As spring play comes to an end, managers have to make tough decisions. This was one of them. Ranger’s Manager Ron Washington made a decision for who is going to be the starting catcher for the 2008 season. After much debate, starting catcher from last season Gerald Laird beat out 22-year-old Jarrod Saltalamacchia for the starting spot, which will mean that the young catcher will start the season at Triple-A Oklahoma. It was Laird’s starting spot to lose and he played good this spring batting .293 with four homers and 11 rbi’s, where as Saltalamacchia wasn’t horrible but didn’t keep up with Laird, batting .250 with eight rbi’s. Laird’s poor offensive performance last season gave Saltalamacchia a chance to take the starting spot but proved he can still play at a higher level then the 22-year-old. The young catcher talked to the Dallas News about the unfortunate event, “I’m a little disappointed because I did everything I possibly could. I left it on the field, but at the end of the day it wasn’t good enough. That upsets you. But I’ll take it and go to Triple-A, and be an MVP there.” I mean at least he has a good mentality about it. I always thought he was going to take the job but after this spring you see that he still is not ready to do that. He’s very young and has still a lot of time to learn and thats very good for the Ranger’s franchise.