Kottaras impressive catching Wakefield
by Randy Booth on Mar 25, 2009 10:53 AM EDT
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This is very high praise from the veteran Tim Wakefield:
"I'm as comfortable with [George Kottaras] as I was with [Kevin] Cash last year," Wakefield said.
This comes from Wakefield after a solid performance against the Yankees last night in which Kottaras -- his new personal catcher -- was behind the dish. Wake went 5.2 innings, allowed four hits, one run, one walk and struck out five in his best start of the spring. He was also facing the Yankees' projected Opening Day roster.
A sign of things to come? Let's hope so.
Another interesting tidbit is that Kottaras himself called a few knuckleballs that wound up for strikeouts:
Wakefield threw only two fastballs all night and, at Kottaras's request, changed speeds effectively. Wakefield is at his best - and most difficult to catch - when he can toss glacially slow knucklers to go with his merely soft ones.
"He showed a little more assertiveness calling some slow ones," Wakefield said. "I got some strikeouts on some slow ones, mixing in different speeds on his call, not mine."
"It's good, because it gets guys out," Kottaras said. "It was active in the zone, and that's what he's trying to do."
As Terry Francona has said, Kottaras isn't just a normal backup catcher. He has to deal with the only true knuckleballer in the major leagues every fifth day. That's a tough task for a rookie. If he can handle this even half as well as a Kevin Cash or Doug Mirabelli, the Sox should be in a good position.
It might sound extreme, but Kottaras could really make or break this lineup. If he hits anywhere near his line from Pawtucket last year (22 home runs) and catches Wakefield like he did last night, the Sox will be in a phenomenal position.
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If Kottaras hits like his line from Pawtucket last year...
…then Varitek should be Wake’s personal catcher and the rookie should be playing four days out of five.
+1
I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.
by Drugs Delaney on Mar 25, 2009 11:16 AM EDT up reply actions
True, but obviously Kott isn’t going to hit 22 dingers as a backup to start…
by Randy Booth on Mar 25, 2009 11:22 AM EDT up reply actions
If Kottaras is hitting .250 with 20 HR and Tek hits like last year?
How about Tek catches DiceK every other start and Kott plays 9 of 10?
But I don’t think Kottaras is going to hit that well. He only hit .243 in AAA, so I’d peg him more at .230 or so, and 15 HR at best if he’s a full-time player. Probably about where Tek will hit.
There are also questions about Kottaras's throwing ability
He had footwork issues in the minors. I hope he has improved.
I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.
by Drugs Delaney on Mar 25, 2009 6:46 PM EDT up reply actions
Tek wasn't a bad throwing catcher in his prime
I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.
by Drugs Delaney on Mar 26, 2009 7:18 AM EDT up reply actions
But his prime is over
At this point, I’d guess the only two things Tek has over Kottaras are experience and depth of knowledge of his pitchers and opposing teams’ hitters.
Consider that Tek will be batting righty exclusively (since Kott is lefty).
He might hit better. Along with the new swing, and his new found love (Heidi), he might be a lot better now.
But he sucked like hell as a LHB last year.
And has always had a higher OPS from the right. Since Kott is lefty, it make sense for him to get most of the RHP-opposing starts once he gets more comfortable.
Holy cow, I just jumped on Kott’s bandwagon.
Yeah, but ‘Tek/Kott aren’t splitting time in terms of LHP v. RHP. It’s just whoever THEIR pitcher is. So ’Tek will be hitting from both sides. He refuses to stop switch hitting.
Which is why...
…he ended up getting a much smaller contract than Boras promised.
How about Kott catches 162/162
and Tek plays bench coach or third base coach, or is made a minor league manager?
"It's just a tiny little nick, but it hurts when I get champagne in there."
- Jason Bay, on getting spiked scoring the winning run in ALDS Game Four.
I don't think any player has ever caught 162 games in a season
I doubt it’s physically possible.
Oh, and Randy has the answer:
No.
However, in 1968 Randy Hundley, playing for the Cubs, played 159 games at catcher with ONE game he came in as a pinch hitter.
June 23, 1968 against the Reds, John Boccabella got the start at catcher, got two at-bats, then Hundley came in and got the final three at-bats.
So I’m not sure — 160 games or still just 159? I think it’s 160.
That, my friends, is impressive as hell.
by Randy Booth on Mar 26, 2009 6:11 PM EDT up reply actions 3 recs
OK
I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.
by Drugs Delaney on Mar 26, 2009 6:23 PM EDT up reply actions
catchers could make or break lineup
Kotts won’t make or break the offense if he plays every 5th day, but I see your point Randy. If Tek AND Kotts can hit above .250 and continue to drive the ball for doubles and homers… it maked the bottom of the lineup alot tougher for opposinig pitchers.
