Will Smith extension- Adley comp

[emmett16]

Let’s go, Ruby.  You’re on the clock. 

[Billy F-Face3]

Adley Rutschman is the franchise catcher we've been waiting for. It took us decades to find one.

He's first up on my wishlist to give an extension for and buy out some free agent years.  That's not to say it comes without risk (but does anything ever come without risks?).  There's always the injury risk (especially for a Cathcer). But Catchers as good as Adley are rare and difficult to find. Other risks: I would like to see Adley improve his throws on holding runners and catching runners trying to steal (especially at 2nd base), and also be more in sync with specific members of his pitching staff for calling their pitches and keeping hitters off balanced. I know he works hard on that so I'm confident he will manage to improve in those areas.

I am totally an advocate for trying to sign Adley to a long term contract.

I know some people might be thinking about Basallo, but there is room for him on the roster to share time with Adley too and keep them both healthy. And we also don't know what type of defensive Catcher Basallo will develop into or if he'll stick at the Catcher position.

[Sports Guy]

10 minutes ago, Billy F-Face3 said:

Adley Rutschman is the franchise catcher we've been waiting for. It took us decades to find one.

He's first up on my wishlist to give an extension for and buy out some free agent years.  That's not to say it comes without risk (but does anything ever come without risks?).  There's always the injury risk (especially for a Cathcer). But Catchers as good as Adley are rare and difficult to find. Other risks: I would like to see Adley improve his throws on holding runners and catching runners trying to steal (especially at 2nd base), and also be more in sync with specific members of his pitching staff for calling their pitches and keeping hitters off balanced. I know he works hard on that so I'm confident he will manage to improve in those areas.

I am totally an advocate for trying to sign Adley to a long term contract.

I know some people might be thinking about Basallo, but there is room for him on the roster to share time with Adley too and keep them both healthy. And we also don't know what type of defensive Catcher Basallo will develop into or if he'll stick at the Catcher position.

We’ve been looking for a franchise catcher for decades?  
 

I don’t  think I ever heard anyone reference that before.

[Billy F-Face3]

8 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

We’ve been looking for a franchise catcher for decades?  
 

I don’t  think I ever heard anyone reference that before.

Ever since Hoiles left the team.  I wanted to sign Ivan Rodriguez really bad but it never happened. I thought Weiters could have been that franchise Catcher, and he came close, but his career was derailed with injury real fast.

[oriolediehard]

4 hours ago, interloper said:

Adley is the first one I'd try to extend. Compared to Gunnar he'll be cheaper, easier to sign in theory, he's one of the franchise faces, it's hard to find good catchers, etc. Just seems like it would be a logical first step. 

I absolutely agree. We have been good ever since he came. We need him long term.

 

[Sports Guy]

41 minutes ago, Billy F-Face3 said:

Ever since Hoiles left the team.  I wanted to sign Ivan Rodriguez really bad but it never happened. I thought Weiters could have been that franchise Catcher, and he came close, but his career was derailed with injury real fast.

Ok..maybe that’s something you coveted but I honestly don’t think I saw anyone saying, you know what we need…a franchise catcher!

We just wanted franchise players.

Edited March 28 by Sports Guy

[survivedc]

33 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Ok..maybe that’s something you coveted but I honestly don’t think I saw anyone saying, you know what we need…a franchise catcher!

We just wanted franchise players.

I do think catcher is one of the “franchise” positions. Seems like C, SS, CF, maybe 3B. Pitchers of course. You don’t hear about a franchise left fielder. 

[Billy F-Face3]

Catcher touches the ball nearly every pitch. Catcher tells the pitcher what to pitch. Catcher plays jaround 5 out of 7 days a week for the whole game.

It's a pivotal position and one of the positions that can impact the game the most. You need a good one to compete for Championships.

[Billy F-Face3]

To put it another way, I think Catcher is the Quarterback of baseball.

[Malike]

Not gonna lie, I thought this might have been about his long reach during the slap at the Oscars. Wrong Will Smith and I guess wrong forum.

[Roll Tide]

10 hours ago, Bemorewins said:

@Sports Guy and @Moose Milligan I don’t want to kill the mood or disrupt others from enjoying participating in this what if/would you scenario/thread.

My response comes most likely due to the compounding effect of another Orioles “Charlie Brown” offseason. A guy can only take having the ball pulled out from under him by Lucy (The Orioles) so many times and be disappointed before becoming cynical about player retention/contract extension/organizational spending. 

I’m going to bow out here and let others enjoy this one.

It will be interesting to see if the Orioles operating philosophy changes now under the new group.

[Yossarian]

Posey retired at 34.  That seems about the oldest you could play a guy at catcher regularly.  Even in that last year,  Posey was playing a lot of first base.   It's a demanding position. 

[Can_of_corn]

2 hours ago, Yossarian said:

Posey retired at 34.  That seems about the oldest you could play a guy at catcher regularly.  Even in that last year,  Posey was playing a lot of first base.   It's a demanding position. 

That's easily rectified.

Just start calling the catcher Pudge.

[Just Regular]

Yan Gomes and Martin Maldonado look like the 35+ starters this Opening Day.

A few World Series championships I'd guess helps one's sense of inner peace around calling it a career early.

[waroriole]

9 hours ago, survivedc said:

I do think catcher is one of the “franchise” positions. Seems like C, SS, CF, maybe 3B. Pitchers of course. You don’t hear about a franchise left fielder.