The Angels are in extension talking mode and one of their current targets is reportedly catcher Chris Iannetta. He’s been exactly what the Halos needed over his three-year tenure behind the plate. Heck, he’s been one of the few catchers (non-Molina family edition) that hasn’t spent significant time in Scioscia’s doghouse. But he’s also about to be 32 and doesn’t have a great track record of durability. So is a Chris Iannetta extension actually a good idea?
To answer that question, we actually need to figure out how good Iannetta really is. By fWAR, Iannetta has been worth 6.2 wins over the last three season, including a 2012 campaign in which he missed several weeks due to a broken thumb. That’s good for the 16th most value by a catcher over that period. He’s well behind established stars like Posey, Molina and Lucroy and right on par with the likes of Miguel Montero, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Jason Castro and Brian McCann.
That’s a good baseline for figuring out Iannetta’s value… almost. Almost all of that value for Iannetta comes from his offense. His on-base skills carry him quite a long way. His glove though, not so much.
That’s actually kind of the problem with Iannetta. In most areas, he’s a fair to middling backstop. He throws people out decently. He’s passable in terms of blocking pitches. These are the things that the various measures of WAR account for. What hasn’t been incorporated yet, conveniently for Iannetta, is pitch framing where he rates as one of the worst in the game. That’s kind of a big problem as receiving is a major component of a catcher’s contributions. As such, maybe Iannetta really isn’t quite as good as his WAR suggests.
It is a deficiency the Angels seem to be OK with though. Hank Conger was one of the best pitch framers and the Angels traded him away, assuring that Iannetta would remain the unquestioned starting catcher, possibly getting an even bigger share of the playing time than he previously had. If anything, that strengthens Iannetta’s bargaining position against the Halos.
When it comes to price, Iannetta’s closest comparable is Jarrod Saltalamacchia. They’ve been worth about the same over the last three years and have very similar offensive and defensive profiles. The biggest differences are that Salty has more power and is a few years younger. Saltalamacchia signed a three-year, $21 million contract on the open market last offseason after a career year in Boston. That should be the absolute ceiling for any Chris Iannetta extension. It might actually be too high of a ceiling because the Marlins had to pay Salty a premium to prove to the free agent market that they were actually serious about spending money.
Theoretically, Iannetta should get even less money than what Saltalamacchia got just based on his age alone. He turns 32 just after Opening Day, which is a old for a catcher. However, Russell Martin is just a few months older and signed a five-year, $82 million deal this offseason and blow up the pay curve for catchers 32 and older. Then again, nobody is going to mistake Iannetta for Martin anytime soon.
On a more comparable level, Kurt Suzuki just got $12 million over two years at the same stage of his career that Iannetta is now at. Suzuki is a better defender, but not the consistent offensive producer that Iannetta is. Even if you factor in the Twins overpaying a little bit for Suzuki’s “leadership” abilities, that $12 million pact is probably the floor for what Chris Iannetta’s extension would look like.
The biggest point in Iannetta’s favor might just be the thinness of the upcoming free agent market. He is poised to be the second-best free agent catcher on the market after this season. Matt Wieters is the clear cream of that crop and Iannetta would be set up nicely to serve as the consolation prize for teams that lose out on Wieters. Unless the Angels intend to make a run at Wieters, they can’t afford to let that happen.
The Halos can afford to overpay Iannetta, however. In fact, they might want to strong consider doing so because if they aren’t going to be chasing Wieters, they don’t really have a way to replace Iannetta if he walks. Drew Butera barely hits enough to be Iannetta’s back-up, so he isn’t an option. Carlos Perez is a fine defender, but he isn’t considered much of an offensive asset either. Jett Bandy has more offensive upside and is a strong defender, but his ceiling, like Perez, is considered to be as a MLB back-up. Unless Dipoto can combine Butera, Perez and Bandy into a Voltron-style super catcher, Jerry is going to have to outsource the 2016 starting catcher.
Unless he keep Iannetta that is. That’s a bird he has in the hand right now and the potential desperation of grabbing a new bird if they let Iannetta fly away should be incentive enough to never let things get to that point. The Halos would be well advised to offer Iannetta a two-year, $14 million extension, possibly even with a third-year vesting option based on games played, to protect the Halos against Iannetta’s fragility. Such an extension gives the Angels security at the position until they can add a real “catcher of the future” to their development pipeline but also won’t cripple their financial flexibility if Iannetta falls off a cliff or if the Angels decide to go in another direction at the position.
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