catcher.

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NCBuccofan
Posts: 150
Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2016 2:26 pm

catcher.

Post by NCBuccofan »

192B27273301222B26232C2B4A0 wrote: But as we can see, catchers are always in demand so even if he isn't needed it's not like it's an un-movable contract. 



Sorry, I'm having a hard time faulting them much on this one.  What team has good options at 3-4 in their depth charts?


Who is going to trade for Stewart? He cannot hit at all, and he is average defensively. That is a bad contract.



The Pirates had no option at 3. Diaz was known to be out for a very long time, and they did not replace him until they were desperate. I cannot excuse them doing nothing for months with two known injury risks at catcher.
dmetz
Posts: 1687
Joined: Sun Jul 03, 2016 4:52 pm

catcher.

Post by dmetz »

000D0C3B2D2D21282F204E0 wrote: any idea how Elias Diaz is progressing?  I think he is back on a rehad assignment, was hoping to see him sometime in the second half.


2-10 in his rehab so far.  3 walks as well.  Fryer obviously should be getting the bulk of the time until Cervelli is healthy or they call up Diaz.  The rest are all junk.



Fryer is obviously poor defensively...not Ryan Doumit bad, but maybe like McKenry.  His offense potential gives him more value over Stewart.


We agree. Fryer > Stew.
NCBuccofan
Posts: 150
Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2016 2:26 pm

catcher.

Post by NCBuccofan »

727B73626C160 wrote: any idea how Elias Diaz is progressing?  I think he is back on a rehad assignment, was hoping to see him sometime in the second half.


2-10 in his rehab so far.  3 walks as well.  Fryer obviously should be getting the bulk of the time until Cervelli is healthy or they call up Diaz.  The rest are all junk.



Fryer is obviously poor defensively...not Ryan Doumit bad, but maybe like McKenry.  His offense potential gives him more value over Stewart.


We agree.  Fryer > Stew.


If they think Diaz is not going to be ready, I would prefer him to backup next year as well. I do not see the need for Stewart, they should be able to find similar players on the cheap for AAA.
PMike
Posts: 843
Joined: Sun Jul 03, 2016 9:29 pm

catcher.

Post by PMike »

6F62635442424E47404F210 wrote: But as we can see, catchers are always in demand so even if he isn't needed it's not like it's an un-movable contract. 



Sorry, I'm having a hard time faulting them much on this one.  What team has good options at 3-4 in their depth charts?


Who is going to trade for Stewart?  He cannot hit at all, and he is average defensively.  That is a bad contract.



The Pirates had no option at 3.  Diaz was known to be out for a very long time, and they did not replace him until they were desperate.  I cannot excuse them doing nothing for months with two known injury risks at catcher.




What should/would they have done when Diaz got hurt? What was the option? Who should they have acquired? The reality is, they have actually done pretty well, IMO. They burned through their starter, backup, and shockingly their top prospect in about 2 months. Then, they were still able to find 2 productive replacement that both actually had familiarity with the organization and some of the pitches. I think it all turned out pretty well.
Quail
Posts: 835
Joined: Sun Jul 03, 2016 2:48 pm

catcher.

Post by Quail »

505951404E340 wrote: I know this might be seen as nuts, but looking at Fryers limited lines in the majors, his extensive minor league work and his athleticism, I would seriously consider releasing Stewart and holding Fryer if a roster crunch made that a choice.



I realize he's just hot with the bat right now, but he's more athletic than Stewart and it appears based on his history that he's got a decent bat on him when given the opportunity. 



Maybe bury Stewart on extended rehab until Sept roster expansion if Cervelli and Stewart both come available prior to that.  Obviously, Kratz is out of a job if only one of them come off the DL prior to that.


I don't think it's all that crazy to value Fryer over Stewart right now. What I've seen of Fryer so far has impressed me. He has better foot speed than Stewart, has hit well, appears to call a good game behind the plate, and is four years younger. Of course there is also the extremely small sample size involved and a really mediocre MLB and MiLB career that puts into serious question whether what we've seen so far is at all sustainable.



In 2014 & 2015 Stewart hit over .290 in more than 300 plate appearances for the Bucs. He was about as good a backup catcher as you could ask for. This year at age 34 he's performed much closer to his career average and a lot less like the guy the Pirates had seen in what were 2 career years.



All things considered I think Stewart's shelf-life may have expired, and Fryer might be a good candidate for being a 'career year' replacement.
Bobster21

catcher.

Post by Bobster21 »

Yes, Stewart isn't around for his bat. His batting average the past 2 seasons has been very uncharacteristic for his career. IMHO he was extremely lucky. I've never seen so many seeing eye grounders or soft looping balls just over the infield. This year, he's not getting those hits.
Tintin
Posts: 320
Joined: Sat Jul 02, 2016 11:16 pm

catcher.

Post by Tintin »

5459586F7979757C7B741A0 wrote: Eric Fryer with a good night.



This catching situation could have been a disaster. 


It was a disaster.  NH was ill prepared, and was caught with his pants down again.



Got lucky again.




