Herrera going to spring training 2026 as a catcher ?

[AtillaTheBlue1]

no, let him worry about hitting.

work him at 1b, dh,etc

[Ozziesfan41]

Classic case of telling an employee what he wants to hear simply to placate for a while.
Herrera is not an MLB catcher.
Never will be a starter at that position for any length of time.
The Marmot knows that.

You need to watch
Listen
and learn

How is your Unicorn doing at second base?

lol the unicorn sucks everywhere

[Melville]

When Herrera is catching we have one less hole in the lineup. With him as DH the bottom half of the lineup is pretty weak.

With Herrea "catching" there is one more hole on the field.
The pitching staff will not want him back there.
The team really needs to do the right thing by Herrera and give him a chance to succeed at another spot - or trade him to someone who will.

[CorneliusWolfe]

then he should have been catching this whole season , that is what it was for. Again some time wasted if true. Or left field remember .....

Absolutely true on how he should’ve been catching all year and the wasted time. Also, much better scenario for him to be an average LF’er, if possible, than a poor defensive catcher. This team and their inability to commit to a plan and see it through is frustrating.

[hmoss859]

So let him waste time this winter trying to get him to catch, which he won’t anyway, why not work on LF, oh that’s not gonna work either

So it’s DH or trade him

[Youboughtit]

https://redbirdrants.com/cardinals-reve ... 9Vz9lJmzZA

[renostl]

Classic case of telling an employee what he wants to hear simply to placate for a while.
Herrera is not an MLB catcher.
Never will be a starter at that position for any length of time.
The Marmot knows that.

You need to watch
Listen
and learn

How is your Unicorn doing at second base?

Who?

[Talkin' Baseball]

Classic case of telling an employee what he wants to hear simply to placate for a while.
Herrera is not an MLB catcher.
Never will be a starter at that position for any length of time.
The Marmot knows that.

You need to watch
Listen
and learn

How is your Unicorn doing at second base?

Who?

Gorman.

[sdaltons]

then he should have been catching this whole season , that is what it was for. Again some time wasted if true. Or left field remember .....

Yep been saying it for awhile now. This was a low stakes season and they bailed on this plan way too quickly.

I realize the D was hurting us but he was never going to be able to get better at it as DH. And the shorter lineup hurt us as well. Pages came up with a hit every now and then (yay!) while a better hitter sat on the bench.

[ecleme22]

Let him try catcher again.

It’s not like this news means we will trade Crooks. He will still be ready to deploy if IH can’t handle catcher.

[Ronnie Dobbs]

Let him try catcher again.

It’s not like this news means we will trade Crooks. He will still be ready to deploy if IH can’t handle catcher.

Exactly. What does it hurt to put him through an off-season program and see how he does? If you don't see the improvement that you're looking for by the spring, then pull the plug.

I'll say that I get the injury concerns, though. He's not been the most durable player so far in his career and catcher is a job where you're going to get beat up. I want his bat in the lineup, so if catching starts to jeopardize that, then shut it down.

[rockondlouie]

Unless his arm somehow morphs into Yadi's this offseason, then this is yet another terrible idea.

Could this be to increase his trade value?

Maybe

But no way he can catch in 2026 given teams were 15 for 15 in stolen bases vs him this season and would run wild every time he's behind the plate.

NLC teams the Brewers, Scrubs and Reds would run him out of the stadium, so would the rest of MLB.

What he needs to do is spend the winter w/an OFer's glove and work w/J. Jay.

[Basil Shabazz]

I approve of taking the offseason and spring to see if he can get better at containing the running game. I’m already okay with his receiving. I’m not sure about game calling, as that is probably overrated anyway as a lot of pitchers call their game and sometimes games are called from the dugout.

Bottom line is that if he sticks as a catcher then his bat becomes a ++ from that position. He becomes a huge commodity to keep or to trade later.

If not, he becomes a plus bat that can be deployed DH,1B, LF.

His biggest value proposition though would be as a catcher

[rockondlouie]

Aside from his well below major league level throwing issues he had two stays on the IL this season.

Could a move behind the plate could to more?

I'd rather move WillyC back behind the plate, backed up by Pages? or Crooks? and slot Ivan at 1st base.

[ecleme22]

Aside from his well below major league level throwing issues he had two stays on the IL this season.

Could a move behind the plate could to more?

I'd rather move WillyC back behind the plate, backed up by Pages? or Crooks? and slot Ivan at 1st base.

You during all ST: “Herrera needs to start almost every game! Pages is a JAG!”

After Herrera starts only 13 games at catcher in 2025:

“Put Herrera at 1b!!!”


Here’s the thing: if IH wants to catch, at least let him try. And if the org didn’t think he had a future in catching, he would’ve moved off catcher years ago…

[Ronnie Dobbs]

Here’s the thing: if IH wants to catch, at least let him try. And if the org didn’t think he had a future in catching, he would’ve moved off catcher years ago…

While I'm generally with you on Herrera preparing as a catcher this offseason, decisions that this organization made on its minor leagues the last few years don't sway me at all. Especially seeing how they have entered into this organizational rebuild with the acknowledgement that they have been bad at developing players at that level.

But if Bloom and his guys, coming at it with a set of unbiased eyes, think it's worth a shot, then I'm for it.