You would think that if a catcher was a defensive liability, he would at least be a hell of a batter. We had Mike Piazza, who could hit the crap out of the ball and made no bones about the fact that he was really inept behind the plate. Now we have Dioner Navarro and Sandy Alomar Jr., two guys on the opposite side of the spectrum, one barely starting out, one on the dog's ass of his career. In any case, the two are far from defensive wizards behind the plate, and up until this last homestand, both are pretty pathetic with the stick.
Why is it that everytime the Dodgers have runners in scoring position, Dioner finds a way to pop up or hit into a weak fielder's choice. It is absolutely painful, when you know that hitter/runners have gone through all that trouble to get on base and into scoring position to have this overhyped DePodesta project kill the rally. Is it too hard to ask for a guy like the Braves' Brian McCann? A guy like J. Kendall, or at the very least a fat Benji Molina who the Dodgers could have had on the cheap but let him get away to Toronto because of their love affair with the "second coming of Jorge Posada?" This is absolutely ridiculous! There is no output from any of these guys behind the plate and up until yesterday's game, opposing runners had swiped 15 of 16 bases on these guys.
And don't try to say that it's all the pitchers fault either. I'm not one of those guys that buys into all this "its a pitcher's job to hold the runner on" crap. Last I checked, the majority of the time, a pitcher has his back to the runner, and its on the catcher to let him know Juan Pierre is doing too much dancing at first. Can we please trade for a catcher, someone with an arm that can swing it a bit too. I would even take Brad Ausmus, a guy who has no power but calls a hell of the game and can throw out bastards trying to swipe bags.
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2 comments:
LA thinks that Russell Martin is their real deal. They also like Navarro and are basically leaving it up to the competition to see which one steps up. Both kids are playing primarily every day to get experience. Alomar is just a cheap insurance policy as the two kids try to get their experience. One of them will eventually become the regular backstop for years to come. It's my guess that it will be Martin.
Gillyking
Coming into tonight's game at Freson, Russell Martin was batting .262 with 6 RBI. He had eleven hits, six of them doubles, so you know he can find the gaps. However he hasn't really shown a power stroke and, much like James Loney, is looking like more of a slap hitter with occasional power.
I think if management wanted to sell this team as a winner, they should have addressed the obvious hole in the line up. Save the money on Garciaparra and Alomar, and get yourself a Benji Molina or package a deal for Toby Hall in Tampa.
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