It was three injuries in series.  You can only stash extra catchers in so many places.  It wasn't that long ago that people were complaining about the Stewart signing as unnecessary because we have so many catchers. 


Diaz was hurt in March.  They had no major league backup in AAA.  I am not expecting someone to come in and be a seamless replacement, but the best you can do is a 36 year old journeyman that 3 teams discarded this year?



Signing Stewart for this year or the two more years they have him?  Diaz should be the backup next year, so he is unneeded.




No major league catcher is going to sign a contract to be a minor leaguer. Why would they sign a contract making 400 a day when they could make 2200 a day?

Guys like Kratz and Fryer are AAAA catchers. That's your choices. We have a good starter, and in the grand scheme, a good back up.

If Cervelli gets hurt, we have Stewart and we figure it out from there. If both get hurt, you're right there is no plan for that. But no one else has a plan for that either. Major league catchers aren't going to sign contracts to play in AAA, and minor league catchers who can play in the majors are guys like Kratz and Fryer.



There are a finite number of players that can play in the big leagues. Most of them are already up. When a situation like this happens, there is no answer short of making a desperation trade.


Ecbucs
Posts: 4358
Joined: Thu Jun 30, 2016 9:53 pm

catcher.

Post by Ecbucs »

5D60677D6067090 wrote: Eric Fryer with a good night.



This catching situation could have been a disaster. 


It was a disaster.  NH was ill prepared, and was caught with his pants down again.



Got lucky again.




It was three injuries in series.  You can only stash extra catchers in so many places.  It wasn't that long ago that people were complaining about the Stewart signing as unnecessary because we have so many catchers. 


Diaz was hurt in March.  They had no major league backup in AAA.  I am not expecting someone to come in and be a seamless replacement, but the best you can do is a 36 year old journeyman that 3 teams discarded this year?



Signing Stewart for this year or the two more years they have him?  Diaz should be the backup next year, so he is unneeded.




No major league catcher is going to sign a contract to be a minor leaguer.  Why would they sign a contract making 400 a day when they could make 2200 a day?

Guys like Kratz and Fryer are AAAA catchers.  That's your choices.  We have a good starter, and in the grand scheme, a good back up. 

If Cervelli gets hurt, we have Stewart and we figure it out from there.  If both get hurt, you're right there is no plan for that.  But no one else has a plan for that either.  Major league catchers aren't going to sign contracts to play in AAA, and minor league catchers who can play in the majors are guys like Kratz and Fryer.



There are a finite number of players that can play in the big leagues.  Most of them are already up.  When a situation like this happens, there is no answer short of making a desperation trade.






the only answer other than trade I can think of is to try and sign someone like Kratz or Fryer to play at AAA. I can't remember his name right now but the Bucs had signed Tim Laker to play at AAA the year Kendall had his ankle injury (and he had a cup of coffee with team the year before) but when Kendall was hurt they left him in the minors and traded for Oliver.
NCBuccofan
Posts: 150
Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2016 2:26 pm

catcher.

Post by NCBuccofan »

5B767B6A6D7C6B2B28190 wrote: Yes, Stewart isn't around for his bat. His batting average the past 2 seasons has been very uncharacteristic for his career. IMHO he was extremely lucky. I've never seen so many seeing eye grounders or soft looping balls just over the infield. This year, he's not getting those hits.


Not sure what he is around for, his defense is pretty average as well.
NCBuccofan
Posts: 150
Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2016 2:26 pm

catcher.

Post by NCBuccofan »

6E53544E53543A0 wrote: Eric Fryer with a good night.



This catching situation could have been a disaster. 


It was a disaster.  NH was ill prepared, and was caught with his pants down again.



Got lucky again.




It was three injuries in series.  You can only stash extra catchers in so many places.  It wasn't that long ago that people were complaining about the Stewart signing as unnecessary because we have so many catchers. 


Diaz was hurt in March.  They had no major league backup in AAA.  I am not expecting someone to come in and be a seamless replacement, but the best you can do is a 36 year old journeyman that 3 teams discarded this year?



Signing Stewart for this year or the two more years they have him?  Diaz should be the backup next year, so he is unneeded.




No major league catcher is going to sign a contract to be a minor leaguer.  Why would they sign a contract making 400 a day when they could make 2200 a day?

Guys like Kratz and Fryer are AAAA catchers.  That's your choices.  We have a good starter, and in the grand scheme, a good back up. 

If Cervelli gets hurt, we have Stewart and we figure it out from there.  If both get hurt, you're right there is no plan for that.  But no one else has a plan for that either.  Major league catchers aren't going to sign contracts to play in AAA, and minor league catchers who can play in the majors are guys like Kratz and Fryer.



There are a finite number of players that can play in the big leagues.  Most of them are already up.  When a situation like this happens, there is no answer short of making a desperation trade.






Who said they had to sign a major league catcher? Actually, they should have signed a major league catcher to backup Cervelli and sent Stewart to AAA.



They had zero catching depth when the season started. Zero. They did absolutely nothing to fix it for months...when they were forced to.



Apparently they only options in your mind are to sign MLB catchers or nothing. The Pirates are not allowed to actually have a decent AAA catcher.
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