Nobody asked me but...

Hey, i am not bandwagoning, i will give credit to Washington, he turned his team around. He gets the credit when the team does well and he should get the blame when it doesn't perform to its abilities. Washington probably saved his career with the way this team has been playing. I don't care what anyone says, and i like Mike Young, but if he ain't in position to get the ball, then he don't get to it.....Period end of story. He gets eat up with ground balls a lot. It is admirable that he volunteered to go to Short Stop, however, Arias or Andrus need to come up and play. Young earned a lot of money by switching positions. Anyone that watches the games sees what i am speaking of. The one thing you learn as a mathmetician, is that NUMBERS can and do lie, so take your stats elsewhere. Last night their was a ball hit to Young that he has to field but it gets passed him. I am sure he will be more than happy to play third or second, just ask him. OR move him over there, it is what is best for the team. Pitching and Defense are what win championships. IF we aren't strong up the middle, pitcher, catcher, short, second and center field then we ain't got nothin. Cat and Blalock are the same player, Blalock is Washingtons boy and he will play. I still would have put Salt over there and let him play. Laird isn't the problem on this team, he is like 27 or 28, let him play. The guy can throw out runners, we need that from him. Salt looks like a guy without a position on this team, so just let him sit the bench and rot, play catcher once a week. Makes real good sense to me. Ranger sense!

Man, these thoughts sure will stir up the peanut gallery! (And some pretty rabid peanuts post here...) My own opinion of who should play where is... leave it to Ron Washington! After all, he spends the entire game eating peanuts! But I do have a couple of Queries/observations. Firstly, is Milton Bradley up to playing OF? It seemed to me that earlier in the season he was unable to reach a couple of balls hit to him that Hamilton /Byrd/Murphy/Boggs would have gobbled up. I do agree about Laird, however. Most of the posters here complain about bad defence and then want to pick the team purely on the ability to wave the stick about.Perhaps Salty should be traded....Even D'god has changed his tune on Laird/Salty! As for pitching, I don't see how JD/Ron Washington could have done any better this season, given the injuries. Hmmm, does all of this make me a "company man"? If so, please send my paycheck to.....

I want to address the game last night as it relates to the catching situation. I was a Division 1 catcher and I can see many little things that are killing us behind the plate when Salty is back there. Let me say first, I like this kid and I like that he's in a ranger uniform, but he just isn't ready to catch at this level. Catcher isn't a position you can pick up quickly, it takes years to turn out a polished receiver. I see him moving his body away from the tough pitches, the ones where you leave your body exposed to the foul tip. These pitches are always on the corners and that's where we need a major league catcher in order to get some of these calls. It was obvious last night that the unpire had two different strike zones for us and the twins. It was not intentional on the umpires part it is just the difference between having a catcher that's ready to be here. He literally looks like an average high school catcher defensively, and I just don't understand why we're forcing this on him. I know many poeple can't believe this, but a good catcher can get you an extra 10 strikes per game, and that gets you deeper in the game with your starter and saves you 2 or 3 hits/walks per game. How many one run games have we lost? That is a significant stat to focus on when you're dealing with a young and inexperienced staff. You don't give up defense in the middle, especially at catcher, especially in a DH league. Laird is a pretty special defensive catcher, it would be different if he were just an average defensive major league catcher, and we have him on the bench 50% of the time!
Is there any stat geeks out there that want to run the numbers and compare the two? I would love to know what the ERA's and the strike-ball ratios are on their respective games.

I KNEW I was right about Laird/Salty. I played half a dozen games as catcher in an over-the-hill softball league about 35 years ago (in Dallas, of course!), and the knowledge never leaves you... :-). My stats were .000/.000/.000 as a batter, which is why I only played half a dozen games. :-(
But seriously, rod, thank you for the best post I've read here. You are forthwith promoted from peanut to pecan!(Naturally, pronounced PEEcan).

The lineup vs RHP could stay exactly the same just with position tweaks. Give Blalock the 1B job, move Cat to LF, DH Bradley (RF really?) and Murphy to RF.

As for the LHP lineup, maybe I haven't seen Shelton enough yet but I'm not seeing it yet. I'd think switch him out with Boggs or Byrd and let them play a corner outfield. Then again same defensive changes, Blalock to 1B, DH Bradley and Murphy to the other corner outfield spot.

Hey TR, just a couple of comments:
1-I'm glad people are starting to wake up to the fact that Gerald Laird is a good catcher and the idea that he has to platoon with Salt is turning baseball logic on it's head. Now it's time the Rangers management wakes up. What in the wide wide world of sports is wrong with Salt riding the pine?! Oooohhh it will hurt his development!! BALONEY!!
IF HE'S NOT AS GOOD AS THE OTHER CATCHER, HE SHOULDN"T BE GIVEN THE SAME AMOUNT OF PLAYING TIME!! Let him EARN playing time. A players development is hurt when you give him something he hasn't earned. No one seems to be concerned that Duran has been riding the pine. People tend to over-value the guy you get in return in a big trade like they made with the Braves. Salt has been over-valued.

2- What about bullpen by committe? What about Wright and Guardado closing going with lefty-righty match ups? I think Wilson needs a break from closing. If I'm a young pitcher in this system coming up through the ranks I would be wondering "why there are so many injured pitchers on the Rangers?" Will they change my mechanics which may cause me to get injured? What are they doing to these pitchers?

3-Ok, one more, the teams that win championships do not allow their players to decide where they want to play and based on what I've heard that is exactly what they let Blalock do. This is looking more and more like they don't really have a plan for the future and they are flying by the seat of their pants. This is just plain weird.