I’m not sure if Lugo will hit like he was in ST when he comes back, but for now, having Tek and Lowire in the 8th and 9th spot with Drew, Lowell or Bay ahead of them has me excited.
We can still win the WS with one shitty hitter.
We had Lugo and Drew playing everyday in 2007 and if you adjust for position, both were just as bad as Tek was last year.
Ahhhh, wasn't the final score like 7 to 1?
Eternal optimism just might not be warranted if you watched the same game I did. Personally, other than a decent performance by Wakefield, which I think was and is a freak, I am quite worried about the performance of this team!
C'mon, NG
It’s spring training. The Sox only had three starters in their line-up.
I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.
by Drugs Delaney on Mar 25, 2009 3:19 PM EDT up reply actions
I want to worry!
Hey, it is the Red Sox, and for much of my life, they sucked! Would you deny me this simple pleasure (worrying)?
by NG on Mar 25, 2009 4:12 PM EDT up reply actions
Go ahead, NG
Worry all you want.
I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.
by Drugs Delaney on Mar 25, 2009 4:25 PM EDT up reply actions
Worry about Tek, not Kottaras
Unless Jason can produce this year, its the other 4 days I’m worried about. The backup catcher is the least of your worries. But the Sox have 7 strong hitters on that club, so I’m not worried about the C position.
I'll worry about both
I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.
by Drugs Delaney on Mar 25, 2009 3:19 PM EDT up reply actions
Hansack
NG – one bad outing by Devern Hansak in ST doesn’t have me concerned… I think it was 1-1 before he imploeded in the 8th…
Exactly, It was a HR off of Hansak (who probably won’t be in the majors come opening day), after Delcarmen struggled in his 2nd inning (who normally won’t pitch more then 1 inning), with the Yanks starting 7 of their regular starters and (maybe 8 depending on who fills in for A-Rod while he’s on the DL) and us only starting 3-4 of our regular starters (and of those 3-4 only Ortiz is one of our big hitters, the other 3 are all 3 of the weaker starters offensively), and with them starting their 2-3 pitcher and us starting our 5 pitcher…I’m not worried one bit. In fact, I’m optimistic at the fact that until we brought in a pitcher that won’t be in the majors, we were tied 1-1 even though they more or less played their starting line-up, and our line up was missing all the heavy hitters but ortiz.
as much as I like Wake
I’m still not sold on the 2 roster spots that get taken up with him requiring a specialist catcher….
That catching spot in the lineup is just plain dead weight and I’m sick of it. Also, someone above worried about Kott’s arm? Uh well I think Tek hovered around 20% base stealers thrown out last year, so that’s pretty sh*t.
Our acceptance for the perfomance of this position has been lowered to a standard that is way below league average and its just unacceptable for a team with the resources that the Sox have.
Agreed
Nobody uses just one catcher (anymore?).
However, there is a bit of truth to the fact that you need a catcher who isn’t opposed to catching a knuckleball.
And the catcher’s position is a bit of a black hole throughout baseball. The 10th highest RBI total for ANY catcher was 60 (the same, by the way, as at SS). So while the Sox aren’t exactly excelling at C, they’re not bringing up the rear, either. The Sox’s suckiness is rather mediocre compared to the crapitude of some other teams.
And, of course, there's guys like Mauer and Martin who make Tek look like a TBall player.
I’d rather have Tek than Piazza.
And, oddly, I'd be right if I was looking at wins.
Although, that was towards the tailend of Piazza's career and the best years of Tek.
But still, those numbers don’t include the [I word]s.
no, wrong
Tek’s OPS+ was 73 last year, that’s way below effing average. That’s o.k. for the back up, but to carry two guys like that is just dumb. We are justifying this because “catching is a black hole” or “we need a back up anyway”. That’s crap, this team has incredible resources and to carry two catchers who will be lucky to post an OPS+ above 70 is not acceptable.
I give the club alot of leeway in many areas however I’ve drawn a line in the sand here. There are some good catchers out there we could acquire, I just don’t think the FO has made it a priority. Well next year, they have no choice and everyone knows it and we’ll get stuck buying very high on someone who will turn out to be average.
In saying that, I must give good points to the FO for not making the same silly mistake NY made with Posada…how much longer does that albatross of a contract last for?
Sure, we can upgrade
But at what cost?
