We've seen four trades already today, but there's still more news on possible deals and free agent signings. Here it is…
- Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail told MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli that there's no late trade in the offing this spring (Twitter link). Baltimore made late-spring trades in 2009 (Robert Andino) and '10 (Julio Lugo, Steve Lerud).
- Yankees catching prospect Jesus Montero failed this spring, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The Yankees wanted him to become their backup catcher and to pretend now that they didn't plan on that is disingenuous, writes Sherman.
- Carlos Silva cleared waivers and is now a free agent, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter).
flashy obnoxious please-read-me garbage from sherman here. montero’s fine and likely better off long-term starting at AAA this year
Agreed, but I certainly don’t see Montero as a long term catcher. I can see Romine or Sanchez possibly being their future catcher, and Montero MAYBE playing in the OF but most likely split between 1B and DH.
Just a question. How much have you seen of Gary Sanchez to know he would make a great mlb catcher?
My quote from before: “I can see Romine or Sanchez possibly being their future catcher”
Where do you see me saying that Sanchez is going to be a great MLB catcher?
By the tone it seems you may have taken what I said the wrong way. Either way, let me re-word what I said. Have you see anything thus far of Sanchez that makes you think he would be the best candidate to be the Yanks future catcher?
I wasn’t going based solely on skill level. And to answer your question no I have not. But you have to figure between the 3 of them, at most the Yankees would probably keep 2 barring an injury, and the other could very well be traded. Maybe even 2 of them could be traded. By the look of his stats it doesn’t seem he’s good, but the dude is 17 years old. And again, I am not leaning towards a favorite whatsoever. That’s why I put Or, simply because you don’t know who will stick around or who will get traded, but I don’t see all 3 of them being in a Yankee uniform.
I’d like to see the Yanks keep all three if possible. I was just wondering if you saw him play anywhere.
I have not seen him play, and it seemed as if you have and were telling me he isn’t a good catcher, which I’m not saying isn’t true, and as I look at the minor league numbers, he had 18 passed balls in 30 games lol. Of course the kid is only 18 years old so it takes A LOT of time. Nontheless, my main points were, I don’t see Montero as a catcher if they all remain with the team but I don’t see them all remaining with the team.
I’m surprised they even considered him as back up catcher. Unless he’d be getting regular playing time at C/DH/1B. With everything the yanks have in their lineup, Montero wouldn’t be guaranteed regular playing time. So yeah, let him stay in AAA while his FA clock is paused and bring him up after whatever inevitable injury.
right. and despite sherman’s nonsense, the job wasn’t montero’s to lose in the first place. it was cervelli’s. once cervelli got hurt, his odds of winning it just improved
the idea that because he had a bad spring he “failed” in any way that matters is just goofy. believe me i wish he didn’t, but montero still has just as much crazy upside as before. and he’s 21 years old
I was going to say the same thing but happpily, you beat me to it. Of course the Yanks wanted him to have a great spring. I imagine they wanted that of Cervelli and ROmine as well. To amplify the signifigance of abad spring is stupid and serves no purpose. The Yanks didn’t NEED Montero to be their back up. I imagine they also would’ve been happ had Cervellie NOT been injured but instead had a great ST training too.
hey while we’re all thinking and talking about catchers, everyone who has not yet done so should take a few to go read mike fast’s article on catcher framing over on baseball prospectus
google “mike fast the real strike zone”. 1st result
All the cool kids are changing their picture!
Stay strong my friend!
I was going to play myself off as insulted here, but then I remembered I changed my picture like a month or two ago. I’m streets ahead.
You’re the Lady Gaga of our group, always ahead of the times lol
The Mariners should offer Silva a minor league deal. After all, they are practically paying 5.5M of his salary for 2011 anyway. And I think everyone knows that the M’s need depth for the #2 through #5 rotation spots.
Did you realize he rejected a minor league assignment? What makes you think he’ll accept a minor contract from the team that got rid of him. NO THANK YOU.
Well considering no team seems to want to offer him even a long relief role for major league minimum I’d say he’s going to have to take his balls and go home.
Kevin Milwood did the same by rejecting a Yankees minor league offer, but then in the end he accepted a minor league deal. Could happen to Silva too with the Mariners or another team.
Am I the only Yankee fan here pissed that Russel Martin is blocking Montero. Martin is so overrated.
the word you were looking for there was underrated
most valuable catchers since 2008:
joe mauer
brian mccan
yadier molina
russel martin
I haven’t looked but I’m going to assume Yadier’s defense got him there for the most part.
yea, though he’s also 4th in wOBA on that list. if you lower the minimum PA threshold, he falls a bit
But that’s because of his great 2008 season. Since that 2008 season, he’s 11th in WAR among catchers. He’s good, but there’s no way you can say Russell Martin is the fourth most valuable catcher in MLB.
did i say he’s the 4th most valuable catcher in MLB? that’s not how WAR works, so no. upton has been the 17th most valuable OF in the majors since 2008, though. and martin’s been the 4th most valuable catcher
if you want to zoom in for specifics, please do. martin had a great 2008 (4.6 WAR), a pretty meh 2009 (2.2 WAR), and a good 2010 (2.1 in 97 games – 3.2 WAR pace). 2007 was his best year at nearly 6 WAR
does that make him the 4th best catcher in baseball? not necessarily. but it does show that he has tremendous upside, which is not widely acknowledged by most fans. which is the only thing i said
Your claim is true, that he’s 4th most valuable in baseball since 2008, but he shouldn’t be made out to be some underrated gem of a player. He was a very good catcher, but that was in 2008. Three years ago. He’s been pretty average since.
