emmett16

I imagine they'd want first dibs on him if he did become available to play in MLB again. Would kind of stink if he served a 2-3 year suspension and then came back and got picked up by a rival. That's assuming they would want him back. If the rumors are true, I wouldn't want him near my team but I'd like to retain his rights to be able to potentially receive some compensation through trade. I believe Bauer is serving a 324 game suspension and will be due $64 million when the suspension is over. I think the difference is that Bauer wasn't found guilty of criminal charges. That would change the situation if Franco, is in fact found guilty.

Is Mountcastle going to finally break the .800 OPS threshold (in a full season) this year?

Him making that cactch in front of the 'no fly zone' sign is epic.

If he's on the restricted list and not getting paid, does it even make any difference? They won't be on the hook to pay him.

Also, who was on first at the time? Is there a burner on 1b who is going to take off on any ball in the dirt? If so, the only move to be able to throw out the runner is a quick pick and release. I’ve been trying to find a way to find the WPs/PBs and see the situation. My theory is that when some of these are happening it’s a do or die situation. If the guy is gonna get to 2b even if you block it, who cares? I think he’d prefer to go for an out vs. pad his block stats.

I’m not claiming that is in fact the case or pushing a narrative. I simply posed the question if that could be the case. I dont know if that is in fact the case and haven’t suggested that is the only reason, I’m just wondering if that could play into it. With GRod & Bradish at the top of the stuff+ leader board, Bautista throwing 103 & a splitty, and Cano throwing frisbees (earlier in the year) it seems to me that may be a plausible reason why the stats are down slightly. I’m not stating that as a fact and the only reason. I do agree with you that fatigue very likely has played into it as well and that is one thing that needs to be monitored and managed moving forward this year and into the future. The fact does stand that he has had more tough chances compared to anyone else in the league this year. Why is that? Is that not, at least in part, a function of the pitching staff? I dunno and can’t say for certain. I sure don’t think the slight down tick I’m performance is from lack of effort, poor technique, or him being lazy. I think suggesting that is off base.

I’d be flabbergasted if that process isn’t well underway and isn’t a continuous process. I guess my point is that we are squabbling over % points of % points. One bounce here, one block there, one pitch that doesn’t hit the screen, etc. and we are even. We are talking about 8 blocks over the span of 3000+ opportunities. Seems silly.

15 more “tough blocks” last year than this year out of 3000+ opportunities. I’m not gonna let that ruffle my feathers or point to that as a significant (or really any)drop off in performance.

He has had more “tough blocks” than anyone in the league this year. 1.4% of total attempts. Alvarez, Contreras, & Murphy are close. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/catcher-blocking?game_type=Regular&n=q&season_end=2023&season_start=2023&split=no&team=&type=Cat&with_team_only=1&sortColumn=freq_pbwp_3_tough&sortDirection=desc

Ah, so now we are back to “the stats” and not “you’re not watching the games” Argument. Plenty of stats in my previous posts for you to peruse, if you so desire. Your projection onto others as painting a narrative while painting the narrative that Witt would have been a better pick is pretty funny. No one is painting any narrative or making any excuses. People are looking at the stats objectively and discussing why the results have born out differently this year. That’s it. No one has said Adley is the best or have compared him to the best. As far as I can see, most people agree his performance has been down from last year. I guess at the end of the day the catching position is just overrated and we should have picked Witt.

Just the other night…..Bautista has 7 WP this year v 2 last year. I can remember at least 2 pitches Fuji has launched to the backstop. Bradish + GRod alone have increased stuff+ of staff.

I watch about 90% of their games. I’m not gonna sit here and say the man is infallible and I can remember 2 or 3 instances it looked like he spaced out for a second and missed a block. But I’m not going to let that cloud my judgment on his entire body of work. Again, his % of blocks on opportunities has decreased by .0021%. That is not a fault of laziness or anything to be alarmed by. Ive explained in earlier posts why he (and all catchers) are backhanding the ball more now vs. in the past. With regards to throwing, I’m gonna take the guy with a stronger arm (85.4mph v.82.6 ), a quicker exchange (.65 v .69), and a quick pop-time (1.91 v. 2.01) all day every day and call 17 attempts an extremely SSS.

