Community Projection - Mike Redmond

Either way, he's a perfectly serviceable backup catcher.  With him backing up Mauer, we have almost undoubtedly the best backstop situation in baseball.

I 'm going to go with more plate appearances then anyone else so far.  I think Gardy will rely more on him and DH Mauer more due to both Redmond's good 2006 and the tight competition in the AL Central.  However, I think his numbers are going to come back to Earth this year.

Redmond is a career .292 hitter, but I'm guessing that age will begin to catch up with him pretty soon (he's 35).  So I'm projecting his BA slightly below his career average.  He also has a low OBP because he has only walked a total of 10 times in his 2 seasons with the Twins.

Redmond also has little power, so his slugging percentage and RBI total are low as well.  He will get 1 homerun, however (because Gardenhire said he will this spring).

Still, I'll happily take this from a back-up catcher who is solid defensively and somewhat of a team leader.

He's improved his contact skills late in his career, but he's not much on drawing walks (or striking out much). And his power is limited at best. I also think his PAs will be down this year because the Twins will have a viable DH in Kubel, so Gardy will not DH Mauer as much, keeping him behind the plate in every game except day games after night games in which a lefty is pitching. That's about 25 games. But there will be games when Mauer DHs and Kubel plays left, so I figure Red Dog will catch 40 games, hitting down in the order for an average of four PAs per game.