Assume Basallo is ready by the start of 2025...

[Billy F-Face3]

8 hours ago, Frobby said:

Adley was a Gold Glove nominee, deservedly so.  

I want to start out by saying my critique of Adley is in no way intended to diminish him. Rutsch is one of my favorite players and he's been a lifeline for this Franchise. But if I am genuine, I do see room for improvement based off of the 2023 season where he can become even better.

The Gold Glove is limited in what it measures. That and it has become a popularity contest. I lost respect for tve Gold Glove when Mateo wasn't mentioned in 2022. My concern wirh Adley is 3 things:

-His ability to hold baserunners or throw them out when they attempt to steal. 

-Not just casually swiping at a pitch & miss it (this might hace been a product of fatigue when we seen those go by him). 

-Being on the same page calling the game with certain pitchers. Hall of Famers in the booth noticed some of his pitch calls were baffling in certain counts which led to trouble. While at the same time he does good in this area with specific pitchers, we seen most pitchers (like Grayson) perform better when McCann was calling pitches for them. I know Adley studies hard with the pitching staff and is decent here, but my hope is Adley can see what McCann figured out and improve in this area for his pitchers to help them become elite too.

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Billy F-Face3 said:

I want to start out by saying my critique of Adley is in no way intended to diminish him. Rutsch is one of my favorite players and he's been a lifeline for this Franchise. But if I am genuine, I do see room for improvement based off of the 2023 season where he can become even better.

The Gold Glove is limited in what it measures. That and it has become a popularity contest. I lost respect for tve Gold Glove when Mateo wasn't mentioned in 2022. My concern wirh Adley is 3 things:

-His ability to hold baserunners or throw them out when they attempt to steal. 

-Not just casually swiping at a pitch & miss it (this might hace been a product of fatigue when we seen those go by him). 

-Being on the same page calling the game with certain pitchers. Hall of Famers in the booth noticed some of his pitch calls were baffling in certain counts which led to trouble. While at the same time he does good in this area with specific pitchers, we seen most pitchers (like Grayson) perform better when McCann was calling pitches for them. I know Adley studies hard with the pitching staff and is decent here, but my hope is Adley can see what McCann figured out and improve in this area for his pitchers to help them become elite too.

Here were Adley’s defensive marks: +3 Rtot, +2 Rdrs, +13 FG defense, +7 blocking, +5 framing, 0 throwing.   His blocking started off a bit lax last year, but by the end of the season he was pretty high up the leaderboard (in which he was no. 1 in 2022 despite playing only 3/4 of the season).   I certainly agree his throwing was meh.  It did get better towards the end of the season.

As to pitch calling, Palmer has questioned the pitch calling of every catcher who ever lived, including the ones who caught him back in the day.  So I take that with a grain of salt.  Is Adley’s pitch calling better or worse than other catchers?  Beats me.  He’s obviously young and still learning so I’d expect there to be room for improvement on that score.

 

[Can_of_corn]

29 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Here were Adley’s defensive marks: +3 Rtot, +2 Rdrs, +13 FG defense, +7 blocking, +5 framing, 0 throwing.   His blocking started off a bit lax last year, but by the end of the season he was pretty high up the leaderboard (in which he was no. 1 in 2022 despite playing only 3/4 of the season).   I certainly agree his throwing was meh.  It did get better towards the end of the season.

As to pitch calling, Palmer has questioned the pitch calling of every catcher who ever lived, including the ones who caught him back in the day.  So I take that with a grain of salt.  Is Adley’s pitch calling better or worse than other catchers?  Beats me.  He’s obviously young and still learning so I’d expect there to be room for improvement on that score.

 

Remember that game that Palmer only threw fastballs?

I imagine the catcher has at best limited input when it comes to pitch calling these days.

[Legend_Of_Joey]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

Here were Adley’s defensive marks: +3 Rtot, +2 Rdrs, +13 FG defense, +7 blocking, +5 framing, 0 throwing.   His blocking started off a bit lax last year, but by the end of the season he was pretty high up the leaderboard (in which he was no. 1 in 2022 despite playing only 3/4 of the season).   I certainly agree his throwing was meh.  It did get better towards the end of the season.

As to pitch calling, Palmer has questioned the pitch calling of every catcher who ever lived, including the ones who caught him back in the day.  So I take that with a grain of salt.  Is Adley’s pitch calling better or worse than other catchers?  Beats me.  He’s obviously young and still learning so I’d expect there to be room for improvement on that score.

 

What surprised me when I looked was that McCann was tied for 3rd in CS% among catchers, with Jonah Heim at 33%, with Adley tied at 22nd with JT Realmuto (usually highly regarded in that category) at 22%.

Austin Wynns was 2nd at 42%.

I wonder if anything from last seasons rule changes (larger bases, pitch clock, limited pick offs) made a huge difference in regards to timing, feeling comfortable, and middle infielders being ready.

[Frobby]

57 minutes ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

What surprised me when I looked was that McCann was tied for 3rd in CS% among catchers, with Jonah Heim at 33%, with Adley tied at 22nd with JT Realmuto (usually highly regarded in that category) at 22%.

Through Sept. 4, McCann was at 17 SB, 15 CS (47% CS%).   He allowed 12 stolen bases without a CS the rest of the way, including 6 SB in the final game of the year, which was kind of a garbage game. He had a great year nabbing runners until the end.  

[Billy F-Face3]

I never did answer the original question directly. I think we will have to see how 2024 goes. But if all goes well and Basallo proves he's an effective backstop defensively in AAA, and Adley continues to develop and refine his defensive game, then I'm most inclined to go with option 2. Once McCann's contract is expired and there's a vacancy, Basallo might be ready. Play them both. Sig will like that. Sig will like that alot.

So long as Adley is as good defensively as McCann was in 2023 with Grayson, etc and improves his CS%. Adley does really good with Bradish so I have no worries with that Baltimore Battery.

[jabba72]

I would do something between 3 and 4 depending how good Basallo's bat is. Having two plus catchers feels like too good of a strength to miss out on. So I'd love to see it.