I think Victor can catch and post 100-110 OPS+ numbers for another 4-5 years. I think he's a borderline HOF catcher (because of his defensive deficiencies, not his O) with a very steady career and dropoff who's already had his knees saved for a year, having had some arm issues that kept him off the field.
I don't view Napoli as having the same arc. Victor's a long plateau IMO, while Napoli will have a faster fall from grace.
But as I've said before, I'm fine with Napoli behind the dish if V-Mart makes us too squeamish or if he wants to stay on the East Coast.
Doc,
The reason we're disagreeing probably has to do with our assessment of the catching position in Seattle. I've seen catchers who were terrible at handling the pitchers and lost them (Johjima) and beloved catchers with limited bats (Wilson). If you offered me Johjima's 1st 2 years I would take them in a heartbeat right now, trusting that the park will help the pitchers more than game-calling.
So the guys I'm looking at buffering us against a Moore/Johnson epic breakdown in '11 are offensive guys. Moore may be fine in a couple of years, but right now I want to brace him up and give us some offensive firepower for when his struggles catch up to him.
Johnson is not a brace, Johnson is an anchor. Because Rob is terrible we can't afford to give Moore time to develop. He needs that time and we need less of an offensive black hole at the position.
~G
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