What should the Yankees do with Jesus Montero?

The Daily News had an in-depth article about Yankees’ catching prospect Jesus Montero over the weekend. The focus follows the standard Montero storyline: kid can hit a ton, but his defense is lacking. As you might expect, there’s lots of stuff in there about bruised arms from ball-in-the-dirt drills, speculation as to whether he can hack it at first base, etc. Good story.

And while this is probably no surprise to Yankees fans and prospect hawks, I was unaware of how much catching depth the Bombers have in the minors:

The Yankees have so much catching depth in their minor-league system that, as good as Jesus Montero is, he may not be Jorge Posada’s eventual replacement. Four of the Yanks’ top eight prospects, according to Baseball America, are catchers.

Maybe it’s Austin Romine, last year’s Florida State League player of the year who Baseball America tabbed as the Yankees’ No. 2 prospect behind Montero. Or Gary Sanchez (No. 7), who signed for $3 million as an international free agent, or J.R. Murphy (No. 8). Maybe it’s 19-year-old Kyle Higashoika.

“I’ve never seen so many good young catchers together,” says Julio Mosquera, the Yankees’ minor-league catching coordinator. “I tell these guys, ‘The sky is the limit for you.’ ”

There’s not much more valuable in baseball than a good young catcher, and though the Yankees have been forfeiting draft picks due to free agent signings and picking late for years, that kind of depth could be plenty to keep the talent flowing into the Bronx for years. Indeed, this winter it was widely reported that the Yankees offered Montero for Roy Halladay.

Whether that simply wasn’t rich enough for the Jays or whether they simply didn’t want to trade Doc within the division is unclear, but you can bet that at some point someone is going to trade the Yankees an expensive stud veteran for Montero or one of the other prospects.