Please practice your catching, House

[RShack]

I'm not playing this game anymore. You know exactly what I'm talking about, and I have neither the time nor the inclination to dig through the archives to find one of the myriad examples of your passive-aggression.

OK. Whatever.

ps: I've been called a few things, but this is the first time for "passive aggressive". I don't think that's part of my pathology profile. Other things, maybe so. But passive aggressive?

Are you mad at me for something in particular? Or is this more like general animosity?

Others prolly don't wanna read this. If you've got something to say, you can PM me. Or, you can just hit-and-run.

[Moose Milligan]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=3829&context=fielding

He has thrown out 18% of runners this year....He has only thrown out 32% of the runners in his career.

Maybe he has a good relationship with pitchers and Mazzone seems to like him but i know it took Bedard a while to get to like him(as a catcher).

Bako's total game doesn't belong in the majors IMO. He doesn't do anything good, much less great.

I *think* Tommy's point was it's not the rate at which they throw out runners...but it's that 28 guys have attempted to steal on Bako in 48 games.

65 have attempted to steal on House in 41 games....

That's what I got out of it...

[rolliefingers]

I *think* Tommy's point was it's not the rate at which they throw out runners...but it's that 28 guys have attempted to steal on Bako in 48 games.

65 have attempted to steal on House in 41 games....

That's what I got out of it...

FWIW, Gerald Laird has a very good 38 CS%, out of 79 total attempts.

I don't think there's a real consistent relationship between "arm reputation" and total steal attempts. I'm not reaching any conclusions on this matter because catching - even basic stats like CS% - are dependent on so many different things. What if runners run on Laird because their pitchers either suck at holding runners on base, or just plain suck (higher OBP = more potential base stealers)?

Too many variables. If someone can analyze all that data and come up with a consistent metric for assessing catching ability, then more power to him/her. I sure as hell can't.

[Sports Guy]

I *think* Tommy's point was it's not the rate at which they throw out runners...but it's that 28 guys have attempted to steal on Bako in 48 games.

65 have attempted to steal on House in 41 games....

That's what I got out of it...

How many guys have attempted to steal off of Castillo while he has been in Norfolk this year?

[Sports Guy]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=2523&context=fielding

Looks like a lot of people have tried to steal off of Pudge....Am i reading this right? Around 1200 attempts against Pudge?

[Moose Milligan]

How many guys have attempted to steal off of Castillo while he has been in Norfolk this year?

Tommy never talked about Castillo, but in case you haven't noticed, Castillo isn't with the team right now, but House is. If you want to complain about Castillo being up with the club earlier this year, that's Duquette and Perlozzo's business. This is Trembley and MacPhail.

[Sports Guy]

Tommy never talked about Castillo, but in case you haven't noticed, Castillo isn't with the team right now, but House is. If you want to complain about Castillo being up with the club earlier this year, that's Duquette and Perlozzo's business. This is Trembley and MacPhail.

Talking about going over your head.

What i want to know is, is it a trend that people are running against the Tides or is it a JR House thing?

[Moose Milligan]

Talking about going over your head.

What i want to know is, is it a trend that people are running against the Tides or is it a JR House thing?

Hey, you're captain Red Herring...

Well, it certainly doesn't help that Castillo isn't exactly a guy that's known for being someone that throws out guys with authority, from what I've heard. The fact that he's 80 years old certainly doesn't help. It's tough to get a really good feel for Castillo because I don't have access to his MiL catching numbers and all his time in MLB has been done in very small doses. A quick look at the stats, in 2001 he had a bunch of guys stealing on him. I'll discard the rest of the years considering he never broke 40 games in all of those years and if memory serves, I believe he was soley used at those points as a late inning defensive replacement when teams are less likely to steal when every single baserunner counts. In 2001, he had 47 guys stealing in only 405 innings. That's more than once per game. I think that's an unfair comparison that you're using Castillo.

[Sports Guy]

Hey, you're captain Red Herring...

Well, it certainly doesn't help that Castillo isn't exactly a guy that's known for being someone that throws out guys with authority, from what I've heard. The fact that he's 80 years old certainly doesn't help. It's tough to get a really good feel for Castillo because I don't have access to his MiL catching numbers and all his time in MLB has been done in very small doses. A quick look at the stats, in 2001 he had a bunch of guys stealing on him. I'll discard the rest of the years considering he never broke 40 games in all of those years and if memory serves, I believe he was soley used at those points as a late inning defensive replacement when teams are less likely to steal when every single baserunner counts. In 2001, he had 47 guys stealing in only 405 innings. That's more than once per game. I think that's an unfair comparison that you're using Castillo.

