When the 2018 season ended, Austin Barnes had pretty much supplanted (now) former catcher Yasmani Grandal as the Dodgers so-called everyday catcher, not because of his superior hitting or even because of his defense. No, Barnes replaced Grandal merely because he was a little less bad than Grandal down the stretch and into the postseason, albeit only slightly.

But Grandal is now gone (to the Milwaukee Brewers) and in his place the Dodgers reacquired 35-year-old former Dodgers catcher Russell Martin from the Toronto Blue Jays; this in spite of his Grandal and Barnes-like .194 / .338 / .325 / .663 slash-line in 2018.

“First off, to get a guy like Russell Martin who has been to the postseason, [has] ten, eleven years in his big league career, he’s a winning player, he’s been a Dodgers, couldn’t be happier to come back home,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters on Tuesday morning, when pitchers and catchers officially reported for spring training at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona. “So to kind of pair with Austin, I think it’s a very good duo and I think time will tell.

“So they’re going to split time and we’ll see who gets the lion’s share,” added Roberts. “But I think that right now, that’s a good complement.”

So how, then, with all things apparently being equal, does Roberts envision playing time between Martin and Barnes?

“We haven’t really … there’s different ways, it could be a One, One-A, it could be a chemistry and how we feel a certain catchers lines up with a certain pitcher, and that’s another way to look at it,” explained Roberts. “So right now, we get Russell back, Austin obviously we have here, to kind of let these guys kind of make their way through the spring and see where it takes us.

“But we have two guys that are really good behind the plate and they have their strengths, and in the box they both give competitive at-bats, and that’s kind of their DNA, what they do,” Roberts said. “And we’re betting on an uptick and enough production from both guys this year.”

Does the Dodgers skipper expect to see an equal amount of playing time and / or what will the deciding factor(s) be in determining who will get that “lion’s share” of playing time?

“It’s a combo [of factors]. Today we’ve got ‘pens at eleven and this is where it starts,” Roberts said. “So we’re going to run these guys through – as well as out other catchers – and we’ll see. But I do think that the pitcher feedback is important – whether you’re on the same page, you like the target, there’s things that you have to take that into consideration – so there’s a lot that goes into that equation, for sure.”

As for who lines up behind Martin and Barnes in the Dodgers catching depth, that has changed a little since the end of last season when Roberts said that he expected both 23-year-old Will Smith and 20-year-old Keibert Ruiz to see some action with the big club at some point during the 2019 season.

“Anything can happen, but with Keibert it’s a little bit more of a longer view I think as far as you’re talking this year,” Roberts said. “I don’t see that happening but I’ve been wrong before.

“Will Smith had a really nice year in Double-A and struggled in Triple-A,” Roberts continued. “Defensively he can catch in the big leagues right now. But to go out there, start Triple-A, take repetitions and see where the season takes us, we’ll have to wait and see.”

But wait… there’s more!

If you think Dave Roberts had high praise for Will Smith, wait until you hear what Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman had to say about him.

“I think he can contend for a Gold Glove defensively,” said the Dodgers top executive. “It’s just about getting him to that point offensively where there’s more consistency that we think is in there.

“Just reps and staying diligent with what we’re doing. [As a catcher] I think he can compete for a Gold Glove anytime he caught enough to do it.”

Who saw that one coming?

Play Ball!

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