If Montero starts tearing the cover off the ball once the regular season starts and is adequate behind the plate, he could make it very difficult for the Yankees to send him down once Cervelli is healthy. However, if he continues to struggle with the bat or does extremely poorly as a receiver, it is highly likely that Jesus will be sent back to AAA to continue his development and Cervelli will recover his roster spot. Considering how young Jesus is and the questions about his defense, I expect Cervelli to reclaim the backup catcher’s spot, at least temporarily, at some point in the season’s first few months.

Photo Credit: Seattle Times
 

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10 Responses to Not Buying The Montero v. Romine Competition For Backup Catcher

  1. Matt Imbrogno says:
    March 21, 2011 at 5:04 pm

    Totally agree, Moshe. There’s no way Romine has a shot at this thing.

    Reply
  2. bg90027 says:
    March 21, 2011 at 5:21 pm

    I think it would be pretty surprising if Romine broke camp with the Yankees. If Montero wasn’t a lock for the backup job, I’d think it would be because they weren’t happy yet with Montero’s defense and wanted him to work full-time on it rather than sitting for a month in NY. In that case, I’d have thought they would turn to Gustavo Molina before Romine. It’s more interesting to me that Molina doesn’t even get a mention than that they want to claim there’s a competition.

    Reply
  3. The Ed(itor) says:
    March 21, 2011 at 7:27 pm

    Unless Montero completely flops, I don’t think we see Cervelli ever again in a Yankee uniform. I really like Montero and hope that he is the real deal and is hugely successful.

    Reply
  4. Harry Gottlieb says:
    March 21, 2011 at 7:54 pm

    If there is a decent chance that when Cervelli gets back he’ll get back the backup job then i’d rather keep Montero in the minors to start the season and call him up when he’s ready and with a shot to grab the starting job.

    I wan that when he gets to the majors it should be for good.

    Reply
  5. lenNY's Yankees says:
    March 22, 2011 at 2:00 am

    Where’d you get that photo?

    Reply
  6. The Captain says:
    March 22, 2011 at 8:47 am

    If anybody actually believed that Romine had a legit shot at winning the backup job, then I want some of what they were smoking.

    As far as Montero goes, how bad do you think he would have to struggle to lose the backup job to Cervelli? If he’s playing Jorge-level defense behind the plate and hitting .240-.250, is that bad enough to justify sending him down? Because in my mind, that’s still better value than what Cervelli brings to the table.

    What do you think, Moshe?

    Reply
    • Moshe Mandel says:
      March 22, 2011 at 11:36 am

      I lean towards him having to actually win the job rather than assuming it is his to lose. So if he’s hitting .250, I think he goes to AAA.

      Reply
      • The Captain says:
        March 22, 2011 at 1:38 pm

        Interesting. What’s the latest on Cervelli coming back? If he’s going to be out for a while, that gives Jesus more time to win (or lose) the backup job when the season starts.

        Reply
  7. YankeesVine » Blog Archive » New York Yankees News & Notes: Cliff Lee is dumb, and so are fake competitions and Mets rejects says:
    March 22, 2011 at 10:43 pm

    [...] backup catcher’s job, which reminds the Yankee Analysts of last spring’s 5th starter “competition” and reminds me of Dennis Kucinich’s Presidential “competition” a few years [...]

    Reply

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