The Los Angeles Dodgers continued their stroll down veteran lane this offseason, signing catcher Matt Treanor to a one-year deal plus a club option for 2013. The contract is a total of $1 million, per Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times, including an $850,000 salary in 2012 and a $950,000 option in 2013 or a $150,000 buyout.
Treanor turns 36 on March 3, which is personally appealing as it assures there is another player on the roster older than I am. He hit .214/.338/.291 in 72 games between Kansas City and Texas this year. He was sold to the Rangers on August 31. Treanor was the only one of the 50 players on the 2011 World Series rosters who didn't play in a game during the Fall Classic (note: this excludes Adron Chambers, who was added for the injured Matt Holliday in Game 7, but did not play).
The signing of a career backup catcher like Treanor (he has started between 50 and 67 games behind the plate in five of the last six years, missing nearly all of 2009 with a torn labrum) would seem to indicate fairly significant playing time for A.J. Ellis behind the plate in 2012, though it would have been interesting to see what the plan would have been had Ryan Doumit said yes to the Dodgers.
Treanor is a native of Garden Grove who graduated from Mater Dei High School, and is married to two-time Olympic gold medalist Misty May-Treanor.
While there is a 27-year old offensively-talented player with a contract extension expected to be finalized sometime soon, so far this offseason the Dodgers have signed three players who will be 33, 35, and 36 years old next season who hit a combined .246/.310/.351 in 2011, and guaranteed that trio somewhere in the neighborhood of $14.1 million.
With Treanor, the Dodgers have 35 players on their 40-man roster.