Saltalamacchia starting to tear it up

[redsoxbeatz]

THREE strikeouts tonight. Ouch.

 

When this guy starts to K he just swings at anything.

[jung]

Pitchers keep throwing Salty strikes that he cannot hit....hell can't even foul them off....hence....K'sville. He lifted a fly ball tonight and that was on a mistake pitch.....that he is not likely to see to often.

[Youk Of The Nation]

After tonight's game I knew somehow that this thread would be bumped.

 

I don't know a hell of a lot about the Sox Minor Leagues. What does it look like catching-wise there right now? If they traded Salty, is there anyone that could be brought up?

[SCM33]

After tonight's game I knew somehow that this thread would be bumped.

 

I don't know a hell of a lot about the Sox Minor Leagues. What does it look like catching-wise there right now? If they traded Salty, is there anyone that could be brought up?

 

Shoppach is a pretty decent defensive catcher. He would probably produce less than Salty, but the defensive tradeoff might be worth it.

 

Lavarnway is rotting away down there. He could be brought up to learn from Shoppach.

 

Besides Lavarnway, nobody else is close.

[lospunchados]

can Bobby finally move salty down farther in the lineup. If he hits cleanup again this year i might flip out ( and i don't mind him he just should be our number 8 guy). If there is ever any situational hitting like gb to left side advances runner to third with less than 2 outs or runner on third with less than two outs , he rarely does it and just swings for the fences.

[2004 ALCS]

After tonight's game I knew somehow that this thread would be bumped.

 

I don't know a hell of a lot about the Sox Minor Leagues. What does it look like catching-wise there right now? If they traded Salty, is there anyone that could be brought up?

 

Lavarnway would be the obvious choice, he's hitting .299/.388/.445 in AAA right now.

[SCM33]

2 for his last 29.

[a700hitter]

2 for his last 29.

With a s*** load of strikeouts. Whe he goes on a bad streak he reminds me of Brian Daubach in his bad streaks. There were times when I thought he had been struck blind. The difference is that when he was hot Dauber was hitting .35-- 26- and not striking out.

[SemperFi Sox]

Hurry up Swihart!

[redsoxbeatz]

Sit this mofo and play Shoppach more often.

[BillBuckner]

Hes had the league lead for Homeruns by a catcher for quite some time now...Just sayin hes got a little attention earlier this year as well.

[SCM33]

Hes had the league lead for Homeruns by a catcher for quite some time now...Just sayin hes got a little attention earlier this year as well.

 

And that measures his ability?

 

He sucks.

[Station 13]

Hurry up Swihart!

 

Lavarnway?

 

Though Swihart has hit .300/.340/.430 since May. He's becoming a top prospect at this rate by the year end.

[Youk Of The Nation]

Salty is also leading the league in two other categories. Consecutive PAs with a K for catchers, and pissing me off. I mean, I defended the guy a lot and I still wish something would change, but the bottom line is that he just allows himself to hack at anything once he gets going. It sucks because you can tell that with the slightest bit of discipline he could be a great offensive catcher and he's not inept defensively as it is.

 

Anyways...I feel like he'll be around for the rest of the season no matter what, and I'm rooting for him to get it together.

[BillBuckner]

And that measures his ability?

 

He sucks.

 

Just Sayin. Leading something is better than nothing.

[SCM33]

Just Sayin. Leading something is better than nothing.

 

Batting Strikeouts?

 

Pitching Losses?

 

Caught stealing?

 

Fielding Errors?

[Youk Of The Nation]

If anyone could find a way to lead in all of those categories simultaneously, it would be Nick Punto.

[Emmz]

Just Sayin. Leading something is better than nothing.

 

Sup Dutchy?

[SCM33]

Sup Dutchy?

 

Or suns.

[example1]

Salty is also leading the league in two other categories. Consecutive PAs with a K for catchers, and pissing me off. I mean, I defended the guy a lot and I still wish something would change, but the bottom line is that he just allows himself to hack at anything once he gets going. It sucks because you can tell that with the slightest bit of discipline he could be a great offensive catcher and he's not inept defensively as it is.

 

Anyways...I feel like he'll be around for the rest of the season no matter what, and I'm rooting for him to get it together.

 

Would it bother you so much if he wasn't hitting in the middle-bottom of the order? He should be hitting 8th IMO and he wouldn't be pissing anyone off. Ross should be hitting 7th.

 

Ellsbury

Crawford

Pedroia

Ortiz

Gonzalez

Middlebrooks

Ross

Salty

Aviles

 

It seems pretty simple to me. Don't put Ross ahead of Middlebrooks. Don't put Salty ahead of Middlebrooks. Don't put Salty ahead of Ross. It isn't that confusing. If Ross hits 2 HR, that's great, leave him at the bottom of the order. There's a reason the Sox were able to pick him up for a few million late in the off-season and why he's played for multiple seasons.

 

Have the catcher with some pop and the OF with a high SLG hitting down in the order. Hope to catch lightning in a bottle occasionally.

 

Of course, for the same middling defense, the Sox could have Lavarnway up who is a legitimate .350 OBP threat at the plate with roughly the same power as Salty. He could hit higher in the order, IMO. This team is so damn frustrating.

[SoxSport]

Tek says Salty is doing well. His power numbers are near the top for a catcher, but their losing record when he catches vs Shoppach indicates he still is learning about how to call a game. It's surprising the length of leash Salty has been given to gain "experience" on the job, while others have to wait in Pawtucket.

