Saltalamacchia starting to tear it up

[a700hitter]

I agree. Salty has definite value as a catcher who can hit right-handed pitching. Against RHP he's got an .834 OPS' date=' 18 HR and 40 RBI in 218 AB's.[/quote']I hope Salty hits 3 more bombs this week, and we ship him off for a decent return. The guy stinks as a catcher, and he has not done anything to manage this staff.

[Scottish Red Sox Fan]

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' date=' but still, that is pretty unf***ingbelievable.[/quote']

 

Interesting stat that.

[jacksonianmarch]

That is quite telling. Especially since Shoppach hasnt been one pitcher's binky. Eventually you have to flip the script and go back to what worked.

 

The last time the sox went to the playoffs was in 2009 when Varitek caught 109 games. Since 2009, they have had catchers who are considered defensive butchers and s***** game callers in VMart and Salty. They went away from defense at quite possibly the most important defensive position. And as a catcher, you have the unique job of managing the pace and the pitch type in the game. This means you not only have to field your position, but you have to manage your pitcher's through the game. Also, by 2009, VTek had become a liability on the defensive end because of wear and tear. In 2008, the sox were 3rd in starter's ERA in the AL at 4.02 and 4th in total ERA at 4.01. Since that time, the sox were 7th, 9th, 9th, and 10th in total ERA and thus has corresponded with the sox missing the POs for what will likely be a 3rd straight yr

[jung]

Looking at Lester's mechanics, I know they are screwed....no doubt about it. How much help has Salty been at helping Lester recognize his screwed up mechanics? I don't know. He does not make many trips out to the mound seemingly when Lester is pitching but that might not mean much.

 

Pitchers have to be responsible for their preparation as well. They should not be relying on Salty to do their prep work for them. Both Salty and the Pitcher for a particular game should be ready as the battery for that game.

 

As I said earlier the only thing I can "see" that I don't like is Salty's targets. I just think they are terrible. Along with being generally terrible it is hard for me to detect much change in the way Salty sets up one pitcher to the next which would says to me that the way he sets up would suit some pitchers more than others although it is the catcher that needs to adapt to the guy pitching, not the other way round.

 

One thing that is universally true for pitchers is that they do not want to be guessing where the catcher wants the ball, while they are mid-windup. They want a clear and defined target and they want it to be in a good spot to a particular batter. From what I can tell, more often than not, Salty is sort of nebulous about where he wants the ball. More often than not he is not far off of a little to outside or inside of middle of the plate which can't be right for most of the staff. He wants to be more definitively on the outer or inner edge as middle is middle and nobody wants to be middle unless the pitcher is in desperate straits just to throw any strike at all. It does not matter where he has called for the ball because the pitcher needs to throw at the center of that mitt. He can't throw to the edge as a target or Salty's wrist as target....Salty needs to put the middle of his mitt where he wants the ball.

 

How many times have you seen catchers that want the ball off the plate set up off the plate entirely? Ever see Salty set up off the plate entirely?

 

Just give the pitcher a nice firm target where you want the ball to be and don't tell me that you want it just an inch or two from dead middle of the plate cause I just won't believe that.

 

On low strikes he really does have a tendency to stab at he ball as he tends to stab at it more than he should on any sort of pitch really but it is most noticeable to me on pitches low in the strike zone. That may be more an issue relating to his height than whether the ump can see over him or not. He may just not be able to get down there far enough when he sets up because of his height.

 

I can really only comment on things I can see with my eyes as anything else would be just a flat out guess on my part.

[SCM33]

Why is he still starting?

[Youk Of The Nation]

Why is he still starting?

 

The official scorekeeper is only allowed a dulled golf pencil, and he f***ed Ben Cherington's wife.

[Emmz]

That's just sadistic.

[SoxSport]

Jung's observation about Salty are correct, in my view. I watched him last night. He doesn't frame pitches on the corners. For example, last night Morales threw a straight fastball right down the middle of the plate to Swisher in the 3rd or 4th inning, and he promptly hit it out of sight. The wrong pitch at the wrong time.

His problem is Salty did not frame the pitch properly--or at all. His glove should have been over the outside of the plate. It was also a stupid pitch. He could have easily got Swisher out off-speed. His fastball should have been wasted off the plate.

 

When a fan can see a problem with a catcher on TV, you know a team has big problems with the management. Salty isn't framing pitches properly--on the corners--and that is probably contributing to all the HRs the pitchers give up. Salty doesn't hack it with pitchers--and may be one of the reasons why their starting pitching sucks. Why is he the regular catcher?

 

It's just another indication of how this organization overvalues offense at the expense of defense and pitching.

[SoxSport]

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' date=' but still, that is pretty unf***ingbelievable.[/quote']

 

And yet they gave away Shoppach instead of trading Salty. In the face of these simple stats.