PS, Thanks for your insights rodstanhope.

Going into action on 5/20, Rangers ERA by catcher:

Adam Melhuse: 5.44
Gerald Laird: 4.90
Saltalamacchia: 3.83

WHiP (walks+hits/IP)

Laird: 1.578
Melhuse: 1.50
Salty: 1.476

K/BB ratio

Melhuse: 1.18
Laird: 1.21
Salty: 1.42

All due respect to rodstanhope, Gerald Laird is one of the worst pitch framers I've ever seen. He routinely costs pitchers those close pitches you're refering to. If you caught in D-1 then you know that catching is much more than throwing out opposing base runners, which admitedly, Laird is good at. His foot work is very good, his ability to block balls in the dirt is average or above, but his framing of pitches leave much to be desired.

Those walk to strikeout rates are aweful compared to the AL average of 1.85 strikeouts for every walk.

Hefe300

Your statistical input is impressive considering the speed of your reply.

Question: Where did you find those stats? I couldn't locate them on MLB.com. Do you track ERA, etc. by the catchers yourself or are the stats available elsewhere?

Regardless, I can't appreciate that pitching stats ERA, WHiP and K/BB are indicitive of the catcher's performance. That is unless it is possible to compare each pitcher's stats when caught by each of the catchers.

I went old school and figured those numbers with a pen and legal pad getting totals from the box scores on this site of the games Salty has caught, the games Melhuse caught and then subtracting their totals from the teams totals to get Laird's numbers.

Rodstanhope was the one who asked for their individual ERA's in his post, I assume hoping to prove his assertion that Laird is the better catcher. I drew no conclusions from the numbers, basing my comments on Laird purely on sight rather than statistical data.

Good to finally see some HSO's from TR.

Hefe- The blame for the low K/BB ratio goes squarely to the pitchers inability to throw strikes, not the catchers ability to "frame a pitch". The idea that he "routinely costs pitchers those close pitches" implies that the umpire makes his call based on how the catcher frames the pitch, and not if the pitch is in the stike zone or not.

Once agains, I simply put the numbers out there and any comments I made about Laird were based on my own visual observations. I thought I made that pretty clear in my post this morning at 8:52.

My comment on the K/BB ratio was a seperate idea from the catcher comparison, hence giving it it's own paragraph. The bad rate rests on the shoulders of the pitching staff, not the catchers. Sorry if I confused anyone else by addressing multiple subjects within the same post.

* 1B Frank Catalanotto 2B Ian Kinsler DH Milton Bradley RF Josh Hamilton 3B Hank Blaylock SS Michael Young CF David Murphy C Jarod Saltalamacchia LF Brandon Boggs
*2B Ian Kinsler SS Michael Young DH Milton Bradley RF Josh Hamilton 3B Hank Blaylock LF Marlon Byrd CF Brandon Boggs C Gerald Laird 1B German Duran *okay
*He'll drive in runs
*What is so hard about playing the top catching prospect in all of baseball. Sure if you really think your going to win the world series by all means start Laird. But let's not kid ourselves, Saltalamacchia will by far be the better player when this thing is over. *Yes *Alright *The First *He's just taking this to seriously right now. He needs to come down (perhaps get a haircut) then go back to the mound with a clear head. *Believe me he won't have to be everyday Eddie. *That last observation is odd. Context?

hefe300, thanks for the data. I didn't know if it would support my analysis or not. I want to also state that what I was referring to isn't about framing pitches, it's about being still enough back there to allow the umpire to do his job. Umpires at this level have evaluated the pitch before the catcher turns his glove or attempts to "frame it". A major league reciever positions himself to always catch the pitch directly in front of him, that makes it easier for the umpire to give that pitch when EVERYONE in the stadium assumes it was right at the target. Salty, and many young catchers just starting out, tend to reach for pitches rather than setting up correctly in the first place.
One other thing to watch is the way Salty backhands balls in the dirt with runners on. That simply has never and will never work at any level! He doesn't do this because he is trying to keep from getting hit, he does it because he can't physically get his chest on it from the places he sits up. A quality catcher anticipates the ball in the dirt and is able to handle many more of these pitches.
QUESTION???
When was the last really good defensive catcher that couldn't hit over .250 given a solid contract or been traded for quality prospects? My guess is it's been awhile, because EVERY team has a quality catcher that can't hit over .250 and they are playing him!! Because you don't give up defense up the middle!!! Heck I bet big papi can catch, why don't the yankees trade for him and put him back there while posada is out??????

Thank you for your Joe Morgan-esque description of being in proper position to receive a pitch. I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree on rather on not that’s a strong suit for Gerald Laird.

I’ll keep an eye out for Salty’s blocking/back handing pitches in the dirt with runners on next time he’s out there.

Thank you rod/hefe for a fascinating dialogue. My only comment(as a scientist, not a baseball expert!) is that comparing ERA etc between different catchers is possibly suspect here because Ron W keeps pitchers/catchers paired together, rather than assigning them randomly.

Sorry hefe, I couldn't resist.

Agree that's a very interesting discussion. Thanks, hefe for the numbers. I can see why the Rangers struggled to decide what to do with these two, and how they finally settled on letting them go 50-50. The pluses and minuses seem to balance out.

Solid point Anthony!
and hefe, that hurt with the Joe Morgan comment! haha

It's all fun and games, rodstanhope. If we all agreed on everything TR's blog wouldn't get nearly as many hits and isn't that really what this is all about?