Kurt Suzuki - Past and Future Nat

Kurt Suzuki was signed yesterday to play catcher. This comes as a mild surprise because Rizzo had been adamant before that he wanted a frontline catcher who could start 120 games.  Suzuki is not that. He hasn't played over 100 games at catcher since 2015 and that year the effort seemed to tire out his usual decent bat.

What is Suzuki? He's a guy who will play about a half-season at catcher. A platooner. You can be very negative about the guy. His defense is fair. His arm is poor. His framing is among the worst regulars in the league. He's very slow. He turned 35 a month or so ago.

So why sign him? Because even with all that - he's got value. He can hit and most catchers can't (see: Nats C - all). He is a contact hitter who, while he rarely walks, doesn't strike out much either. He gets good contact - and has revamped his hitting in the "launch angle" era to hit more fly balls. This has led to an increase in power (fluky in 2017, more reasonable last year) and almost as important fewer GIDP. He'll lean into a pitch to get on base mitigating some of the low walk rate. If we just look at last year (to skip the fluky 2017) he was one of only 7 or so catchers with any real offensive value.*  When he plays he's one of the better catchers in baseball overall.

This is still a curious move because of the above comments. The Nats didn't sign Suzuki to sit. He will play. But he'll almost certainly only play 100-110 games behind the plate. So what happens in the other ~60 games? Severino CAN NOT HIT. Kieboom is not much better. Do they sign someone to platoon with Suzuki? Well that would mean a LHB and that seemingly would mean McCann. But McCann is barely a catcher anymore and didn't have a year last year that would inspire any confidence in him. Could they trade for a good catching prospect and start him? I'm not sure who'd this be? One of the Dodgers guys? In my head I'm working out some sort of Strasburg/Kieboom/.Hedges/Tatis Padres deal but that's nonsense.

If you twist my arm I'll say I suppose Raudy Read is ready for his turn. They like his defense** and unlike Pedro Severino and Lesser Kieboom he has a bit of pop. But he could easily fail and you are handing him 40% of a season. That's not the move a contender makes unless they are pretty confident across the board. Are you confident right now?

This isn't a bad signing but it's a perplexing one that will hopefully make sense as the rest of the puzzle pieces fill in. The Nats expressed that they needed a good full-time starting catcher. Even though they are rare - two are available right now. Yet instead they rush to sign a good part-time catcher. Let's hope whatever else they do makes this make sense.


*This is why the Marlins won't budge on Realmuto's asking price. He is the best catcher. Age, cost, and offense.  His defense is fine.   He's the surest thing out there and if you don't have him or one of these other half dozen you have crap you are hoping won't hurt you too much.  

**Honestly - outsider of a catcher who is an offensive monster have you ever heard anyone say they didn't like a minor league catcher's defense?