Rosenthal: Boras Seeking Teixeira-Varitek Package Deal?

[JTrea81]

BTW, Earl Williams was a real, "can't miss" franchise catcher-to-be that never adjusted to the MLB. He may have turned out horribly, but he was very highly touted. Just illustrating a point of view. Understand?

I am probably one of the biggest Wieters fans on the planet, but I see that game calling could be a serious issue for Wieters and a roadblock to his success in the majors as a catcher. Buster Posey is having the same issues for the Giants.

The pitchers Matt caught in both the HWBL and AFL both seemed homer prone with him behind the dish including Brian Matusz. His bat is going to be tremendous. But if he can't call a good game behind the plate, he will have to shift to DH or 1B where his value isn't as high. And calling good games is going to be vital for the success of our Big Three.

Having Varitek mentor him on calling games behind the plate and learning hitters' tendancies would be huge.

[BaltimoreTerp]

BTW, Earl Williams was a real, "can't miss" franchise catcher-to-be that never adjusted to the MLB. He may have turned out horribly, but he was very highly touted. Just illustrating a point of view. Understand?

Do you think he would have done better if we had traded a whole bunch of prospects for some washed-up Crash Davis wannabe?

[Maples]

Yes it is. It is THAT BAD.

We already have a dying-career catcher making too much money. I don't want to trade him away just to get an older, worse one making more money for more years who only brings vague intangibles and coaching abilities to the table.

I get what you're saying about Ramon being a waste of money and time, and Varitek being more of the same. But I'd rather have a super-productive 1B and a lame-but-helpful backup C than our usual below-average 1B production and a cheap backup catcher and more Million $ in owners equity.

[BaltimoreTerp]

I am probably one of the biggest Wieters fans on the planet, but I see that game calling could be a serious issue for Wieters and a roadblock to his success in the majors as a catcher. Buster Posey is having the same issues for the Giants.

The pitchers Matt caught in both the HWBL and AFL both seemed homer prone with him behind the dish including Brian Matusz. His bat is going to be tremendous. But if he can't call a good game behind the plate, he will have to shift to DH or 1B where his value isn't as high. And calling good games is going to be vital for the success of our Big Three.

Having Varitek mentor him on calling games behind the plate and learning hitters tendancies would be huge.

Then why can't we hire a coach?

[JTrea81]

Then why can't we hire a coach?

You can only have so many coaches in the dugout while Varitek can be there 162 games a season. That coach could help Wieters in ST, but what about during the season?

I guess you could have Dempsey working with him a little, but I'd take the guy who caught 4 no hitters...

[Maples]

Do you think he would have done better if we had traded a whole bunch of prospects for some washed-up Crash Davis wannabe?

I never saw the big deal about Susan Sarandon.

[BaltimoreTerp]

I get what you're saying about Ramon being a waste of money and time, and Varitek being more of the same. But I'd rather have a super-productive 1B and a lame-but-helpful backup C than our usual below-average 1B production and a cheap backup catcher and more Million $ in owners equity.

Fair enough. Only Varitek would be the backup. If there is a God, baseball or not.

[Maples]

You can only have so many coaches in the dugout while Varitek can be there 162 games a season. That coach could help Wieters in ST, but what about during the season?

I guess you could have Dempsey working with him a little, but I'd take the guy who caught 4 no hitters...

If I was Matt, I'd take Varitek a lot more seriously than some old guy that thinks he should be manager but was better than Earl Williams.

[BaltimoreTerp]

You can only have so many coaches in the dugout while Varitek can be there 162 games a season. That coach could help Wieters in ST, but what about during the season?

I guess you could have Dempsey working with him a little, but I'd take the guy who caught 4 no hitters...

I'll take the guy who isn't going to kill us on the field.

Don't we have a catching coach, anyway?

[BaltimoreTerp]

If I was Matt, I'd take Varitek a lot more seriously than some old guy that thinks he should be manager but was better than Earl Williams.

If I were Matt, I would take any successful former major-league catcher seriously.

[Maples]

If I were Matt, I would take any successful former major-league catcher seriously.

That is a fact.

[Intimidator301]

I am probably one of the biggest Wieters fans on the planet, but I see that game calling could be a serious issue for Wieters and a roadblock to his success in the majors as a catcher. Buster Posey is having the same issues for the Giants.

The pitchers Matt caught in both the HWBL and AFL both seemed homer prone with him behind the dish including Brian Matusz. His bat is going to be tremendous. But if he can't call a good game behind the plate, he will have to shift to DH or 1B where his value isn't as high. And calling good games is going to be vital for the success of our Big Three.

Having Varitek mentor him on calling games behind the plate and learning hitters' tendancies would be huge.

In regards to Wieters game calling, is this just your opinion or have you heard he struggles at calling games? Everything I've read and heard says Wieters calls a good game and is very agile behind the plate.

I'm willing to bet that Wieters could come up now and call a better game then Ramon and be a better catcher then Varitek. If Tex feels he needs to play with a friend, I hope there happy in Boston.

I just find it strange that Tex and Varitek were never known as good friends, until their FA year. Its just more Boras posturing.

[BaltimoreTerp]

In regards to Wieters game calling, is this just your opinion or have you heard he struggles at calling games? Everything I've read and heard says Wieters calls a good game and is very agile behind the plate.

I'm willing to bet that Wieters could come up now and call a better game then Ramon and be a better catcher then Varitek. If Tex feels he needs to play with a friend, I hope there happy in Boston.

I just find it strange that Tex and Varitek were never known as good friends, until their FA year. Its just more Boras posturing.

Teixeira has a LOT of friends around here, I'm sure...:laughlol:

I agree with SG on this: that he may "need some work" on his skills in calling a game, but that doesn't mean he isn't already GOOD at it.

I mean, Markakis could probably work on his hitting and defense, Roberts on his base-stealing, etc. That doesn't mean they aren't any good at them

[JTrea81]

I'll take the guy who isn't going to kill us on the field.

Varitek threw out 22.2% of runners on 72 attempts.

Ramon Hernandez threw out 19.5 % of runners on 123 attempts

Quiroz threw out 23.1% of runners on 39 attempts

As for fielding:

Varitek had 4 errors and 4 PBs in 131 games

Ramon Hernandez had 9 errors and 10 PBs in 127 games

Quiroz had 1 error and 5 PBs in 54 games.

I don't see a liablity on the field at all and I see an improvement over what we had. The guy is only going to play 50-60 games or so at most.

[BaltimoreTerp]

Varitek threw out 22.2% of runners on 72 attempts.

Ramon Hernandez threw out 19.5 % of runners on 123 attempts

Quiroz threw out 23.1% of runners on 39 attempts

As for fielding:

Varitek had 4 errors and 4 PBs in 131 games

Ramon Hernandez had 9 errors and 10 PBs in 127 games

Quiroz had 1 error and 5 PBs in 54 games.

I don't see a liablity on the field at all and I see an improvement over what we had. The guy is only going to play 50-60 games or so at most.

Yeah, but you do know the kind of contract he's going to get if he's forced into a "package" with Teixeira, right? Two-to-three years, probably at least whatever Hernandez is making. We aren't talking about a couple million for one year, here.

So a minimal-at-best improvement over what we have now, for much more in terms of contract.