Which means he’s definitely not underrated, considering I’ve never seen anybody call him below average…
his last very good year was 2008. he put up 10.4 WAR in two years from 07-08 – craziness. 09 was average. but 2010 was actually good, that’s the thing. his injury and getting non-tendered have really skewed the general perception of his ability
6 catchers put up more than 3.2 WAR last year – which was the pace he set. tied for sixth does not make him average. and when you account for his upside (how many of the 3-4 WAR catchers have proven an ability to perform at a 5-6 WAR level?), i’d say he’s definitely underrated
I’m no genius with the WAR formula, but I doubt he’d have a 3.2 WAR pace if he had his fielding numbers at about .5 like he did in the 2400 inning sample between ’08-’09 rather than the 4.0 he had in less than 800 innings last year. Can’t really trust a sample like that. He had the same wOBA in ’10 as he did in ’09 (actually .001 worse).
whether or not we project that level of defense going forward, it is the pace that he set. given that he’s shown that kind of ability before, your guess is as good as mine as to whether it would have panned out that way in 2010
if you adjust his wOBA for home park, it’s .329 in 09 and .321 in 2010. in both cases that’s just a touch below league average – but well above average for catchers
if you regress his BABIP figures, his wOBA in 09 was .345 and .340 in 2010. i don’t put a lot of stock in those regressed numbers — and fWAR isn’t based on them — but they do account for his previous success. it’s not as if his decline is age-related
coming off his worst season and an injury, there’s still no argument from me that he is a top catcher. he’s still got that kind of potential, though – and that fact is not widely recognized. nobody in new york should be bummed about having him on the roster
as a sox fan, i’ll be pleased if he doesn’t return to form in 2011
Don’t know how you trust his 2010 sample over the ’08-’09 sample, as it’s 1/3 of the latter… and it’s defensive metrics, where 2/3rds of a season isn’t a good indicator, but whatever…
And he’s had almost 1000 AB’s of a BABIP in the mid-.280’s range, it’s likely that it should be his BABIP going forward, right? Even though his LD% actually went up, not every line drive (or ground ball or flyball) is created equal.
though the larger sample has his BABIP closer to .300, i agreed with you about the BABIP regression stat before you said anything
SSS with defensive metrics warrant hesitation where drawing a conclusion about a player’s ability, not skepticism about the actual performance within the sample. it still actually happened
so even if he assume the level of performance regressed for 50 games, you’re talking about a 3.0 WAR finish instead of 3.2. and that means only 7 catchers were more valuable instead of 6. same conclusion holds
That .300 BABIP sample was three years ago.
And no, if his fielding numbers weren’t at a +4, but rather slightly above average, he’s not a 3.2 WAR catcher. He’s a 2.2 WAR one, like he was in 2009.
league average BABIP is around .300, just like martin’s career average
and for crying out sakes, we have been talking about his 2010 pace. he had already provided 100 games at +4.0; that can’t change in a 2010 projection. adding half as many games to that line at +1 or even 0 means he finishes with 3 WAR
and all of that is assuming his offense didn’t move back toward career norms the way we’re assuming his defense would
What I’m saying is that he’s not really a 3 WAR catcher going forward. He didn’t improve on hitting from 2009 to 2010, and his defense gave him one extra WAR than he actually should have. He might have been on pace for 3 WAR last year, but he’s still a 2 WAR catcher.
And a .300 BABIP is league average, but every hitter is different. You might see Martin’s BABIP at .300 and assume that he’s an average hitter. But it’s pretty obvious that his hitting ability has diminished since his .309-.317 BABIP days.
Clearly the Yankees thought he needed more seasoning in AAA, otherwise they wouldn’t have acquired Martin.
Atleast Martin is a catcher
At this point Martin might be the best C on the roster. Once Montero proves he is ready, “amazingly”, they’ll find a place for him.
You really think if the Yankees felt Montero was 100% ready to be a mlb catcher that Russell Martin is blocking him?
To think, the Giants won the WS last year with Bengie Molina blocking their top tier catching prospect.
Oh wait..
Martin is signed to a one-year deal and Montero is obviously not ready for a full-season in the majors. If anything, Martin is a place-holder.
I don’t think he is as much overrated as he was overused and just started to break down. Go look at how many games/innings compared to other catchers he has played in over the last handful of years. Do I think he is a superstar? No. But he is better then he was last year.
Sherman went on to say regardless of his spring, Jesus Montero aboslutely should be accepted by the Mariners for Felix, the M’s don’t deserve him
woa dude
Thats what I say when I read Felix rumors that always involve this Jesus Montero fella.
I just hope Montero is made of the right stuff and he’ll take the demotion in stride and use it to drive himself harder to make it to the bigs and stick. He has a rep for having a great work ethic and I hope be gets off to a great start in AAA.
every talking head has said Montero is a DH. No surprise here.
Not really sure if your comment fits the point. He was sent down more because he didn’t hit. From what I’ve heard this s[ring his glove still needs work but isn’t as bad as ppl have made it out to be.
Montero has really not impressed from what I’ve seen. Even his bat..
I think Romine will be an overall better catcher anyways.
We need to trade Montero for a premier starter (Felix) while his stock is still high.
Please read this 5 words: Felix Is NOT Being Traded
Not to the Yankees, anyways. Sox are gonna nab him for Michael Bowden, Josh Reddick and Tim Bogar.
It’s really naive to judge a minor leaguers bat based on such a small sample size though,especially spring training. Defense is a little better to judge because it’s more tools and mechanics related though. Even great big leaguers struggle in ST.