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Joe Girardi has his little black binder. Bobby Valentine has his ... cell phone.

As ESPNBoston's Gordon Edes reported last night, Valentine's original lineup card against Twins pitcher Liam Hendriks had Darnell McDonald and Kelly Shoppach in the starting lineup. The problem: Hendricks is right-handed, and Valentine usually plays Ryan Sweeney and Jarrod Saltalamacchia against right-handers. Saltamacchia caught the error and pointed it out to Valentine, who filled out a new lineup card with Sweeney and Salty playing.

Valentine blamed his cell phone.

As Edes wrote, "I looked on this thing," Valentine said, gesturing to his cellphone, "and there was no history on him. It had his name, and 'against left-handed hitting.' My fault. That's why you make these lineups out early enough."

Hey, I'll give this to Bobby V: Liam Hendriks sounds like a left-hander, no? Or maybe he just looked at Hendriks' career stats, saw he doesn't strike many guys out, and assumed Hendriks was a soft-tossing lefty. (Memo to Bobby: Twins pitchers don't strike batters out. Even the right-handers. So be careful there.)

But more seriously: It's 2012 and a manager is looking on his cell phone for information? The Red Sox have a $173 million payroll and Valentine is checking his phone to find out about Liam Hendriks? Where are the scouting reports? Shouldn't some Harvard grad making $22,000 be giving Valentine a big fat binder full of detailed stats, splits and so on? Make fun of Girardi's binder, but at least he's not pulling out a cell phone in the seventh inning.

I've always wondered this: Those of us who obsess over baseball know who Liam Hendriks is. We know he's from Australia, we know he's a typical Twins-type prospect who throws strikes and isn't overpowering. Major league managers have a lot to deal with -- mostly worrying about their own team -- but you do wonder sometimes how familiar they are with the other 700-plus major leaguers.

On July 31, 2007, only four and a half games stood between the Atlanta Braves and first place. After sitting out baseball’s October tournament for the first time in 14 years, the Braves were desperate to make up the deficit and clinch another ticket to the postseason. Needing offensive firepower in general, Braves general manager John Schuerholz had a tough decision to make.

Seven-hundred ninety-nine miles away, the Texas Rangers owned one of baseball’s worst records. Before the non-waiver trading deadline passed, GM Jon Daniels and his front office decided to rebuild. With star slugger Mark Teixeira drawing suitors from every division, Daniels’ decision looked easy, if not inevitable.

Schuerholz pulled the trigger on the now-infamous deal, and almost four years later, the Braves got to see up close what could have been. They surrendered five prospects in the deal for Teixeira, and they saw two of them play for the Rangers on Friday: Elvis Andrus and Neftali Feliz. A third, Matt Harrison, will start against them Saturday.

“We’ve got the team to win the World Series,” Brian McCann declared when Teixeira joined the Braves. That assurance aside, Atlanta failed to make the postseason in 2007, and same story in 2008. Teixeira wasn’t to blame, hitting 37 homers in his 157 games with Atlanta before getting dealt to the Angels at the deadline in 2008.

Perhaps the most ironic thing about the Braves’ trade with the Rangers is this nugget from the original news release: “The Braves sent rookie catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia and four minor leaguers to Texas for the powerful, switch-hitting Teixeira.” Four minor leaguers? At the time, that was true, but everyone in the know recognized they were giving up top prospects in Feliz and Andrus. It’s easy to forget that Saltalamacchia, handily replaced in Texas with the likes of Bengie Molina and Matt Treanor, was even part of the deal.

Had Daniels not made that fateful decision to rebuild, it’s safe to say that neither team would be the same today. For reference, Jordan Schafer hit leadoff for the Braves on Friday. He has a career .325 OBP in the minors and has never stolen more than 23 bases in a season. Granted, Andrus has posted an OBP of only .334 throughout his career, but he already has 19 stolen bases to his name this season. Andrus in the leadoff spot undoubtedly would be an upgrade over the combination of Schafer and the injured Martin Prado.

