Mike Napoli barely got a chance to unpack his bags after his trade from Los Angeles to Toronto before the Blue Jays turned around and traded the catcher to Texas for reliever Frank Francisco.
While the Jays got a huge steal by trading Vernon Wells and his albatross contract for Napoli and outfielder Juan Rivera, it’s pretty clear to me that in this case, they’re downgrading. But does it make sense?
Mike Napoli hit .238/.316/.468 last year, and is a career .251/.346/.485 player. Sure, he’s not much of a defender, but given the low standards of offense for catchers, he’s a solid starting catcher, particularly in a bandbox like Texas.
While Napoli’s been worth 2.7-2.8 WAR each of the last three years (despite Mike Scioscia never giving him the playing time he deserved), Frank Francisco‘s never been worth over 1.5 WAR in a season. Francisco’s a relief pitcher, and relievers don’t often top Napoli’s value–the only relievers who tied or beat his WAR in 2010 were Carlos Marmol and Brian Wilson.
So, Mike Napoli is the better player here. It took me 167 words to say that. I’m done, right?
I thought I was, but I’m convinced there’s more to this.
First of all, let’s look at the Blue Jays catching situation. Both JP Arencibia and Brian Jeroloman are interesting players, and Jose Molina‘s around too. Both Arencibia and Jeroloman could provide solid production as rookies this year, and Molina’s a passable backup. If either rookie impresses, they could have made Napoli redundant. He’s a very good MLB catcher, but a Jeroloman/Arencibia platoon would best Napoli defensively while providing a similar power/patience combo.
Napoli’s bat is good enough to play at first or even DH, but he’s just another guy there rather than an offensive star. He certainly could have found a home on the 2011 Blue Jays, but Toronto needs Mike Napoli less than most MLB teams (including LA, for sure) do.
Napoli was only signed for two more years anyway, and the logjam of catchers won’t get any better with Arencibia and Jeroloman maturing and Perez approaching from behind (although expecting Perez up before Napoli’s post-2012 free agency is ridiculous).
Francisco is only signed for one year, but he upgrades a bullpen that ranked 22nd last year in FIP and lost lockdown lefty Scott Downs. He fills a position of need more than Napoli did.
As for the Rangers, they’ve got to be thrilled with the addition of Napoli. He could see his power go up even higher in Texas, and the Rangers need a catcher after seeing Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Max Ramirez struggle for years, finally giving up on both. Rangers catchers hit .214/.288/.320 last year, which is just pathetic, although hilariously not the worst in the AL West (Thanks, Rob Johnson!). Napoli’s not a big step down defensively from what the Rangers used to be running out there, and boy, can the man outhit Matt Treanor.
So, Texas clearly wins the deal. Toronto…well, they didn’t really lose the deal, since they filled an organizational objective, but it’s tough to say that two years of Napoli is worth one of Francisco, even though the reliever comes a bit cheaper. I guess the Jays also do free up yet more money too. It’s not as bad as it looks for Toronto–that doesn’t really make this move good though.