He can hit. He’s not trying to slap it and beat it out. He can drive a ball out to opposite field. I could see him hitting 10-15 HR in peak years with 25+ doubles and 10+ triples.

His blocking % on opportunities has decreased by .0021%. That doesn’t scream major regression to me. I pointed out in a previous post how catchers are trying to backhand pick balls in the dirt much more now than ever before, I believe that plays a minor roll. I’ll be honest, I don’t completely understand the framing stats. I need to spend some time learning/understanding how they are compiled. I think the framing has a lot to do with the stuff they are catching.

A lot has to do with the speed uptick in the game, the new rules, and the bases. You can no longer simply block the ball, retrieve it and throw a guy out. You have to factor in who is on first. If you have slow/medium speed you block. Against Elite speed catchers are now taught to try and pick it. This was something never taught/practiced in the past. Catchers are now spending an incredible amount of time working on the backhand pick-to-throw out. The position, like the rest of the game, is evolving.

Please enlighten us on the break down in his technique. I stand by what I said. I see no major difference in his technique/approach. His pop time & exchange time have both dropped from last year(both to 2b & 3B), but he hasn’t been as accurate. His arm strength is down 1mph from last year even with lower pop times. SB attempts have almost doubled, Runner sprint speed has increased by .5ft/sec, and runner distance to 2b has decreased by 1.5’. He has allowed 33 WP+PB in 3,376 opportunities. Last year he allowed 25 WP+PB in 3,288 opportunities. So in 30 less innings caught so far this year, the pitchers have had thrown 88 more potential WP+PB and Adleys blocking percentage has decreased by .0021%. As I said before, you have to separate the results/production from the process. It’s hard to do, I know. He is in a defense slump(ie. Results/production are down a tick), but the approach & technique are perfectly fine. To say he is “lazy” is a…..lazy oversimplification of how he’s performing. A simple look at Adley vs. McCann on baseball savant will illustrate that Adley has been out performing McCann in almost every stat(blocking, framing, throwing). McCanns throws have been accurate(again….result/production vs. process).

Basallo is on a heater. In last 5 games he’s 10 for 21 with 3 doubles and a HR. That’s good for a .476 / .522 / .762 line. En Fuego.

Catching is so hard to quantify because you have to take into consideration the pitcher. I’ve always tried to separate process/approach from production/results when judging talent. The only thing I see that he has struggled with are his throws. He’s consistently missed to SS side of 2B. CS, PB, & even blocking have so much to do with the pitcher. I often wonder if Adleys “down” year is because of the stuff he is catching this year. People always talk about how hard it is to hit these days with the specialized bullpens and pitchers throwing 100+ with other wordly movement, but no one talks about the catchers having to receive & block those pitches. I believe that has to be taken into account. It would be interesting to see how catchers stats correlates with the stuff+ of the staff they are receiving. The throwing issue and missing to the left side of 2b needs improvement.

You just lost all credibility.

I just went back and watched. I thought he looked pretty good. Lead off batter ambushed a fastball down the middle for a double, the only hard hit ball. Next batter hit a weak seeing eye single on a defensive swing after fouling off a few pitches. Struck out next two guys. Walked a guy after fouling off a few pitches, then a weakly hit double down the left field line. Overall, he filled up the zone and came right at people. The BBs were long ABs after a few foul balls. There were a ton of fouled off pitches. That tells me he wasn’t finishing his pitches. All in all, he looked pretty good. Especially for a guy who hasn’t pitched in almost 2 years. It Wasn’t a stinker by any stretch of the imagination.

30 of 45 strikes and 2BBs and a HBP is kinda wild.

Suarez learned that last weekend.

There is no argument. Zero.

2023 Contract Status: Signed thru 2023, 2 yrs/$5.93M (22-23) Service Time (01/2023): 4.007 • Arb Eligible: 2024 • Free Agent: 2025

I don’t see this FO giving extensions to any pitcher, ever. Too much risk for injury and poor use of limited assets. I’m holding out hope Means will be worthy of a QO after next year.