How Manuel views our catchers

almost 3 years ago Sokojoe 10 comments 3 recs |

Comments

I didn't wade into the discussion last night

but this is my two cents on the Castro/Santos debate:
- If Castro’s right quad is bothering him enough that he needs a couple of days off of catching but can still pinch-hit, it is no problem that Santos is playing. Santos may not understand the concept of a “base on balls” but he isn’t killing us at the plate.

- If, however, Santos is genuinely preferred over Castro going forward once Hippo is deemed healthy enough to play, it makes no sense to me.

- If, after Schneider returns, the team opts to lose Hippo and keep Santos, I will not understand it at all.

"The definition of edge is going out there and getting a few wins, and then all of a sudden you don’t have to worry about anyone talking about edge anymore," Wright said. "That's a thing in the past. Go ask Omar about that."

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on May 13, 2009 11:10 AM EDT reply actions

I agree with all your points

I don’t disagree with Santos playing these last couple of days as I think Castro is either hurt or has a higher percentage of getting hurt. I also think Santos has been really good this year, but I don’t think he can sustain an OPS over 700 unless what he showed over his career in the minors has been corrected somehow. Jerry doesn’t like Castro and neither did Willie. I really think it due to two main reasons. One, according to Nichols’ Law of Catcher Defense a catcher’s defensive reputation is inversely proportional to their offensive abilities, think Brad Ausmus/Schneider, Castro can hit and his defense is fine but Willie and Jerry don’t seem to regonize his defense. Two, Castro will never hit for high average and strikes out a good amount, this makes him appear unproductive since he doesn’t “make the defense work” or have “productive outs” but of course this ignores the huge power Ramon has. Two and half, Ramon is funny and the other players love his sense of humor, I could see a manager kind of disliking his antics. Anyways, the pic is because I’m still reeling about the PH. I don’t even really care that it was a dumb move, more than that, it was disrespectful to Castro. I love Ramon,

by Sokojoe on May 13, 2009 11:42 AM EDT up reply actions

Hear hear

I, too, am a Hippo guy.

by the by, I neglected to mention — good work on the pic.

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on May 13, 2009 11:48 AM EDT up reply actions

Rec'd

by ams258 on May 13, 2009 1:48 PM EDT reply actions

All so true...

"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf"
-Tug McGraw

by squid92 on May 13, 2009 4:56 PM EDT reply actions

To think what Omir Santos could have been

If he’d only met Kirk Radomski.

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on May 14, 2009 1:01 AM EDT reply actions

I agree that Castro should be playing more than Santos

but disagree with the premise that Santos has not had any value to the team. Other than his failure to draw walks, he’s been fairly productive at the plate, and decent behind it.

by Prince on May 14, 2009 8:09 PM EDT reply actions

He has been alright

but I’ll put money down he can’t sustain it. Like Howard said, Santos is this years A Reyes. Reyes OPS’d above 800 for roughly 50 ABs then sucked, the minor league numbers just don’t give any confidence to Santos ability to hit.

by Sokojoe on May 14, 2009 8:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah I think the wory is

That once Schneider comes back Castro is going to be considered the odd man out by the front office/Jerry.

by Gina on May 14, 2009 9:26 PM EDT up reply actions

I don't think anyone is saying that

Clearly, the fact that Santos has gotten hits and driven in runs and all that demonstrates that he has had value to the team. What people are saying is:

A) The over-the-top praise is annoying. (I mean, as happy as we all are with the fact that Santos has performed better than we have any right to expect, Castro still has a 60 point edge in OPS.)
B) As Sokojoe points out, the broader body of work Santos has had over the past nine seasons in the minors suggests that he won’t be able to sustain his performance, and as Gina points out, it makes us nervous that the Mets will put too much stock into his hot start and make roster decisions on that basis.

by JoshNY on May 15, 2009 4:21 PM EDT up reply actions