2. Sign a Catcher
There are exactly two free agent catchers still without jobs. Their names are Matt Wieters and Tyler Flowers.
The Mets showed some interest in Flowers within the past couple of weeks. Their offer apparently wasn’t sufficient to make Flowers (who’s now 35 years old) willing to head to the Big Apple.
In fact, he’s already been said to have decided that the Braves didn’t offer enough to make him decide to go through the grind again… but it is the end of March and there are times when players feel that itch to compete.
Wieters is roughly in the same boat… he’ll be 35 in May. There’s been almost zero discussion about him this entire off season…. so to start now would definitely qualify as a surprise (maybe even a shock).
The question here is whether Atlanta thinks that William Contreras is ready (or ready enough) to take on a major league season… even as a backup catcher.
There’s probably no better training session for him, and that’s particularly the case if the coaches envision him taking over the position in 2022 on a full-time basis once Travis d’Arnaud‘s contract ends.
Of course, there are other possibilities, including the emergence of Shea Langeliers by then, a trade for a surplus catcher (Contreras or Alex Jackson), or the concern that coaches might have about Contreras’ ability to be that backup guy this year.
That’s why a signing of Flowers or Wieters might signal a change of things in the future… that perhaps neither Contreras nor Alex Jackson represent enough of a “safety net” for d’Arnaud.
But if this is going to happen, it almost certainly needs to happen quickly so that the new backstop can get some “reps” in before April 1st.