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From a thrower to a pitcher? Uh, well, OK Joe. Sounds really very promising.

Joba will come back strong, probably too strong, next season - but I suspect that control and consistency might be issues: those postives return last after TJ surgery, sometimes taking 18 months. At the earliest, my guess is late August or September for being able to hit his spots consistently. But, no harm in hoping for the best.

Peter - Did he mention if he thinks Cervelli can play every day "for the Yankees", or just every day? Is he polishing the car to get it sold more easily or what?

Mitchell

Excellent point, he never said as a Yankee. His comments were unprompted by a question, so it is entirely possible that Cashman put an idea in his head to talk up Cervelli during the spot.

To further your analogy. It would make a lot of sense for the Yankees to get the Buick out of the driveway to make room for the Cadillac.

is there a cadillac at that position in the majors right now?
I did a quick google search and found a fantasy baseball site with an article on catchers:

1- Mike Napoli
2- Alex Avila
3- Matt Wieters
4- Victor Martinez
5- Miguel Montero
6- Carlos Santana
7- Nick Hundley
8- Chris Iannetta
9- Yadier Molina
10-Brian McCann

It had both Mauer and Posey in the 10-15 range with comments that their time missed and injuries caused it and that they would come into the top 10 if healthy (obviously).

This was a 2012 projection. No Sox catchers, no Yankee catchers in sight. Weakness on both teams IMO.

BL - Yep, when Posada slowed down, it definitiely created a weakness at a position that had been a pretty steady strength. My take is that we're going to let results and the trade market determine how it plays out between Martin, Montero, Cerveli, Romine and, soon, Sanchez. I suspect that (more than) a few of those names will be traded.

As for the Sox, looking at what you have and what's on your horizon. I think you have it worse than we do at the C position.

BL

The "Cadillac" is Jesus Montero.

As for your list, I think Russell Martin would have to be in the top-15 as would Saltalamacchia. In fact, going by WAR Martin was 11th in baseball and Salty was #13

I was very impressed by Martin's performance at catcher this year. He handled the pitchers very well and his skills in blocking the ball and throwing out runners were impressive. Also, he is a very tough, strong character.

Although a streaky hitter prone to some prolonged slumps, he is a force offensively. He had a number of timely hits and home runs.

I see no weakness at the catcher position. The Red Sox would kill to have a guy like Martin. I think he's the Yankee starting catcher for the next 4 years.

Cervelli is a competent backup. I see Montero as backup outfielder, third string catcher, possible backup at first, and DH.

The odd man out is Romine, who does not look like a major league hitter to me.

Corey - I'll concede Martin may be better than Salty as a "catcher". The caught stealing etc. doesn't show it but I realize there is more to catching than throwing out runners. Martin 40/135 = 30% Salty 37/120 = 31%

Take a look at these stats with the bat:

Salty -
386 PA
16 HR
56 RBI
.235 BA (.251 1st half, .217 2nd)
.737 OPS

Martin -
476 PA
18 HR
65 RBI
.237 BA (.220 1st half, .259 2nd)
.732 OPS

Same offensively in my book. Martin had some walk offs that I can recall over the course of the year. That helps the perception as does the 2nd half "surge"

Also - $750k salary vs. $4.0m not that it matters to either team.