 

The Red Sox front office simply doesn't care about defense. Hazen said Iggy isn't coming up until he becomes an offensive player. That's a pretty outrageous remark from a guy who is paid a lot of money to assemble a winning baseball team.

 

They have known Lavarnway was a better defensive catcher than Salty--and took forever to bring him up.

 

The incompetence of the Front Office has been largely overlooked by the media--and it's probably the principal reason for the demise of the Red Sox.

[Elktonnick]

And yet they gave away Shoppach instead of trading Salty. In the face of these simple stats.

 

The Red Sox front office simply doesn't care about defense. Hazen said Iggy isn't coming up until he becomes an offensive player. That's a pretty outrageous remark from a guy who is paid a lot of money to assemble a winning baseball team.

 

They have known Lavarnway was a better defensive catcher than Salty--and took forever to bring him up.

 

The incompetence of the Front Office has been largely overlooked by the media--and it's probably the principal reason for the demise of the Red Sox.

 

I thought the trading of Shoppach was nuts. Salty is an awful catcher. He can't even catch a foul ball. I find it incredible that a team that supposedly is so committed to sabermetrics would make such a decision in view of all the data.

[Palodios]

I thought the trading of Shoppach was nuts. Salty is an awful catcher. He can't even catch a foul ball. I find it incredible that a team that supposedly is so committed to sabermetrics would make such a decision in view of all the data.

 

The problem is that there aren't any good sabermetrics to measure the effectiveness of catchers, and the Red Sox ignore such worthless primitive stats like caught stealing, catcher's era, and passed balls.

 

 

I've been trying to dig a big on catcher defense, but can't find a whole lot. This article rates Salty as #82 of 83 defensive catchers. Big surprise.

http://blogs.thescore.com/mlb/2012/06/07/fogging-the-measure-catcher-defense-ratings-june-2012-edition/

[jung]

Aviles at SS and Salty at Catcher...it is almost like the Red Sox decided to do their own study....call it a Fenwaymatic on what happens if you put hideous defenders at the two most important defensive positions on the field.

 

There are no specific numbers that spit out of a Fenwaymatric. You just get....."this sucks" for an answer.

[Elktonnick]

Aviles at SS and Salty at Catcher...it is almost like the Red Sox decided to do their own study....call it a Fenwaymatic on what happens if you put hideous defenders at the two most important defensive positions on the field.

 

There are no specific numbers that spit out of a Fenwaymatric. You just get....."this sucks" for an answer.

 

Good points both Pal & Jung. How about the best data of all. The old eye ball test. Just watch Salty and Aviles play the field , its painful!

[SoxSport]

The Media says the Yankees have Morales number. Sounds like pure conventional wisdom.

 

Watching the game, it's clear he isn't getting much help from Salty, who doesn't frame pitches on the corners.

 

Another big mistake by the front office was going with Salty instead of Martin, who wanted to play for them and now catches for the Yankees. Martin is a much better defensive catcher. He's hitting .200 but kills the Red Sox almost every at bat that counts.

 

The front office has made so many mistakes the past few years it has caught up with the Red Sox.

Henry continues to have a blind eye about what's really wrong with the team. So does the media, with all their emphasis on Bobby V, who didn't cause the mess.

[Elktonnick]

The Media says the Yankees have Morales number. Sounds like pure conventional wisdom.

 

Watching the game, it's clear he isn't getting much help from Salty, who doesn't frame pitches on the corners.

 

Another big mistake by the front office was going with Salty instead of Martin, who wanted to play for them and now catches for the Yankees. Martin is a much better defensive catcher. He's hitting .200 but kills the Red Sox almost every at bat that counts.

 

The front office has made so many mistakes the past few years it has caught up with the Red Sox.

Henry continues to have a blind eye about what's really wrong with the team. So does the media, with all their emphasis on Bobby V, who didn't cause the mess.

 

Except for a few BV haters that seems to be the consensus.

[SoxSport]

Lav looked pretty good today. Seemed to be framing pitches better on the corners. There has to be something to that poor W-L record with Salty catching. Another question the media should be posing instead of this crap about Valentine.

[Elktonnick]

Lav looked pretty good today. Seemed to be framing pitches better on the corners. There has to be something to that poor W-L record with Salty catching. Another question the media should be posing instead of this crap about Valentine.

 

The catcher's era is disputed by some (not me) but the difference is startling over the last two years. Both Varitek and Shoppach had significantly lower "eras" than Salty. It easy to see why. Yesterday he miss played a foul ball not the first. I've seen him drop way too many foul tips. The list goes on. His defensive lapses mean extra pitches with all that causes. So it isn't just his framing pitches or his pitch calling. He just isn't a good defensive catcher.

[jung]

He's hideous. The only thing I can credit Salty for is that he has improved his throwing this year...but that is it...everything else is a screaming disaster.