The Catcher and SS positions

[RedSoxFaithful]

Sign Bengie Molina' date=' please.[/quote']

 

100% agree, He can't hit any worse than Tek or Salty and he can call a game better than salty and maybe catch or throw a ball so why not.

[SoxSport]

I think after Salty's pathetic performance tonight it might be time to make a move and go get a catcher' date=' who if he isn't going to hit, can at least catch and throw a ball.[/quote']

 

Too much heat on the guy. Mistake to hand him the job. Let him earn it.

[RedSoxFaithful]

Too much heat on the guy. Mistake to hand him the job. Let him earn it.

 

A little over reaction after last night. He is actually hitting well in his last 3 games or so.

 

That pass ball where Abreu scored from second was awful though, if your going to be a major League catcher stuff like that can't happen. Not to mention teams don't repect his ability to throw out anyone at this point. I hope he gets it together.

[BSN07]

A little over reaction after last night. He is actually hitting well in his last 3 games or so.

 

That pass ball where Abreu scored from second was awful though, if your going to be a major League catcher stuff like that can't happen. Not to mention teams don't repect his ability to throw out anyone at this point. I hope he gets it together.

 

It's been awhile since any team has respected any Catcher's for the Red Sox ability to throw out base runners.

[SoxSport]

A little over reaction after last night. He is actually hitting well in his last 3 games or so.

 

That pass ball where Abreu scored from second was awful though, if your going to be a major League catcher stuff like that can't happen. Not to mention teams don't repect his ability to throw out anyone at this point. I hope he gets it together.

 

I'm for the kid. I just don't like all the pressure on him. They should break him in more slowly. That means getting a real backup--Tek is a relic.

 

With that lineup, you worry about defense behind the plate, and handling the pitchers. Forget about offense.

[SoxSport]

It's been awhile since any team has respected any Catcher's for the Red Sox ability to throw out base runners.

 

I'm from the school that says baserunners steal on the pitcher, not the catcher. Seems Red Sox pitchers have been "taught" not to hold runners on. That might change with Young.

It's another one of those subjects that doesn't get discussed in the media.

[SoxSport]

100% agree' date=' He can't hit any worse than Tek or Salty and he can call a game better than salty and maybe catch or throw a ball so why not.[/quote']

 

Most likely, McHenry will get called up. Other names I've seen bandied about are Ramon Hernandez and Chris Snyder. The Pirates probably won't deal Snyder, since they are playing well.Hernandez could be expendable from the Reds.

[RedSoxFaithful]

Most likely' date=' McHenry will get called up. Other names I've seen bandied about are Ramon Hernandez and Chris Snyder. The Pirates probably won't deal Snyder, since they are playing well.Hernandez could be expendable from the Reds.[/quote']

 

Yeah our best option right now may be internal, especially if Hernandez is expensive. If Tek can hit even a little bit I do like the way he handles the pitching staff, that man knows how to call a game.

[BSN07]

I'm from the school that says baserunners steal on the pitcher, not the catcher. Seems Red Sox pitchers have been "taught" not to hold runners on. That might change with Young.

It's another one of those subjects that doesn't get discussed in the media.

 

Doesn't matter what the pitcher does if the Catcher can't get the ball close to the bag for a tag. Just like it won't matter how good the catchers arm/accuracy is if the pitcher lets him get a huge running start because he's not holding them on properly.

 

It's not all on one or the other. Some responsibility falls to both players.

[SoxSport]

Salty got a big boost today catching Lackey's shutout.

[BSN07]

Nice to see Scutaro hitting decent when he's in the line up. Should increase his trade value

[Jwmann2]

How many SuperStar name short stops in Major League Baseball do you know of? I can think of two; Hanley and Jeter. Baseball is full of traveling Hispanic shortstops like Edgar Renteria, Julio Lugo, Felipe Lopez, Orlando Cabrera, Alexei Ramirez, Yuniesky Betancourt. Do you want any of them on your team?

Lowrie and Scutaro are solid. You can't be perfect at every single position.

[BornToRun]

Jeter sucks now, take him off the list. You're also forgetting a man named Tulo.

[WellBefore2004]

How many SuperStar name short stops in Major League Baseball do you know of? I can think of two; Hanley and Jeter. Baseball is full of traveling Hispanic shortstops like Edgar Renteria, Julio Lugo, Felipe Lopez, Orlando Cabrera, Alexei Ramirez, Yuniesky Betancourt. Do you want any of them on your team?

Lowrie and Scutaro are solid. You can't be perfect at every single position.

 

Troy Tulowitzki?

[26 to 6]

I don't understand why the Sox haven't signed Bengie yet. And as for SS there's a lot of speculation here in NY that Jose Reyes will be sporting a Red Sox uniform at some point in the near future. But idk how high the organization is on Iglesias, and that will have a lot to do with whether the Sox A) trade for him as a rental player when the Mets fall out of contention; 2) trade for him this year and extend him, or C) just sign him in the offseason.

[Cocos Disciples]

Russell Martin sure would be nice to have right now.

