Atlanta Braves Sign Veteran Catcher Kurt Suzuki??

Braves Sign Another Catcher?

A rumor is circling the twitter world that the Atlanta Braves have signed veteran catcher Kurt Suzuki.  Chris Cotillo of SB Nation twitted out this morning that a source of his is reporting of the signing.

So now the debate begins…where does Suzuki stack up against Anthony Recker and Tuffy Gosewisch?

Personally, I would say Suzuki is a better option as the Braves backup.  The 10-year-veteran and 2014 AL All-Star has been a pretty consistent hitter throughout his career.  He’s got a career .256 batting average.

According to StatCorner, he’s not the best “framer”, but did rank above Recker in 2016.

Though he’s considered a decent backstop that handles a pitching staff well, he’s not known for a great framer.  He doesn’t have the best arm in the league either.  Here are his stats from the past three years.

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The Twins, who Suzuki played for last season, signed Jason Castro this offseason…who is considered an excellent framer.

This is kinda a strange signing for the Braves.  It seemed as though we were okay with going into the 2017 with Tuffy or Recker as the Braves backup catcher…guess not.

The Braves saw what they wanted to see out of Recker in 2016 and looks like they wanted a replacement.  I’m guessing Recker could be up for a trade now, but not sure interest level will be high for him.  He could be put on waivers and see if he clears.

Braves could do the same with Tuffy Gosewisch….see if he clears waivers and then outright him to Triple-A Gwinnett.

I think Tuffy is something of value for the Braves in case of injury.  Recker would be the replaceable  one in my opinion.

The more I think about this, the more I like it.  I would think this deal is a one-year deal, but nothing has been leaked yet.

One thing is for sure…the Braves won’t be carrying four catchers on their 40-man roster.

Tyler Flowers and Suzuki with a little platoon in 2017.  I would think Flowers gets the majority of games, but Braves manager Brian Snitker could go with the hot hand or give pitchers they’re own catcher.

Next: Braves ''Hoarding Prospects, Especially Pitching Prospects''

We can all let out a huge deep breath now that the Braves didn’t sign Matt Weiters.  I read that the Washington Nationals are losing their interest in Weiters as well.  His price tag should continue to fall as we inch closer and closer to pitchers and catchers reporting.

This should be a good positional battle heading into Spring Training with Flowers and Suzuki.

We’ll see soon!  And I’ll update this when we hear more about this signing.

UPDATE:

Suzuki deal is a major league one-year deal worth $1.5M with $2.5M in incentives…according to Ken Rosenthal.  This deal could be worth $4M if he reaches all the incentives in this deal.  These have not been released yet.