Well, the bottom line is we don't know if the Tides staff is terrible at holding runners or not.

To just look at attempts and percentages is wrong.

The talk is House doesn't have a good arm and maybe that is true...I don't know.

But i do know that he has caught for many years and he can hit the the hell out of the ball.

There is no doubt, IMO, that he should be our back up catcher.

[RShack]

Well, the bottom line is we don't know if the Tides staff is terrible at holding runners or not.

To just look at attempts and percentages is wrong.

The talk is House doesn't have a good arm and maybe that is true...I don't know.

But i do know that he has caught for many years and he can hit the the hell out of the ball.

There is no doubt, IMO, that he should be our back up catcher.

You don't care if everybody steals on him?

I don't know the significance of the AAA running numbers either. Your question about "is it a Tides thing or a House thing" is a good question. But, for the moment, we just don't know. Somebody does. The Norfolk coaches do. Presumably the FO knows. But we don't don't know. For the sake of argument, let's pretend we find out it's a House thing. Do you care if guys steal on him umpteen times a game?

[Zaimoku]

Back to the title of this thread, Kubatko has a blog entry today in which he suggests that House practice at 1st and 3rd. Like taking 1,000 grounders a day.

He implies the problem is throwing. Were House's injuries arm-related?

[Mashed Potatoes]

You don't care if everybody steals on him?

I don't know the significance of the AAA running numbers either. Your question about "is it a Tides thing or a House thing" is a good question. But, for the moment, we just don't know. Somebody does. The Norfolk coaches do. But we don't. For the sake of argument, let's pretend we find out it's a House thing. Do you care if guys steal on him umpteen times a game?

Why do you axe questions to which you already know the answer? No, SG doesn't care at all if everyone steals on him.

If he can't hold runners then we'll find out soon enough. The point as always is, give this guy a fair shot! He has shortcomings, he has strengths, if utilized properly he can be a valuable piece.

[Sports Guy]

You don't care if everybody steals on him?

I don't know the significance of the AAA running numbers either. Your question about "is it a Tides thing or a House thing" is a good question. But, for the moment, we just don't know. For the sake of argument, let's pretend we find out it's a House thing. Do you care if guys steal on him umpteen times a game?

Sure i care...It doesn't appear he is going to throw out one out of every 10 guys either though. He isn't that pathetic.

As i have said, play him against the teams that don't steal bases:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/aggregate?sort=stolenBases&split=0&group=7&season=2007&seasonType=2&statType=batting&type=exp1

We are second...He shouldn't catch against the other 4 teams barring injuries.

Even Boston really has 2 guys who steal...Keep them off of the bases.

A big part of the running game can be put at the feet of the pitching staff...Whether it be them letting the base stealers get on base(obviously not always their fault) or them not holding runners well.

A good manager can plan these things. You can almost map it out weeks in advance.....Kind of like when a manager makes a schedule a month in advance.

[Moose Milligan]

Well, the bottom line is we don't know if the Tides staff is terrible at holding runners or not.

To just look at attempts and percentages is wrong.

The talk is House doesn't have a good arm and maybe that is true...I don't know.

But i do know that he has caught for many years and he can hit the the hell out of the ball.

There is no doubt, IMO, that he should be our back up catcher.

Well, they could be great at holding on runners for all we know. Very possible that Castillo and House just suck at throwing out basestealers, that wouldn't surprise me. I agree with you that only looking at percentages and attempts is dumb.

Tommy pointed out that it's been said that Bako has very good rapport with the pitchers, as a former pitcher myself, I can tell you that I would always feel great if I had a very good relationship with my catcher.

I'd say there's a decent chance he doesn't have a very good arm. Having 65 guys attempt to steal on you in only 41 games is an ominous sign if you ask me. In the IL All Star game he didn't seem to have much of a "laser rocket arm." Tommy also said that House has hit very well, as a 1B. His numbers while hitting as a catcher though, are not so good. 426 AB's, more than you'd expect from a backup catcher over the last 2 years shows that while a catcher he's merely a mediocre hitter. IMO, it's a wash statistically and I'll go with Mazzone when it comes to intangibles on the situation.

[Sports Guy]

Why do you axe questions to which you already know the answer? No, SG doesn't care at all if everyone steals on him.

If he can't hold runners then we'll find out soon enough. The point as always is, give this guy a fair shot! He has shortcomings, he has strengths, if utilized properly he can be a valuable piece.

What a stupid statement.