Which catchers have been better? Or who would I rather have on my team right now? Or who would I rather have on my team for the next few years? Because there are different answers depending on what you mean. That's not to say Martinez isn't a productive bat. He is. But in any case, Martinez is becoming more of a 1B than a C.
no. they do this so they can spell him, but yet keep him in the lineup. as he is by far their best hitter, keeping him at a 1b/C split like they have is essential to win. if he played for the sox, he'd be playing catcher, getting regular rests , and the odd game at first.
not to mention the faith shapiro has in shoppach. his 08 season was decent for a catcher, so to play both of them in the lineup makes sense. i think it's pretty clear on the sox martinez would be the starting catcher 5 games a week.
Well, his 2008 season was only 73 games due to injury. And won't your team ERA balloon if they're not throwing to your captain -- the best game caller in the history of the gamel? (I actually wouldn't have remembered that he was your captain, but fortunately, he wears that "C" on his chest to help people out.) (That was for devil, since he's such a big fan.)
well you definetly notice a difference in the pitcher's approach when it's someone like kottaras out there. varitek studies every hitter extensively, so he is a great game caller. yes i would be uneasy, but it's gotta happen sometimes.
Very doubtful. It's FAR more likely he'd start 1-2 a week at C, 2-3 at 1B, and 1-2 at DH. Lowell needs regular rest, they're a lot better off down the stretch with a catcher who not only knows the pitching staff but is considered one of the best in the game at calling a game, and Ortiz would be able to sit against lefties. It would actually be a pretty good set up.
that's a good point, but i was thinking more in the future. laroche can spell lowell, and yes, vtek would probalby take a lot of games catching. but i still think next year and whatever years he would be here after would be catching IMO.
This is a dumb strawman. My point is this: Buchholz is a 25 year old pitcher whose track record is eerily similar to Ian Kennedy. But the RSN hype machine has somewhat made this guy bigger than the second (or first; whatever) coming of Jesus Christ.
I can tell from the few posts from you I've seen today that you aren't that bright, but are you actually trying to deny that Varitek is widely considered by people who are actually in baseball to be one of the best in the league when it comes to preparation and calling a game? Seriously, it's pretty much the only reason he was resigned.
Buchholz dominated the minors in a way Kennedy never did, and has always had higher upside. He threw a no hitter and threw 21 dominant major league innings in '07. Even last year when he struggled he still was striking out tons of guys. Eerily similar to Kennedy? People have argued Hughes or Chamberlain vs. Buck, and those are good debates, but Kennedy has never been on the level of Buchholz. Fine, plenty of people overstate the value of the guys they have in the minors right now, but it's hard to ignore what the system has produced. In the last 4 years it's developed Hanley Ramirez, Pedroia, Youks, Lester, and Paplebon. Will the current crop match that? Probably not but chances are that some of their prospects will continue to develop well.
And again, no one is denying that he calls a decent game. Or even that he calls a good game relative to Joe Average catcher. What's ludicrous is this idea that he's the only one who bothers to prepare. That he has access to some secret scouting report, or that he's some psychoanalytical genius in a chest protector, able to pick up on the facial ticks of opposing batters and translate that into knowledge of which pitch they are expecting. These are major league catchers. They ALL prepare for games. They ALL go over the scouting reports. Well, they're the same age, and progressed at just about the same rate through the minors. Let's take a look: Ian Kennedy in the minors: ERA: 1.95 WHIP: 0.985 K/9: 9.9 BB/9: 2.8 HR/9: 0.4 Buchholz in the minors: ERA: 2.42 WHIP: 1.002 K/9: 10.3 BB/9: 2.5 HR/9: 0.6 I wouldn't have a problem calling that eerily similar. And you'll also do well to remember that Kennedy threw 19.0 dominant innings in 2007 for the big league club. Yes, Buchholz's upside has always been higher. He's got a better fastball. (Or he did, anyway. What's with the 3-4mph drop?) His curve is nasty. Kennedy had great breaking pitches, and supposedly fantastic command. Neither adjusted well to the majors in 2008... both went back down to the minors and dominated (again). I think their careers followed very similar paths up to the point where Kennedy got hurt. This is not in praise of how awesome Kennedy is. It's more about how far Buchholz has fallen.
the thing is, you don't even have to leave the team to figure out how much better varitek is than average joe. the pitching (the bullpen, in particular) seems to be so much more comfortable with vtek, and the results, for the most part, show it.
I have highlighted the key word. The results don't really show it, and anything the results DO show within any given season is just as if not more likely to be noise as it is due to Varitek's diligent preparation advantage. Good pitchers tend to perform well regardless of to whom they are throwing, comfortable or not. Why? Because a 95 mph fastball at the knees on the outside corner is a hard pitch to hit, almost regardless of the batter. And there aren't many catchers who are so woefully unprepared as to say, "Hmm... I think a belt-high fastball in the middle of the plate would be a good pitch with this 0-2 count." There are nuances to calling a game, for sure, and the ability to keep your pitcher's head on straight is a good quality... but that has more to do with personality than preparation. But the bottom line is execution of pitches plays a far greater role in a pitcher's success than does the kind of pitch it is. Link
the link sent is misleading to say the least. mirabelli caught, for the most part, one guy. and wouldn't you know it, the year where vtek's pitchers had a .284 OPP avg, mirabelli had a .244 opp avg. what was wake's OPP avg that year? .245. obviously that's a huge factor. in the case of delcarmen, there were times yesterday when kottaras would call a 4 seamer, when normally it would be CB. these were 0-2, 1-2 counts , and his line ended up with the L and 2 ER's beside it.
You and your facts have no place here. Bottom line is if Bucholz didn't have the no-hitter he wouldn't be seen as nearly as much of a prospect. But as usual he'll be the headline of a deal that nets the Sox a difference maker while underwhelming his new team.
Nice straw man, but I never claimed he was the only one that did it or anything remotely close to that. All I said was he is widely considered around baseball as one of the best in the game when it comes to preparation and calling a game. Which is a fact. Get any scouting report from any scout on him, and I guarantee that it will mention his game calling skills as being among the best in the game. Pitchers that he has worked with have mentioned it as well. But nowhere did I say that he was the only one that prepared or anything else you mentioned. All I said was that due to his game calling skills, he would likely remain the starting catcher on most days in the event that the Red Sox acquired Victor Martinez.