The Braves already boast one of the best bullpens in the majors, led by young flamethrower Craig Kimbrel and dominant lefty Jonny Venters. The dynamic duo lead all relievers in WAR, Venters with a 1.4 and Kimbrel right behind him at 1.2. Now, imagine that crew with the addition of Feliz. It’s not unlikely that Atlanta would have spread the embarrassment of that wealth in talent and let Feliz start instead, as the Rangers might eventually do. That would give them a remarkable young core at the front of the rotation, starting with Tommy Hanson and Feliz.

The Rangers' story is widely known by now, as they won a pennant last year. It still seems remarkable that this team made the World Series in 2010 after trading such big-name talent as Adrian Gonzalez, John Danks and, yes, Teixeira.

It’s easy to criticize the Braves’ front office for making the trade. In fact, it’s easy to call the trade one of the worst recent deals pulled off at the deadline. But that’s also easy to say four years later. It’s just as easy to get inside Schuerholz’s head and understand why he made the deal, getting Teixeira for part of 2007 and potentially for all of 2008. His club had just seen its streak of postseason appearances broken. The offense was sputtering, and Andruw Jones was hitting only 20 points over the Mendoza Line. It looked like the club had its catcher of the future in McCann. Perhaps Saltalamacchia could have been converted to first base, but at the end of the day, he was blocked by McCann. The same could be said about Andrus, who looked disposable with Yunel Escobar showing flashes of greatness. Harrison is a back-end rotation starter, hardly a loss for a team with a strong starting rotation as it stood then (or is now). Feliz was the real key in the deal, and while many scouts praised his pure stuff, there were skeptics as well. Many questioned his small frame, claiming he would easily break down.

Schuerholz took a gamble, a gamble that he would eventually lose. But that’s the point of a gamble: You lose as many as you win. And at the end of the day, Teixeira has a ring, while Andrus and Feliz were two wins away from rings of their own. The Braves? Well, they’re still working at it. Just ask McCann, who had to watch Joe Mather swing through a Feliz heater to end the game.

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Alex Convery writes for Fire Brand of the American League, the Red Sox affiliate of the SweetSpot network. You can follow him on Twitter.

The Boston Red Sox are hoping that Jarrod Saltalamacchia comes around and becomes their No. 1 catcher. However, the 26-year-old is off to a slow start, hitting just .203 with an OPS of .522 and 19 strikeouts in only 69 at-bats. Although he is improving behind the plate in calling a game and throwing out runners, it's still unclear whether he is the long-term answer.

As the Red Sox allow him to play through his slow start, they are blessed to have a veteran and a winner in Jason Varitek to help him out. However, the Red Sox can’t wait until the trade deadline to search for a short-term or even a long-term answer behind the plate if Salty doesn’t hit or improve enough to win with one of the better rotations in baseball. Therefore, the effort has to be going on now behind the scenes.

Since general managers have only 29 trade partners, it’s important to stay in constant communication with each of them, constantly exploring options while communicating needs and depth. The best chance for the Red Sox making a deal for a catcher is to target teams that have multiple talented catchers. Therefore, teams such as the Reds, Yankees, Angels, Nationals, Blue Jays and Athletics are the most logical places for the Red Sox to start. Remember, trades can be done in one phone call, but most trades take weeks, months or even years to consummate. It never hurts to make trade proposals on a regular basis, even if you never end up making a deal with that club.

To make a deal for a catcher, the first thing you need to do is to look at your rankings of catchers in the minor and major leagues. Each team will have a board listing their top 50 trade targets. GMs will have these players ranked in terms of how their top executives, scouts, player development personnel and other evaluators view them.

All 30 clubs want to have a Joe Mauer or Buster Posey, but those aren’t players you’ll ever be able to trade for. Draft them if you want them; otherwise, lower your sights. Every club is always trying to improve their team at each position. In the case of the Red Sox, they have to figure out where Saltalamacchia fits on their rankings of catchers. For this example, let’s say they view him at No. 32. To improve the team, it would then make sense to talk to the teams that have catchers who are ranked higher, ideally trying to acquire a catcher in the top 20.

Here would be an example of what the CATCHERS TRADE TARGETS list would look like. Note that it is a mix of major and minor leaguers. (This is not an exact order, just an example.)

