Rockies (Chris Iannetta/Miguel Olivo)
He's been a sleeper for the last two years or so now. Chris Iannetta hit 12 home runs in 350 plate appearances last year while Miguel Olivo hit a career-high 23 home runs. Both players have a career strikeout rate at 27% and will likely battle for playing time at this position. Iannetta has never had the job outright for more than 105 games and looks to be in a battle again. While he has hit over .260 once in his major league career, it's a rate like that that will probably give him the starting job over Olivo. The chances are Iannetta will be handed the starting job but will not have a tight grip on it. This will make it tough for fantasy owners to pick the top catcher in Colorado who normally gets a good Coors Field bump.
Nationals (Ivan Rodriguez/Jesus Flores)
Ivan Rodriguez will bring his veteran presence, which only means he will usurp playing time from Jesus Flores who got hurt early in the year while aiming for a career year. In just 106 plate appearances, Flores hit 4 home runs and was hitting .300/.371/.505. He's entering his age-25 season, there's a good chance he bests his career high 8 home runs and gets close to 59 RBIs if Ivan Rodriguez doesn't get in the way. Rodriguez hit worse as a backup in 2009, hitting .245 with just 2 home runs as a Ranger, and has declined in batting average in each of the last three years. Flores should be the starter, as long as he's healthy and ready to go, and Flores is the pick here to be a good fantasy #2 catcher at minimum in 2010.
Giants (Benjie Molina/Buster Posey)
The Giants signing Benjie Molina will successfully block super-prospect Buster Posey for at least a few more months. Posey must have been rooting for Molina to take those New York Mets offers but he came back to cozy San Francisco. Even worse, Buster Posey didn't get a real shot in September 2009. Posey played in 7 games, mostly as a defensive backup and started in games after the Giants were out of playoff contention. Another problem? Bruce Bochy has not had a successful track record with playing a lot of young players who aren't pitchers at his stops. Some might remember the wavering on Ben Davis, I dare bring him up. With Molina, Bochy now has an excuse to not play Posey. Molina, 38, did hit 20 home runs but he hit his worst average and on-base percentage since 2002 at .265/.285. He struck out a career-high times and his walks tied a career-low in a full season. Add to it he's a catcher and 38 years old, there's a lot to be cautious about when looking at Benjie Molina. While Buster Posey hasn't been convinced he's a safe investment either, he might still have to watch out for Eli Whiteside's veteran presence as well on the roster.
