SAN DIEGO -- The Pirates need a catcher.
It is hardly a secret. It has come up in conversation multiple times so far in Ben Cherington's sessions with the media during the Winter Meetings. He has often been the one to bring it up.
But so far, there is very little news on who will could suit up alongside Jacob Stallings next season. Jon Heyman reported the Pirates are one of the teams in the market for free agent Robinson Chirinos late Tuesday, but besides that, there have been no leads.
We have an idea of the mold of backstop he wants. On Monday, he said he was looking for a good defensive catcher who does well with game planning and managing a pitching staff. While being able to contribute on offense would obviously be a plus, it seemed to be secondary in his evaluation of what the Pirates need.
"The way we measure [a catcher's] performance has changed as much for that position as any in the time that I've been working in baseball," Cherington said. "It may be hard to find the guy that's the archetype in your mind of what Johnny Bench looked like... but there's also a lot of guys that I think we just appreciate differently now and can do things to help win games. There's still usually 60 to 70 of them in the big leagues every year, so they're out there."
There have been rumors swirling that the Pirates are looking for young, controllable catchers in a trade, especially in exchange for one of their veteran players, but it does not seem any deal is contingent on getting a catcher in return.
When asked if the Pirates would target minor-league players based on talent or need, Cherington said, “I think in that sense we’d probably just focus on the best player available."
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