Pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report in just over a month, making this an opportune time for teams to tie up any remaining loose ends. Such intent can manifest in myriad ways. For some clubs, it means signing another middle reliever; for others, it concerns figuring out their backup catcher situation. And, for a select few teams, tying up the loose ends involves trading a young player who has become an afterthought.
Take the Los Angeles Dodgers and backstop Diego Cartaya as an example. They designated him for assignment last week and traded him to the Minnesota Twins on Thursday in exchange for right-handed prospect Jose Vasquez.
Cartaya isn’t far removed from being considered a top prospect, a young catcher with real power upside and on-base skills. His stock has since been diminished by slow introductory periods at both the Double- and Triple-A levels. Given that Cartaya will spend most of the upcoming season as a 23-year-old, and given that he has a minor-league option remaining, you can understand why the budget-strapped Twins are rolling the dice on unlocking his upside.
On the flip side, Cartaya’s days with the Dodgers had been numbered for a while. The Dodgers are one of the few organizations who can claim they have more capable backstops than spots: there’s Will Smith and Austin Barnes, of course, as well as top prospect Dalton Rushing. It seemed like a matter of