CATEGORY NO. 1: DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME, THEY'RE NOT TRADING
1. Joe Mauer -- Minnesota Twins
2. Buster Posey -- San Francisco Giants
3. Brian McCann -- Atlanta Braves
4. Yadier Molina -- St. Louis Cardinals
5. Carlos Santana -- Cleveland Indians
6. Matt Wieters -- Baltimore Orioles
7. Kurt Suzuki -- Oakland Athletics
8. Jesus Montero -- New York Yankees
9. Carlos Ruiz -- Philadelphia Phillies
10. Miguel Montero -- Arizona Diamondbacks
11. Hank Conger -- Los Angeles Angels

CATEGORY NO. 2: PLAN ON PAYING A HEFTY PRICE
12. Travis d'Arnaud -- Toronto Blue Jays
13. Derek Norris -- Washington Nationals
14. Gary Sanchez -- New York Yankees
15. Devin Mesoraco -- Cincinnati Reds
16. Wilson Ramos -- Washington Nationals
17. Alex Avila -- Detroit Tigers
18. J.P. Arencibia -- Toronto Blue Jays
19. Wilin Rosario -- Colorado Rockies
20. Yasmani Grandal -- Cincinnati Reds
21. Max Stassi -- Oakland Athletics
22. Tony Sanchez -- Pittsburgh Pirates
23. Jason Castro -- Houston Astros

CATEGORY NO. 3: POSSIBLE UPGRADES
24. Russell Martin -- New York Yankees
25. Geovany Soto -- Chicago Cubs
26. Austin Romine -- New York Yankees
27. John Buck -- Florida Marlins
28. Jeff Mathis -- Los Angeles Angels
29. Ramon Hernandez -- Cincinnati Reds
30. A.J. Pierzynski -- Chicago White Sox
31. Nick Hundley -- San Diego Padres
32. Yorvit Torrealba -- Texas Rangers
33. Chris Snyder -- Pittsburgh Pirates
34. Sebastian Valle -- Philadelphia Phillies
35. Justin O’Connor -- Tampa Bay Rays
36. Miguel Olivo -- Seattle Mariners
37. Mike Napoli -- Texas Rangers
38. Jonathan Lucroy -- Milwaukee Brewers
39. John Jaso -- Tampa Bay Rays
40. Kyle Skipworth -- Florida Marlins
41. Lou Marson -- Cleveland Indians
42. Jesus Flores -- Washington Nationals
43. Josh Thole -- New York Mets
44. Matt Treanor -- Kansas City Royals
45. Carlos Perez -- Toronto Blue Jays
46. Rod Barajas -- Los Angeles Dodgers
47. Pudge Rodriguez -- Washington Nationals
48. Chris Iannetta -- Colorado Rockies
49. Bobby Wilson -- Los Angeles Angels
50. Ryan Doumit -- Pittsburgh Pirates

Now, let’s get specific with realistic possibilities the Red Sox could be discussing:

Long-term solutions
Reds -- Devin Mesoraco or Yasmani Grandal
Blue Jays -- J.P. Arencibia or Travis d'Arnaud
Angels -- Hank Conger or Jeff Mathis
Nationals -- Wilson Ramos or Derek Norris
Athletics -- Max Stassi
Yankees -- Never mind, not happening

Possible stop-gap catchers for this year
These guys could be available if their teams fall out of the playoff race.

White Sox -- A.J. Pierzynski
Mariners -- Miguel Olivo
Padres -- Nick Hundley
Nationals -- Pudge Rodriguez
Free agent -- Bengie Molina

I hope that the combination of Saltalamacchia and Varitek will work out for the Red Sox. If not, it will be fun to watch Theo Epstein and the Red Sox try to wheel and deal in July.

Thanks for reading! I appreciate your feedback and ideas. Feel free to contact me directly at my Twitter account: JimBowdenESPNxm.

Among the many question to be answered this spring: Who's going to catch for the Rangers? Because as T.R. Sullivan writes, at this point there's a competition:

The Rangers have a mantra for Spring Training: whatever is in the best interests of the team to help us win.That's why there is extreme competition on the pitching staff. That's also why their catching situation is up for grabs going into the first workout on Friday. That's why Jarrod Saltalamacchia will have to fight off Taylor Teagarden, Toby Hall and others if he wants to be the Rangers' No. 1 catcher again.

