The Mariners would probably like to go with 25-year old righty swinging catcher Adam Moore as the starter in 2010. He will be given a chance to earn the job in spring training. He played in 118 games in AA+AAA last season and he was 125 for 435 (.287 avg, .777 OPS) with 55 runs scored, 12 homers and 56 RBIs. He also played in six games at the end of the year for the Mariners in which he was 5 for 23 (.217 avg, .641 OPS) with 4 runs scored, 1 homer, 2 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He didn’t make any errors but he did have 1 passed ball in his six games for the Mariners last season. Moore was unsuccessful in throwing out the only guy that tried to steal against him last season but Mariners’ pitchers liked throwing to him as they had a 2.53 ERA with him behind the plate.

31-year old switch-hitting Josh Bard will likely share time with Moore behind the plate in 2010. He played in 90 games with the Nationals last season and he was 63 for 274 (.230 avg, .654 OPS) with 20 runs scored, 6 homers and 31 RBIs. Bard is a better hitter than he showed last season as he has a career batting average of .259 with a .715 OPS and those are the kind of numbers the Mariners are expecting out of him in 2010. He made 5 errors and he had 3 passed balls in 79 games behind the plate last season for the Nationals and it’s a tad too many of both. Bard only threw out 14% of the runners trying to steal on him last season but Nationals’ pitchers had a 4.95 ERA with him behind the plate and that is actually impressive when you consider the kind of pitching staff they had last year.

27-year old righty swinging Rob Johnson will also battle for a catching job on the Mariners in 2010 as long as his hips allow him to. He had surgery on both of them during the off-season. He played in 80 games for the Mariners last season and he was 55 for 258 (.213 avg, .615 OPS) with 21 runs scored, 2 homers and 27 RBIs. Johnson needs to hit better than that if he is going to be a part of the Mariners’ future behind the plate. Johnson made 4 errors and he had a amazing 9 passed balls last season which gives him plenty of things to work on in spring training. But, his defense isn’t all bad as he threw out 29% of the runners trying to steal on him last year and Mariners’ pitchers loved throwing to him as they had a 3.22 ERA with him behind the plate.

30-year old righty swinging Eliezer Alfonzo will also likely battle for a roster spot this spring. He played in 37 games for the Padres last season and he was 20 for 114 (.175, .451 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 2 homers and 8 RBIs. Alfonzo made 1 error and he had 3 passed balls in 30 games behind the plate for the Padres last season. He threw out 38% of the runners trying to steal against him last season and Padres’ pitchers had a 4.51 ERA throwing to him. He is a longshot to win a spot on the Opening Day roster for the Mariners but he will likely play for them at some point in 2010.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE CATCHERS IN 2010: D