I wonder the same thing every time I hear someone say how impressive it is that Posey was able to handle the staff last year, or that the Giants need a special catcher to handle their pitching staff. My intuition is that the better the pitching staff, the more room there is for catchers to call suboptimal games without noticeably affecting the outcome of games. I've never played catcher, but it seems to me that if the pitcher has several plus pitches, then pitch choice will have a smaller effect on the outcome of the game, no? Is Yorvit a better option than Bengie? Bengie will have the freshest legs he has had in a long time and will cost nothing in trade. Give him a low ball contract with lots of incentives for performance, put him in the minors for a couple of weeks and see if he can earn his way onto the team. He might agree to that, he told the press he would sign with the Giants if they ask. The only possible holdup would be the money.

Totally agree that Casilla is expendable, specifically because he's lost a few inches on the heater and doesn't have good control to make up for the loss of "stuff."

Stewart and Whiteside suck. Eyeball test, stats, prior knowledge... Everything pretty much confirms this. That said, I don't think replacing them is necessarily urgent. I do think, though, that attempthing to repeat with these two is asking for trouble/ a division series knockout. cERA is useless... Not because Chris says, but because smart people like Bill James say so. There's too much year-to-year variability and the fact that certain catchers catch certain pitchers, that certain catchers caught pitchers against certain teams, etc. It just doesn't tell is much. Eli Whitsides "hitting," poor blocking and terrible throwing tells us something. Also, do you think the Giants are looking for a catcher right now, after just a couple weeks, if they think Whiteside is adequate? It seems the Giants' activity in the market should tell us quite a lot.

Firstly, I like Whiteside. As a nice predictable, once a week backup. But he's a liability on both sides of the plate. If you think that was the first ball in the dirt that Whiteside has missed and should have been able to block....you're not watching or you're crazy! While his quickness behind the plate is questionable in terms of blocking, his arm has been outright atrocious. A walk given to someone with moderate speed has practically been a double since Posey went down. Yorvit would be a HUGE upgrade over either/both of the guys we've got and there are plenty of options to replace Casilla with (especially if he can only bring it at 93 mph this year)

Sorry--Torrealba's catcher's ERA (cERA) is by far the worst on the Rangers. Why else do you think they would be willing to unload him. I can think of a lot better use for $3mil than to pay Torrealba with it. IMO, this is a SUCKER TRADE and I don't think Sabean is stupid enough to do it, but, if he does, will regret it by the end of the season...just sayin'. Already, Torrealba's skills are terrible, and won't get any better. He can't catch 5 days a week either (and be good at it). Just because YOU say cERA is useless, doesn't make it so. IF YOU DON'T GIVE UP A LOT OF RUNS--you win a good share of the games.

cERA is useless. >> Whiteside has gone from a once a week catcher to a five-now four day a week catcher. It can certainly take its toll in the beginning. This seems to bolster my point for getting someone who can catch full-time without having his already limited skills diminish to the point of terribleness.