Almost every team matches catchers with specific pitchers. We had a unique situation, to start the year. We had almost an entirely new staff and catching tandem, at the same time.
It made sense to mix and match to start the year and use the opportunity to go mostly with the L-R factor, along the way.
I had hopes pitchers would prefer McGuire, as I see him as the better hitter, and being a lefty batter helps, but going with the better comfort level is the industry standard.
He may prefer the Sox, since he did well here in 2021.
It might come down to where he thinks he will play more and for longer.
With Mondesi on the 60, maybe that is BOS.
Looks really bad for this small sample size.
If he doesn't turn it around, certainlt Chang could beat him out for playing time, but it's not like Chang is lighting things up, either.
Man, our middle IF has been a major cluster ____!
It's hard to know. We are pretty sure they are looking at L-R splits as one factor, but not a lock straight platoon.
Maybe McGuire is nursing some unknown injury.
Maybe some pitchers have expressed a preference for Wong, already. Maybe they made the choice without pitcher input.
They will probably not give an answer, if anyone ever asks.
OPS Against leaders
WOO
.608 Bello
.667 Shugart
.678 Walter
.718 Dermody
.719 Jacques
.736 Mata
(.859 Whitlock, 1.010 Paxton, 1.057 Murphy)
POR
.311 Whitlock
.332 Nail
.350 Sharp
.412 Drohan
.444 Van Belle
.472 Denlinger
.570 Guerrero
.577 Webb
GRE
.474 Jones
.503 Trove
.549 Kwiatkowski
.580 Perry
SAL
.231 Bolden
.358 Landry
.447 de la Rosa (Beni trade)
.508 Rogers
.541 Dean
(.976 E R-C)
Yes. I think McGuire started the first 2 games of the season, so we all expected him to be "the main guy."
Maybe pitchers do feel more comfortable with Wong, and that is the major reason Wong seems to be the #1. We'll see.
At first, I thought maybe some of our younger guys had some experience with Wong on the farm, so that could be one reason, but not Kluber and Sale.
It's not a strict L-R platoon, for sure, but 7 or 8 starts vs RHPs does look like that is a factor with McGuire.
The O's lost clubhouse leader Trey Mancini plus one of MLB's best closers in Jorge Lopez. They lost their innings lead Jordan Lyles (4.42 ERA.)
How did replacing these guys with Kyle Gibson, Adam Frazier, Cole Irvin and M Givens an improvement?
If you are counting on young guys getting better or returning vets from injury, we have plenty of those, too.
I'm not so sure how much better the other teams got, either.
jacko will tell you we lost our ace (Nate,) well, if that is true, the Yanks lost the closer (Chapman) and others, too.
You don't often find that goose at $10M/1.
Even $10M x 3 or 4+ won't get you an solid #2.
It's past time we started treating the SP'er role like it was important and worthy of investment.
The short answer: No.
The longer one:
Martin IL
Joely IL
Kelly & Mills 60 Day IL
Paxton needs more time, and even then... ???
Politi has sucked in AAA. (.961 OPS Against)
Mosqueda (.909), Sherriff (.810) or Broadway (.938)? LOL.
Our best hope may be a few weeks away:
.736 Mata
.678 Walter
We need Martin back.