 

I've heard Ivan Rodriguez's name floating around, which seems like a pretty bad idea since he's going to give you the same offensive production as Salty at the very best, and he's old as f***. I'm not sure where his defense is right now, but it can't be where it once was.

 

Bengie Molina played for both World Series teams last year, so with him the Sox are basically a lock. I'd go for it.

[SoxSport]

Russell Martin sure would be nice to have right now.

 

 

Martin is another one of those free agents overachieving in NY right now. Colon and Garcia are among the others. The Yankees scraped the bottom of the barrel for free agent pitchers, and have come up roses--so far. Colon looks great. As long as he's on 2 meals a day. Millwood is liable to win 20 there if they bring him up.

 

I agree Epstein made a mistake handing Salty the catching job. Giving him all that pressure.

He had an opportunity to sign Martin with some assurance of PT--but passed. Martin figured he would play more in NY.

 

Theo does good things and bad things.

[BornToRun]

Is it just me though or does Salty seem to be making some progress?

[Dojji]

Impatient fans are impatient.

[SoxSport]

Doesn't make a lot of sense to invest in two stars at $40 million, and then leave the important catching position so vulnerable.

 

Carrying Wake on the roster is a lot more expensive than his salary.

[SCM33]

Is it just me though or does Salty seem to be making some progress?

 

Impatient fans are impatient.

 

No. I dont care what he does with the bat. Anything he does with the bat is still going to be crap compared to the alternative that we had. If they wanted to replace Vmart because of his defensive deficiencies then they should have gotten a guy who could catch, not hand the position to a butcher.

 

He came here with a bad defensive reputation and that reputation is just what weve gotten in terms of results. Its not a shock that he cant catch/throw/block balls. The shock was that they didnt address it.

[Youk Of The Nation]

Is it just me though or does Salty seem to be making some progress?

 

No, no, it's just you.

[SCM33]

Please. Please find another catcher.

 

Its getting painful watching him lob the ball back to the pitcher.

 

Its getting painful watching him butcher balls behind the plate (Jenks was bad, but one of those balls should have been blocked, regardless of the fact it was ball 4).

 

Its getting painful watching him go 0-3/0-4 with 1 or 2 strikeouts every game.

 

Please, find a real catcher.

[iortiz]

Please. Please find another catcher.

 

Its getting painful watching him lob the ball back to the pitcher.

 

Its getting painful watching him butcher balls behind the plate (Jenks was bad, but one of those balls should have been blocked, regardless of the fact it was ball 4).

 

Its getting painful watching him go 0-3/0-4 with 1 or 2 strikeouts every game.

 

Please, find a real catcher.

 

+1

 

BTW, who had the brilliant idea to suggest this AA player, he cant even catch...

 

Russell Martin (.293 and .273 for life ... 4.0 MUSD),

Victor Martinez(.250 and .299 for life... 12 MUSD),

Mike Napoli (.245 and .252 for life... 5.8 MUSD),

 

our star Salty .204 and .254 for life 0.750 MUSD and for the half of the money we could bring a decent AAA player for a real experiment.

 

Do not tell me that we couldn't afford those players above or similar... even considering the next retirements and possible releases like Varitek, Wake, Drew, Cameron, Papi, Dice-K, etc. up to 50 MUSD of payroll available.

 

Theo, really, can't u see that?

[Palodios]

Saltalamacchia has gone 7 for his last 22, hitting .318 for his last 6 games. He also threw a runner out today, WHILE catching Wakefield. He has bought himself a full week of me not complaining about it

[SoxSport]

Saltalamacchia has gone 7 for his last 22' date=' hitting .318 for his last 6 games. He also threw a runner out today, WHILE catching Wakefield. He has bought himself a full week of me not complaining about it [/quote']

 

Theo dumped that catching job on him--he didn't ask for it. The kid is making a big effort to show everybody he can do it. Including catching Wake, which Varitek was never up to.

You have to give him some slack--he didn't ask to be put on the hot seat.

[BigPapiEnFuego]

There is way more important issues with this team than Salty. Way more.

[SCM33]

Theo dumped that catching job on him--he didn't ask for it. The kid is making a big effort to show everybody he can do it. Including catching Wake, which Varitek was never up to.

You have to give him some slack--he didn't ask to be put on the hot seat.

 

Jeez, I feel so bad that they handed him the starting catcher position on one of the best teams in baseball. That must really suck to be him. How dare they do that? He didnt ask for it, he would have rather sat in AAA trying to figure out how to return a throw to the pitcher.

 

He was given slack, and he proceeded to hang himself with that slack.

 

You are right about not "asking to be put on the hot seat". He didnt ask for it. The Redsox asked him to be below average defensively and adequate with the bat. Hes been brutally terrible at both.

 

Sad thing is, he never earned that responsibility because he was always a TERRIBLLLLEEEEEE defensive catcher.

 

We should not feel bad for him. He should be lucky he still has a big league job. The person we should feel bad for is one of the guys in the farm (a REAL catcher) that he currently blocking from the big leagues.

 

There is way more important issues with this team than Salty. Way more.

 

Really?

