latest offseason news

[romeo212000]

So what is he saying? Will they get a crack at him for the cheaper rate after the season before he files for FA? What happened to the no hometown discounts tune he was singing?

 

[Windingmywatch]

Not even remotely similar circumstances. You ripped on Torrealba because the pitchers sucked on a particular day and to make it worse you picked a day when he threw out two runners, had two hits and two RBI's.
Uehara has had troubles almost from the day he showed up and has continued having problems in ST (16.00 ERA). The opinion on Euhara is not based solely on ST results, but also on regular season results. Nobody is making Torrealba out to be the second coming of Johnny Bench, he's a back up, but looking at both players side by side it's Euhara who's roster spot that is in jeopardy.

There are alternatives for both roster spots Torrealba and Uehara are competing for. The back of the bullpen is more critical than the backup catcher spot. So TEX is likely to be more critical in its choice to fill the former than the latter. We'll see how it works out for them both.

I prefer Luis Martinez over Torrealba ... because he's better.

 

[Windingmywatch]

lol I'm starting to think you hate Torrealba more than Al hates MY.

I don't hate Torrealba. I just think he's a crappy catcher.

Likewise ... I don't think AI hates MY either. Like me ... I think AI believes MY is a considerable defensive liability at this stage of his career.

 

[scotsman1948]

We can officially pencil Derek Holland into the Rangers' rotation for the foreseeable future. The Rangers agreed to terms with the left-hander on a five-year, $28.5MM contract extension. The deal covers the 2012-16 seasons and includes two club options, as MLBTR's Tim Dierkes first reported. Martini Sports Management represents the 25-year-old Holland.

 

[scotsman1948]

The Rangers feel Leonys Martin needs more development and are "concerned about [his] lack of instincts," tweets Jim Bowden of MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM, though the club still recognizes his talent. The Cuban outfielder signed a five-year, $15.5MM deal with Texas last May and hit .295/.362/.421 in 343 minor league PAs, going all the way from rookie ball to an eight-plate appearance cup of coffee with the Rangers in September.

 

[bone3421]

good deal for holland..yay

 

[scotsman1948]

good deal for holland..yay

and a very good deal for the Rangers

 

[bone3421]

pretty much what i meant

 

[romeo212000]

I don't hate Torrealba. I just think he's a crappy catcher.

Likewise ... I don't think AI hates MY either. Like me ... I think AI believes MY is a considerable defensive liability at this stage of his career.

The hate becomes a factor when you start taking unreasonable shots at a player no matter what happens. Like blaming Torrealba for Darvish's poor start when he threw out two runners to save Darvish's ass.

 

[Windingmywatch]

The hate becomes a factor when you start taking unreasonable shots at a player no matter what happens. Like blaming Torrealba for Darvish's poor start when he threw out two runners to save Darvish's ass.

Nope... I don't hate Torrealba. I don't hate anyone and have made this point before about my dislike over the overuse of that word. Nope ... I don't even dislike Torrealba ... he's just a crappy catcher and a poor backup.

Torrealba rankied below Napoli in every single defensive category in 2011. If you are the backup ... you better be strong defensively. Torrealba isn't.

Torrealba is slow to move his feet. Watch how often he reaches for outside pitches to his right rather than moving to get in front of the ball. Torrealba played 60% more innings than Napoli ... but his PB rate and the number of WP TEX pitchers threw with Torrealba behind the plate were significantly higher percentage wise than for Napoli.

"Runners ran on Torrealba half again as often as they ran on Napoli. Not only did they run on Napoli less ... Napoli had the better CS rate too."



In my opinion ... Torrealba's most critical deficiency which cost him his starter's job in Colorado was his weakness not knowing hitters, managing pitchers and calling the game. In TEX his CERA was more than a run higher than Napoli ... with the same staff on the mound.


I don't hate Torrealba at all ... he just is a crappy catcher ... whether we are talking about last week for Darvish ... or too many times last year (including WS game 3) when his defensive limitations cost TEX wins.

Napoli isn't Doug Dickey, Yogi Berra, Johnny Bench, or Pudge. But in 2011 Torrealba wasn't Mike Napoli either. I'd rather see TEX release 33yo Torrealba who isn't inclinded to be any better in 2012 than he was in 2011 ... and install Luis Martinez as its backup catcher.

 

[romeo212000]

That may be but calling out a catcher that caught two runners stealing to save the pitchers ass screams of illogical hate to me.

