I'd personally rather have a defensively above average catcher who is average to somewhat below average offensively than the other way around.
OT: Philadelphia Phillies (MLB): Offseason edition
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I'd personally rather have a defensively above average catcher who is average to somewhat below average offensively than the other way around.
Neither do I.
I do expect the Nationals to let him leave in free agency unless he has a massive season.
zarley zelepukin
Registered User
That's fair. I look at it like it doesn't really matter which areas they're best at, it's more about their overall impact. Not a lot of catchers are better than league average hitters.
Most catchers are valued for their defense (including handling the pitching staff) more than anything else and they aren't expected to be bit hitters. Look at Carlos Ruiz - normally he was a decent hitter but nothing spectacular. But it seems pretty obvious the Phillies' pitching was enhanced when he was behind the plate.
FLYguy3911
Sanheim Lover
- Oct 19, 2006
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A lot of catchers are naturally good hitters, but the position takes a physical toll on the body.
zarley zelepukin
Registered User
Catcher is a tough position to play and usually requires a lot of development time to be major league caliber. There aren't a lot of guys who can play catcher compared to, say, left field, so the talent pool is smaller than it is for some other positions. Also, as you implied, teams spend a lot of development time with catchers on their defense, leaving less time to focus on offense. So there just aren't many guys who fit the "offensive catcher" mold. It's not that they're out there and teams shun them.
If Knapp is going to be the team's catcher of the future, his defense will have to reach some acceptable baseline; it's not like he'll be awful back there. And there's nothing wrong with being average defensively. But his bat will (have to) be an asset. My overall point is that whether a player adds 1 win on offense or 1 win on defense, it's still 1 win.
I'd be interested in Stras if he becomes a free agent. The guy has obvious durability concerns but when he is healthy he's a strikeout machine. He got off to a rough start last season, but from June through the end of the year (which I believe was after he missed about a month of the season) he was 11-2, 1.76 ERA with 110 SO in 81 innings. He'll only be 28 this year too.
Tankadelphia
All Hail Ghost Bear
FLYguy3911
Sanheim Lover
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Strasburg's mechanics are such that I think he's always an injury waiting to happen. I would avoid paying him big money for that reason.
Hurricane28
Angry Flyers STH/Weather Guy
Tbh, Nola's mechanics kind of scare me a little bit. His arm kind of whips in his delivery
Meh. That doesn't scare me that much. Even if he's injury prone it doesn't mean he WILL get injured, and even if he does get injured as long as he pitches lights out while healthy I'm fine.
Risky, for sure. But I'd be willing to take that risk.
FLYguy3911
Sanheim Lover
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Hurricane28
Angry Flyers STH/Weather Guy
He's really smooth and athletic. Keth Law claims he's double jointed.
I was previously unaware of this, thanks
FLYguy3911
Sanheim Lover
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Don't know where he found that out, but he wrote it in an article so it must be true.
zarley zelepukin
Registered User
I've also read that about Nola. But even guys who get paid to do it for a living can't seem to tell with any reliability which pitchers will get hurt and which ones won't.
Max Scherzer and Chris Sale were supposed to be too fragile to be starters long-term. Freddy Garcia was supposed to be a durable innings-eater. Nobody knows who's going to stay healthy.
Max Scherzer and Chris Sale were supposed to be too fragile to be starters long-term. Freddy Garcia was supposed to be a durable innings-eater. Nobody knows who's going to stay healthy.
FLYguy3911
Sanheim Lover
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Four words for you:
Roy Halladay. Cliff Lee.
Neither of those guys were as injury prone as Stephen Strasburg either.
Hiesenberg
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- Jul 2, 2013
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Not sure what you're getting at here. I assume you are not suggesting that we should not have gone after Halladay and/or Lee, because I certainly wouldn't undo either of those moves. Are you suggesting that because Halladay and Lee got injured we should avoid Strasburg because he has an injury history? It is definitely a risk with Strasburg's injury history, but again, it isn't something that would deter me from signing him. There are plenty of guys that have recovered from serious injuries and had fine careers. Chris Carpenter comes to mind. Zack Greinke overcame a lot of mental issues. I'm sure there are others out there as well. Just look at how he closed out the last season. From June to September he was nearly unhittable when he got back from injury. **** even if he only plays half a season every year for the rest of his career, if he's pitching like that I'll take it.
Hiesenberg
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If Mackanin is even remotely interested in the full time manager, the dumbass Philly media will make him quit. They are questioning why Franco wasn't early to camp. He's there PRECISELY on time. But leave it to our stupid reporters to make a story out of literally nothing. There is no story here. I mean the guy had to answer questions on if he was upset that Franco didn't arrive early. Why not ask him if he's upset why Franco didn't run for President. The line of thinking is exactly the same. How these morons have jobs is amazing.
Hollywood Cannon
I'm Away From My Desk
Because he's a typical media person of today. He's looking for something to jump on Howard for.
JDinkalage Morgoone
U of South Flurrida
Lee and Halladay had some pretty notable durability and longevity. I think the only time Halladay ever missed was an emergency appendectomy and a fractured leg from taking a line drive off of it.
It sucks, because later in their careers, they both fell off a cliff and just couldn't pitch anymore. I think Halladay seriously went from a Cy Young winner to a #6 starter in a year.
They were both definitely worth getting. Roy was my favorite player not on the Phillies when he was on the Jays, so getting him was probably my favorite move the Phillies ever made.
Hurricane28
Angry Flyers STH/Weather Guy
I personally enjoy these beats more than the Flyers. I like Gelb and Ryan Lawrence
Hiesenberg
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I always liked Lawrence, don't care for Gelb. This article was from Zolecki, which was kind of shocking.
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