[Palodios]

It seems pretty simple to me. Don't put Ross ahead of Middlebrooks. Don't put Salty ahead of Middlebrooks. Don't put Salty ahead of Ross. It isn't that confusing. If Ross hits 2 HR' date=' that's great, leave him at the bottom of the order. There's a reason the Sox were able to pick him up for a few million late in the off-season and why he's played for multiple seasons. [/quote']

 

I'm not sure if this is a typo, but Ross needs to be ahead of Middlebrooks.

 

Cody Ross is the team's best RHH bat. Period. .350 OBP, 16 home runs, 50 RBIs, .900 OPS. Oh, and his 1.200 OPS against lefthanders is the best in the majors. With so many good LHH in this lineup, putting an elite hitter in between them is the best choice. It also makes a considerable amount of sense to take the pressure off Middlebrooks as pitchers start to figure him out.

[example1]

No typo. I think Ross's numbers are inflated and would keep him lower in the order. At that stage of the lineup, though, I could be convinced otherwise.

[Palodios]

No typo. I think Ross's numbers are inflated and would keep him lower in the order. At that stage of the lineup' date=' though, I could be convinced otherwise.[/quote']

 

Sure, Ross is playing a little over his head right now, but his offensive production is very similar to what Beltre's numbers were before he came to Boston. This year he has a .993 OPS at Fenway, .793 OPS away. Good park, good lineup, it seems to have helped his stats considerably. Even if he hits to career averages, he's still worthwhile in between those top lefties with his career .940 OPS against lefties

 

And you also have to ask yourself-- do you want a high strikeout guy to be batting behind career .370 OBP guys like Pedroia/Agon/Ortiz?

[watsonrom]

lavarnway would be a good chance to upgrade the team internally. we could also grab some sort of prospect for him. maybe trade him to the astros for wandy rodriguez

[Bellhorn04]

The Red Sox are now 29-48 in Salty's last 77 starts going back to September. Seriously. We're 20-12 in Shoppach's starts this year. Some luck factors involved obviously, but still, that is pretty unf***ingbelievable.

[jung]

At some point in the middle of this utter and complete two year disaster, the Sox are going to have to deal with having ignored run prevention to the extent that they have. We don't have sound defense. We have defensive standouts in particular positions but not in the most important positions. Give me a plus defender at SS and Catcher and give me minus defenders at 1st base and elsewhere all day long. Don't give me minus defenders at SS and Catcher and then tell me the defense is sound cause I have plus defenders at 1st and 2nd base and don't talk to me about adequate defenders at SS and Catcher because in doing so you have de-facto doomed the defense to minus status in the overall.

 

The outfield is basically armless. Crawford has so far been a disaster in LF and I continue to point out that he has sucked coming in on balls never mind what he has or has not done at the wall. Ells is far and away the best of them as far as ranging in the outfield, catching up to and catching the ball but that is as far as it goes. Aviles is a butcher at SS. Salty continues to be a terrible catcher having improved his throwing only over these last two years while continuing to do what appears to be a terrible job handling the pitching staff. So far WMB has not been an upgrade to Youk defensively although I continue to hope that will improve.

 

I said in another thread that if I had chosen to track it I am convinced that I could have found an error or a defensive play not made or a double play that should have been made resulting in extra outs for the opposition in virtually every game this year. While the starting pitching is by far the biggest problem this team has, it only overshadows the lack of timely hitting and poor defense by this club by virtue of how bad the starting pitching has been. However you add Salty's numbers as a factor in how bad the pitching has been and you begin to see how much this organization has ignored run prevention in total as a consequence of focusing almost its entire attention on glamour signings that have simply added more disassociated pieces to this team, adding to its disfunction and lack of cohesiveness in virtually every aspect of the game. Fortunately it has not destroyed the farm system in the process having only put something of a hole in the train of players that should be making their way to the bigs.

 

But by the time this season is done, IMO, we will not have a one year disaster but two years of utter and complete failure at the ML level. The starting pitching deserves the most attention going forward because starting pitching is so important but there is much about this team that is not just wrong but critically wrong. I have railed against this notion that you accept a butcher at SS because he can hit constantly at this forum and while it might be hard for some to see how and why Aviles is a butcher at SS, you don't have to be that astute an observer to see that he is not a plus defender at SS and his hitting is simply nothing to write home about. As for Salty, most of his HR's have been meaningless bombs lost in the background noise of yet another loss while his defense and lack of effectiveness handling the pitchers is something the team has to live with, every pitch of every game he catches.

[jacksonianmarch]

jung, you may be onto something. Our rotation got a lot better last yr with a bunch of duct tape, bubble gum and Martin catching. You get a good defensive catcher and you live with the lost offense. I think the sox might be better off dealing Salty while his value is pretty high, using Shoppach as the starting catcher and transitioning Lavarnway into the backup C role while DHing next yr with Papi moving on.

[Bellhorn04]

jung' date=' you may be onto something. Our rotation got a lot better last yr with a bunch of duct tape, bubble gum and Martin catching. You get a good defensive catcher and you live with the lost offense. I think the sox might be better off dealing Salty while his value is pretty high, using Shoppach as the starting catcher and transitioning Lavarnway into the backup C role while DHing next yr with Papi moving on.[/quote']

 

I agree. Salty has definite value as a catcher who can hit right-handed pitching. Against RHP he's got an .834 OPS, 18 HR and 40 RBI in 218 AB's.

[User Name]

Salty needs to go.