"That's what we're basing the club on: what's best for the team and our ability to win," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. "We have to apply that here as well."

So, for the third straight year, Saltalamacchia comes into camp having to win a job and there is still a possibility the Rangers could sign free-agent catcher Jose Molina. They have had discussions with his representatives and he still hasn't signed.

"It has been presented to us as competition, so I'm going to prepare myself to do what it takes to win the job," Saltalamacchia said. "I still believe it's a team game and we have to do our job working with the pitching staff and do what it takes to help them."

--snip--

The job is open because of the uncertainty about Saltalamacchia's shoulder. He came down with thoracic outlet syndrome in August and had surgery in September to have a rib bone removed that was causing pain and numbness in his right throwing arm. The Rangers expect full recovery, but he did have one offseason setback when he tried to return too quickly to play winter ball.

"We're not certain about his health," Washington said. "He just has to show us he can play. If he can play, he's got the job."

Gee, this doesn't sound like much of a competition to me.

Toby Hall? He's 34, he missed 2009 with a severe shoulder injury, and he's got a .297 career on-base percentage. Hall isn't a candidate; he's cheap insurance in case somebody gets hurt next month.

And it sounds like the job is Saltamacchia's to lose. I'm just not sure it should be.

Remember when the Rangers had too many catchers? Well, that problem took care of itself. Max Ramirez, who tore up Double-A in 2008, suffered wrist problems in Triple-A in 2009, and even if he's healthy and hitting again he'll probably wind up at first base.

Saltalamacchia and Teagarden?

We're still waiting for them to hit.

Salty's career line: .251/.314/.389
Teagarden's career line: .237/.295/.457

But the statistical question marks go beyond the majors. Really, neither player has accomplished much above Class A, which makes me wonder why we (read: I) thought so highly of them in the first place.

Saltalamacchia turns 25 this spring; Teagarden is 26.

Teagarden bats right-handed, while Saltalamacchia has the virtue of switch-hitting (though it's not a great virtue if he doesn't actually hit).

A couple of years ago, it seemed (to me) like a question of which young Ranger would first establish himself as a star catcher in the majors. Now that seems like a silly question. Now the organization can only hope that one of them becomes slightly more than competent, and they seem to be close enough as hitters that maybe defense should be the tiebreaker.

Or Ron Washington could just do the smart thing, and platoon them.

Ivan Rodriguez a Ranger again? Raise your hand if you saw this coming? Jeff Wilson with all the details (except for the identity of the presumably nondescript minor leaguers the Rangers are giving up):

A source said Rodriguez will serve as the backup for Taylor Teagarden, who has assumed the starting duties with Jarrod Saltalamacchia on the disabled list. Saltalamacchia was placed on the DL on Saturday with arm fatigue and was told today by vascular specialist Dr. Greg Pearl that he has thoracic outlet syndrome. Saltalamacchia, though, said that he will stretch and rehab the arm over the next few weeks and was told that he could play again this season. "I'm going to play through it, and hopefully it goes away," Saltalamacchia said. "He [Pearl] thinks that if I stretch it out and do the rehab, there's a chance I can overcome it. "I don't want my season to end. We're in the hunt, and I want to help out as much as I can."

Do you remember last summer, when smart guys like me were saying the Rangers had so many good catchers they should trade one of them to the Red Sox?

Those three good catchers -- Teagarden, Saltalamacchia, and Maximiliano Ramirez -- have been so good this season that management felt compelled to trade two young players for a 37-year-old catcher with a .280 on-base percentage.

Saltalamacchia? The starter for most of this season, he's got a .293 on-base percentage, and he's had some problems throwing the ball back to the pitchers.

Teagarden? He's been even worse, with a .264 on-base percentage in 38 games.

Ramirez? He can't really catch, and anyway he hasn't done enough with the bat this year to escape the minor leagues.

Hence, Ivan Rodriguez. Of course, his OBP isn't any great shakes, either. But he can still throw, and with Saltalamacchia out the Rangers do need another catcher. And speaking purely as a fan, it'll be fun to see him wearing the uniform again.