IS MIGUEL MONTERO NECESSARY?

Tyler Flowers had his best season with the White Sox in 2014. That's a good thing, but like most things, it's all relative.

Flowers had set the bar rather low for himself, and it's somewhat sad that a season in which he finished with an OBP of .297 and an OPS+ of 95 could be considered a career year, but that's the situation Flowers finds himself in. It also leaves the White Sox in a position in which they have to wonder whether or not an upgrade is something they should pursue, or if the money should be spent elsewhere.

The fact they've apparently checked with the Diamondbacks on Miguel Montero might give us an indication about how they feel. Montero is still owed $40 million over the next three seasons, which is a sizeable investment for this White Sox team to make. But the question is whether or not it'd be worth it.


Asking Arizona about Montero doesn't really tip Rick Hahn's hand on the catcher situation. General managers check in on a lot of different players just to get an idea what the going rate is on the market at any given time. You never know, considering the amount of times the Sox have fleeced Arizona in recent memory, even with a new front office, maybe the DBacks respond with "Montero for Dayan Viciedo straight up will do the trick!"

Montero is an obvious offensive upgrade over Flowers. At least, he was a couple years ago. In the last two seasons he's put up a line of .237/.324/.358, which is a line that looks awful Flowersish. Defensively I couldn't really tell you, as I don't watch many Arizona games, but there are reports he improved behind the plate a bit last year. But so did Flowers.

I'm actually quite happy with what Flowers has become as an actual catcher, and I can live with his lack of hitting.

But that doesn't mean I'd rule out an upgrade if a reasonable one was available.

I just don't think Montero is it, especially at that price tag. If his bat continues to regress the Sox will find themselves with the same catcher they already had for roughly ten times the price. That's a shitty situation to be in.

If the Sox are going to spend money on the catcher position this winter I'd rather it be on a backup than a guy that could contend with Flowers for the starting spot. They should spend the available money on another starter (a James Shields, a Brandon McCarthy) and a corner outfielder (bring me Melky).

So I'm going to have to pass on Miguel Montero. Let the Cubs have him if they like him so much.