Free agency officially started at 12:01 a.m. ET Tuesday, and this week CBS Sports broke down the top free agents at each position. And rankee them. What fun would this be without rankings?
This offseason features one of the weakest free-agent classes in recent memory. Our last group to rank is catchers, and we're only gonna go five deep because past that it's only depth type players.
Here are the starting pitchers, relievers, outfielders, corner infielders/DHs and middle infielders. Once you peruse all these sections, you'll agree that it's an incredible weak class.
Still, there are some options at catchers. Two, at least.
Wilson Ramos picked the absolute perfect time to have his career year: his walk year.
Entering 2016, Ramos was a career .258 hitter who had shown below-average on-base chops and decent power. In 2016, Ramos hit .307/.354/.496 with 25 doubles, 22 homers and 80 RBI in 131 games. He set career highs in almost every notable offensive category while also throwing out 37 percent of would-be base-stealers against a league average of 27 percent.
Though this is mostly a product of the pitchers he's catching, Ramos also posted one of the best catcher ERAs in baseball. Again, that's mostly the pitchers, but he has to work well with them in order for it to happen.
So we have an everyday catcher who can rake, works well with his pitchers and limits the running game. He's also 29 years old. Perfect!
Oh wait ...
He also tore his ACL in the last week of the season.
This obviously impacts Ramos' market in a big way. He might even have to take a one-year, incentive-laden deal in order to build his value back up. Of course, in such a thin free agent market, it's possible he still gets a big payday and is able to take his time in returning, as to maximize his future value.
Matt Wieters, 30, is a four-time All-Star hitting free agency for the first time, after he accepted the Orioles' qualifying offer last time around.
After Tommy John surgery limited Wieters behind the plate in 2014 and 2015, he was able to start 111 games at catcher in 2016 and throw out an above-average rate of attempted base-stealers.
At the plate, Wieters is a far cry from the offensive force many believed he'd become when he entered the league as baseball's top prospect. He does have some power, though. He slashed .243/.302/.409 with 17 doubles and 17 homers in 464 plate appearances last season.
Now that the arm is back in shape, any signing team should expect a good backstop with an average-type offensive showing and good power upside. The 4.9 WAR days of 2011 are likely firmly in the rearview mirror.
And we're already down to players who are questionable regular starters. What a disappointing free-agent class.
Anyone signing Jason Castro is getting a quality human being who once flashed big upside. In 2013, Castro was an All-Star and hit .276/.350/.485 with 35 doubles and 18 home runs.
In the three seasons since then, however, he's hit .215/.291/.369 with an average of 19 doubles and 12 home runs per season.
Castro is still only 29 and there's always the glimmer of hope that he somehow becomes that 2013 player again, though, so he's worth a shot.
Another former All-Star (the chain doesn't stop here, either)!
Alex Avila was a stud in 2011, but it's been all downhill since then. Last season he only managed 57 games for the White Sox, in which he hit just .213. Thanks to 38 walks in 209 plate appearances, though, Avila managed a very good .359 on-base percentage. With only six doubles and seven home runs, he doesn't have great power, but a catcher with an above-average OBP can help many teams -- especially if he's in the backup role and only starts twice a week. Most of those guys are no-hit, all-glove.
We're five for five here in catchers who have been All-Stars before, as Kurt Suzuki got to catch the last out as an all-Twins battery in Target Field in 2014. Suzuki wasn't horrible offensively last season, hitting .258/.301/.403 with 24 doubles. He was a good hitter as recently as 2014, but he was terrible in 2015. He's also not very good defensively and, in fact, is pretty bad at throwing out base-stealers. He should be signed as a primary backup to a good catcher and not much more.
Past that, I suppose someone could find a below-average starter in Chris Iannetta. He has decent on-base chops and some power. He's not awful at throwing out would-be base-stealers. Consider this a top six, I guess.
Other (dis-?) honorable mention: Nick Hundley, Geovany Soto, Dioner Navarro, Jarrod Saltalamacchia
