Posted by Isaac Thorn on Monday, November 16, 2009 at 12:02 pm

The Reds need to hammer out a deal with free-agent catcher Miguel Olivo. Hopefully Reds ownership resists the urge to cut payroll and trade away Brandon Phillips and/or Bronson Arroyo.

I feel strongly that if the Reds inked Olivo that he would have the best offensive year as a catcher by a Red since the not so long gone era  of Eddie Taubensee or Benito Santiago.

Catching has long been a huge problem in Cincinnati. While Ryan Hanigan is a good young player, it seems obvious that he would be better suited as a backup catcher at this point in his career. Neither Corky Miller or Craig Tatum are the answer. The Reds’ lineup looks pretty solid when it begins with Drew Stubbs and ends with Scott Rolen hitting fifth.

The bottom half of the lineup is what kills the Reds year in and year out. Talent in the top half of the lineup isn’t incredibly tough to come by. It’s bridging the gap between slots 6-9 that proves difficult for National League teams. When the bottom half of the lineup can neither hit for power or average rallies are tough to come by. Coming from behind late in the game is very tough to do when no one in the bottom half of your lineup can hit a baseball over the fence on a fly. If the 6-8 hitters of a regular starting lineup combine to hit under .230 with less than a dozen home runs, lots of games will be over after six innings.

What the Reds need is pop in the bottom half of the lineup, and a catcher. Miguel Olivo provides both of these things. Even if Olivo doesn’t hit 23 home runs as a Red in 2010, he would provide the improvement at that position which is absolutely needed for the team to even sniff at playoff contention. The Reds certainly can’t afford to strike out on a free agent acquisition and bring in a guy who will draw the ire of the fans like Willy Taveras did last season. I think Olivo could hit more home runs than he did last year in Kansas City. Even if Olivo became a Red and only hit 15 home runs, it would still be an incredible upgrade over the production Cincinnati has seen over the last few years.

I certainly don’t mean to disrespect Paul Bako, Kelly Stinnett, David Ross, or any of the other backstops who have come through The revolving door of Reds’ catchers who don’t hit. It’s just that none of them were part of Cincinnati teams who won many games. Logic would suggest that changing one aspect of your team’s yearly shortcomings might do something to turn the faucet of losing more games than you win off.

There will always be financial constraints on what the Redlegs can do free-agent wise. Since this is the case, it becomes paramount to take advantage of the rare, affordable player with huge upside that comes down the pike.

If Miguel Olivo doesn’t fit the bill as such, I don’t know who does. It will be interesting to see where Olivo ends up, but I do think that if it is at Great American Ball Park he could have a very impressive year.