Randle McMurphy wrote:As long as Dickey is on the team, I would expect Thole to be the backup. Difficult to see them letting Martin catch RA again for another season after the toll it took on him.
This is why I assume there's been some Dickey trade chatter by the beat guys. I'm sure they don't want Thole on the roster, but know they can't let Martin continue to catch Dickey. It makes the Chavez trade make a lot more sense, but then you'd have to replace Dickey with another starter than can give you 200 at least league average innings. Not sure that's as easy to make up as the difference between Thole and Navarro but I bet they try the best they can.
This is all assuming that Navarro wants to come back to a situation where he knows the most playing time he's getting is 2/5 days. If he can go somewhere where he has at least a chance at the starting job at a slightly higher salary, I'm sure he takes it. I don't know if that market will play itself out before the pitcher's market though.