Let’s assume we didn’t re-sign Tek over the winter, so we’re still on the market for a catcher. There wasn’t anything outstanding on the free agent market—if there were, we probably would have heard about it. So that leaves a trade.
Now, given that everybody knows that the Sox (a) would be in urgent need of a catcher, and (b) have a lot of nearly major league ready prospects, how many deals do you think they’d get that wouldn’t be blatant highway robbery. (Reminders: last year the Nationals wanted Bowden and Lowrie for Jon Rauch, and Colorado wanted Buchholz straight-up for a two-month rental of Brian Fuentes, And let’s not forget that the package for Santana would have included Lester, Lowrie, and Masterson. Think about how ugly last season would have been without those three.)
So, I think the Sox can do better, but they’d have to be willing to give up a whole lot in terms of resources to do anything by trade. Given the reluctance they’ve shown to trade for even superstar-level talent, I believe they value their prospects a lot more than the incremental production gain they’d get from upgrading the catcher position.
by lone1c on Mar 25, 2009 11:59 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Ever heard of a guy named Pudge Rodriguez?
In his age-36 season he hit a little below where he’d been for the rest of his 30s, hitting .276/.318/.393. He signed for a one-year, 1.5 million dollar contract. How in God’s name can the FO possibly justify spending ten times that on a catcher who can’t possibly hope to have offensive numbers that come even close to that line. I mean, I understand that there are intangibles in this game, but those are some damn expensive intangibles if you ask me.
Straight outta HP. Go MDC!!!
http://soxcentury.blogspot.com
More like five
But you’re right that Varitek is being overpaid, even at $5M/yr. However, as I said above, I think the “bargain” the Sox would have gotten in a trade would not have been worth the price they would have had to pay.
Varitek can't come close to a .714 OPS?
His OPS from the last three years: .725, .787, .672. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Tek had a .700 OPS this year.
OPS+ is not adjusted for position. So you are comparing Varitek to all major league hitters instead of comparing him only to catchers. Amongst the 53 catchers with 150 PA’s last year there were 19 worse than Varitek in terms of OPS. This is good by no means, but as we could definitely do worse. So the question is: What would it cost to do significantly better than that? Russell Martin was about 100 OPS points better. Is that worth selling the farm? Is that worth Bucholz and Bowden? Salty was about 40 points better than Tek last year. What if we gave up Buch and Salty ended up hitting like that? it would suck.
Now, I’m not saying Varitek is good, or that his new contract is good (its terrible). But many, many teams get worse production at the position so any improvement would be very costly.
What do you think of my pre-season predictions?
You are an idiot if you think Bucholz will do that bad
Friendship is like peeing on yourself: everyone can see it, but only you get the warm feeling that it brings.
by sox-inda-south on Mar 26, 2009 9:16 AM EDT up reply actions
Play nice.
That’s exactly what Buchholz did last year. I’m sure it’s within the realm of possibilities that he’ll repeat his 2008 performance, but I doubt it.
I’d be psyched if we got that out of the rest of our starters guys – particularly Smoltz. But I say no way Dice put’s up those numbers – particularly the IP and the WHIP.
Manny ain't the only bad man.
Oh wait
Smoltz – 22 GS and 28 IP? Our team combines for 194 GS? Penny with a WHIP below 1? And 51 Ks in 154 innings?
But I like your optimism, especially in the pen.
Manny ain't the only bad man.
Interesting note about Buchholz
Last spring Buchholz was 1-2 9.34 ERA, and he later struggled in the regular season. So far this spring, in twice as many innings, he is 2-0 0.46 ERA. While we shouldn’t put too much into spring training stats, maybe Buchholz has ironed out his mechanical problems. If so, he may be primed to have a good year.
I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.
by Drugs Delaney on Mar 26, 2009 11:37 AM EDT up reply actions
you're right
that was a little too harsh and aggressive
Sorry striker
Friendship is like peeing on yourself: everyone can see it, but only you get the warm feeling that it brings.
by sox-inda-south on Mar 27, 2009 10:34 AM EDT up reply actions
What's with Francona and the glasses?
Is that a new thing, and is it likely to help Francona see the best (or at least a better) path to success this year?
Kotteras catching Wake
I could have caught Wakefield the other night! He threw mostly strikes, and only walked 1 batter. Lets hope this trend continues, but I wouldn’t count on that kind of control from Wakefield all season. Not to knock the service he provides, but lets face it, he is .500 pitcher, whose ERA will be in the mid-fours…Kotteras saw good Timmy against the Yanks the other night.
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