 

The fact that the pitching staff was lights out with Varitek behind the plate wasnt telling?

 

The fact that our catcher cannot catch/throw and/or handle a pitching staff is not important?

 

The guy cant even make a crisp return throw to the pitcher. He is friggin brutal.

 

If my memory serves me correctly, they won 5 straight games without many Salty sightings. Tito put this idiot back in the lineup and BOOOOOM, back to losing ways.

 

He is absolutely horrid. He is not a catcher, hes a butcher. He doesnt hit enough to justify his spot on the roster.

[BigPapiEnFuego]

God this constant Varitek ass kissing from everyone is driving me insane. Who in their right mind expects a 25 year old to live up to the expectations of a proven 38 year old? Varitek didn't even do s*** until he was around 28. He was considered a butcher and all that ******** at basically the same stage of his career. Salty's played a few months for this team. He's played 36 games for this team. That's it. Someone isn't going to get completely familiar with a pitching staff and their opponent's in 36 games. The pitching struggled at the beginning of the season and it wasn't his fault. It was typical beginning of the season pitching issues. Command being off, velocity off, lack of movement. They are getting into their form now and are looking a lot better regardless of who is catching them. He's caught all of Lester's starts I believe and he's looked fine. Even better than he normally does in Aprils. He's caught Lackey a lot and Lackey has been decent and has even praised him. Buccholz has looked bad no matter who catches him. Dice-K is unpredictable and has had good starts with Varitek and bad starts with both. Beckett is always only gonna be comfortable with Varitek no matter who else we have. Salty has been throwing better. He'll get the hang of blocking pitches as time goes on. And as Palodios mentioned he's hitting 316 his last 6 games.

 

Oh, and during that 5 game winning streak Varitek caught 3 games and Salty 2 of them. If you count from the first game of the winning streak, which Varitek caught at Oakland, through today:

 

Varitek 3 Wins and 3 Losses

Salty 4 Wins and 1 loss.

[SCM33]

God this constant Varitek ass kissing from everyone is driving me insane. Who in their right mind expects a 25 year old to live up to the expectations of a proven 38 year old? Varitek didn't even do s*** until he was around 28. He was considered a butcher and all that ******** at basically the same stage of his career. Salty's played a few months for this team. He's played 36 games for this team. That's it. Someone isn't going to get completely familiar with a pitching staff and their opponent's in 36 games. The pitching struggled at the beginning of the season and it wasn't his fault. It was typical beginning of the season pitching issues. Command being off, velocity off, lack of movement. They are getting into their form now and are looking a lot better regardless of who is catching them. He's caught all of Lester's starts I believe and he's looked fine. Even better than he normally does in Aprils. He's caught Lackey a lot and Lackey has been decent and has even praised him. Buccholz has looked bad no matter who catches him. Dice-K is unpredictable and has had good starts with Varitek and bad starts with both. Beckett is always only gonna be comfortable with Varitek no matter who else we have. Salty has been throwing better. He'll get the hang of blocking pitches as time goes on. And as Palodios mentioned he's hitting 316 his last 6 games.

 

Oh, and during that 5 game winning streak Varitek caught 3 games and Salty 2 of them. If you count from the first game of the winning streak, which Varitek caught at Oakland, through today:

 

Varitek 3 Wins and 3 Losses

Salty 4 Wins and 1 loss.

 

Nobody expected Salty to compare to Varitek. At best, they wanted him to be below average defensively....which is what Vmart was.

 

Varitek also didnt do s*** early in his career, because of his whole drafting process and contract hold out because of Scott Boras. He essentially started his career almost 4-5 years later than someone drafted out of college. See article paraphrase here: Jason was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the first round of the 1994 amateur draft, and the 14th pick overall. A pioneer of the loopholes in the draft process (see article here), he signed with a small team in the independent Northern League before agreeing to terms with the Mariners. He did not enter the Mariners minor league system until 1995, playing for the Port City Roosters. Varitek was 23 years old before he got his first professional plate appearance in AA. Salty was 18 years old when he got his first professional game appearances.

 

Varitek was also a 3B who hit right handed who MADE himself a catcher and a switch hitter in college at Georgia Tech, which is pretty spectacular considering how good he ended up being. Salty was a catcher the whole way through, and sucked the whole way through.

 

You also have to take in account what his pitchers thought of him. Curt Schilling came to Boston because of Varitek. Beckett will only throw to Varitek, his "binky", and in Japan Varitek is seen as some sort of hero that Dice-K couldnt wait to pitch to (even though it hasnt worked out as planned).Pedro was an advocate for Varitek....is it any coincidence that our elite pitchers have all wanted to throw to him?

 

This isnt ass kissing for Varitek, its just that we want a catcher who can catch, block balls, frame pitches and call a game.....and do the simple things, like make a nice snap throw back to the mound rather than lob it back to them at an area thats anyones guess.

 

Salty cannot even do the most basic of his defensive responsibilities and its inexcusable at this level, they have already tried working with him and has spent significant time in the minors trying to fix it. The experiment needs to end before it becomes an achilles heel, even if that means Varitek catches more than he has to and hits .150.