Still Adrift in KC

I was looking at Miguel Olivo’s numbers today, as one of the younger free agent catchers on the market this off-season (he’ll be 32 next year), and I’m frankly amazed that the Royals declined his 2010 mutual option for $3.3 million (he would also get the option to accept or decline the $3.3 million option).  Olivo’s no great shakes, but a half-way decent starting catcher for $3.3 million sounds like a bargain to me.

As a fan, Olivo is not a fun player to watch.  He strikes out an awful lot and won’t take a walk.  According to one post I saw today, he doesn’t look good on defense.  However, he does a few things well enough that the Royals probably should have picked up the option.

First, he hit 23 HRs in 390 ABs last year.  That’s lot for a catcher.  As a result, despite hitting only .249 and having a brutal (even for a catcher) .292 OBP, he had a .490 SLG and a .782 OPS, pretty good for a catcher.  On defense, his numbers look a lot better than John Buck, at least in terms of his ability to throw out baserunners and his team’s ERA when he’s catching.  The Royals’ ERA when Olivo was catching this year was 4.49, compared to 5.18 when Buck was catching.

Reports have it that the Royals aren’t going to keep John Buck around either, which makes sense given that Buck reportedly made $2.9 million in 2009 and would almost certainly make at least $3.3 million in 2010 if he were to elect arbitration.

If Buck is also non-tendered, that would leave Brayan Pena as the only remaining catcher who caught for the Royals in 2009.  He’ll be 28 next year.  He has limited experience and his minor league numbers don’t look particularly impressive, but he’s certainly cheap.

In the high minors (AA and AAA), the Royals have 3o year old J.R. House, who’s had some good minor league seasons, but was brutal as the Omaha Royals’ everyday catcher in 2009 (.649 OPS), and 28 year old Cody Clark, who hit well, mostly at AA Northwest Arkansas, but only managed to play 68 games last year.  Sure doesn’t look promising.

There will certainly be low-cost options for the Royals on the free agent market this off-season, but if they’re not willing to pay even $3 million for a catcher, they aren’t likely to get anyone who won’t be a liability if he starts more than fifty or sixty games.