Cleveland Indians All-Time 25-Man Roster
Catcher—Victor Martinez
(with Cleveland from 2002-2009)
19.4 fWAR (FanGraphs WAR), 19.2 bWAR (Baseball-Reference WAR)
.297/.369/.463, 821 G, 3449 PA, 120 OPS+ (with Cleveland)
The Cleveland franchise does not have a history of great catchers. They have some catchers who were very good for a short period of time at the position and they have some guys who played more seasons but weren’t particularly good. The top five Cleveland catchers by FanGraphs WAR are Carlos Santana, Victor Martinez, Steve O’Neill, Johnny Romano, and Sandy Alomar, Jr.
Santana had one season with exactly 100 games at catcher and a few seasons with partial time at the spot. For me, he doesn’t have enough games at catcher to be the team’s all-time guy at the spot. Of these five players, Steve O’Neill, who played from 1911 to 1928, had the most games at catcher, but wasn’t as valuable per season as Victor Martinez or Carlos Santana. John Romano had some good years for the team in the 1960s, but just two seasons with 100 or more games at the position. Alomar, Jr. played many years at the position, but wasn’t as valuable as my pick for the starting spot, which is Victor Martinez.
Martinez is a little light at playing time behind the dish. He had four seasons with 120 or more games at catcher and three others with between 40 and 85 games. His best stretch of play was from 2004 to 2007. V-Mart was worth 4.0 WAR per year, while hitting .302/.376/.484 and averaging 21 homers and 99 RBI. The only catcher more valuable than Martinez during this period was Jorge Posada.
After not making the playoffs in any of the first five seasons of Martinez’ career, Cleveland made the playoffs in the 2007 season. The beat the Yankees in the ALDS and advanced all the way to Game 7 of the ALCS, which they lost to the Boston Red Sox. For his part, Martinez was very good, hitting a combined .318/.388/.500 in 11 post-season games.
After being so good for that four-year stretch, Martinez struggled with injuries during an ugly 2008 season. He only played in 73 games and lost his power stroke, hitting just two home runs in 294 plate appearances. He came back from his injury-marred year to be just as good as ever in 2009. Through his first 99 games, he was hitting .284/.368/.464.
At this point, the team was in fourth place and double-digit games behind the division leader. They had traded CC Sabathia the previous July and made the rebuilding decision to trade Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez in July of 2009. V-Mart was sent to the Boston Red Sox for pitchers Justin Masterson, Bryan Price, and Nick Hagadone. He’s since gone on to have some very good seasons with the Red Sox and Tigers and has been particularly good against Cleveland, with a career batting line of .314/.384/.510 in 98 games when facing the Tribe.