 

[jta4437]

If Luis Martinez keeps it up then it might make YT expendable, but they might want to wait til somebody becomes desparate for a catcher

 

[Windingmywatch]

That may be but calling out a catcher that caught two runners stealing to save the pitchers ass screams of illogical hate to me.

Brantley and Cabrera who were CS in that game were caught only 28% and 23% of the time in 2011. YT in 2011 was only successful CS 33% of the time.

Those two factors tell me that it wasn't YT who caught either of them ... both were CS because neither got a good jump on YD pitching from the stretch.

YT is a spare.

 

[Windingmywatch]

If Luis Martinez keeps it up then it might make YT expendable, but they might want to wait til somebody becomes desparate for a catcher

Yup... I agree. Whoever they move him to will definitely have to be "desperate for a catcher".

 

[jta4437]

Brantley and Cabrera who were CS in that game were caught only 28% and 23% of the time in 2011. YT in 2011 was only successful CS 33% of the time.

Those two factors tell me that it wasn't YT who caught either of them ... both were CS because neither got a good jump on YD pitching from the stretch.

YT is a spare.

In his career YT has caught 30% of basestealers and the league AVERAGE is just 28%

LAST year he was at 33% and the league average was once again just 28%, so Torrealba is actually ABOVE average at throwing out basestealers

Nice try, but as just a backup catcher Torrealba is nice to have, as a starter he's kinda blah, but there are certainly worse out there by far

You might be correct in that Torrealba doesn't call a good game, but he's tolerable in a backup capacity

 

[Windingmywatch]

In his career YT has caught 30% of basestealers and the league AVERAGE is just 28%

LAST year he was at 33% and the league average was once again just 28%, so Torrealba is actually ABOVE average at throwing out basestealers

Nice try, but as just a backup catcher Torrealba is nice to have, as a starter he's kinda blah, but there are certainly worse out there by far

You might be correct in that Torrealba doesn't call a good game, but he's tolerable in a backup capacity

YT's 33% CS was behind Napoli's 36% and Teagarden's 54%. Only Treanor's overall 26% was lower.

Defensive utility rate YT's E + PB + WP rate per inning compared to Napoli.

YT: 9E + 7PB + 25WP = 41/823 = .050 E, PB or WP per inning
MN: 2E + 1PB + 14WP = 17/506 = .036 E, PB or WP per inning

.050/.036 = .39 or YT's E + PB +WP rate with same staff was 39% higher than Napoli's rate.

CERA ... YT 4.33CERA ... MN 3.18CERA.

Napoli (no GG catcher himself) ... was far and away a more agile and defensively effective catcher than YT.

YT ... is a defensive liability and unless he's off scale high offensively ... he's a 33yo sub potential sea anchor ... classic definition of a spare.

 

[romeo212000]

Brantley and Cabrera who were CS in that game were caught only 28% and 23% of the time in 2011. YT in 2011 was only successful CS 33% of the time.

Those two factors tell me that it wasn't YT who caught either of them ... both were CS because neither got a good jump on YD pitching from the stretch.

YT is a spare.

None of that has anything to do with the fact that you blamed Torrealba for a shitty performance by a pitcher when the catcher threw two base runners out to cover the pitchers ass. Quit deflecting.

 

[Windingmywatch]

None of that has anything to do with the fact that you blamed Torrealba for a shitty performance by a pitcher when the catcher threw two base runners out to cover the pitchers ass. Quit deflecting.

If I just spent $112mil on Darvish ... his first time out on a mound against ML opposition I'm not going to have a sub with limited game calling expertise behind the plate.

YD's quick to the plate time from the stretch contributed more to the two CSs ... wasn't TEX worst CS rate catcher.

 

[romeo212000]

If I just spent $112mil on Darvish ... his first time out on a mound against ML opposition I'm not going to have a sub with limited game calling expertise behind the plate.

YD's quick to the plate time from the stretch contributed more to the two CSs ... wasn't TEX worst CS rate catcher.

Wow. This has now crossed the line into laughable. None of that has anything to do with the facts I presented of just one instance of you blaming Torrealba for something that was clearly a poor outing by the pitcher, and you're still continuing to deflect. I'll ask you straight out. How was Torrealba redponsible for Yu being unable to locate his fastball? That was the biggest problem with his outing.

Also, I'm pretty sure Naps was suffering from groin tightness during that start. Once again it's obvious you're just grasping at straws without even thinking.

 

[guitarmy21b]