2015 Spring Training Thread

[Parade_Rain]

Montero is one of the better catchers at calling a game. Defensively its a big upgrade.

Its Wellington Castillo that's the colossal **** up when it comes to calling a game.

He doesn't frame well. I didn't hear much negative last year about his game calling skills.

 

[chibears55]

Its Wellington Castillo that's the colossal **** up when it comes to calling a game.

Yea, Arrieta and Hendricks had horrible games with Castillo game calling

 

[Zvbxrpl]

Yea, Arrieta and Hendricks had horrible games with Castillo game calling

Both constantly denied him or shook their heads 'no' to his belt high fastball calls.

He called shit games.

 

[Parade_Rain]

Solid evidence you have there. Highly persuasive.

 

[chibears55]

Both constantly denied him or shook their heads 'no' to his belt high fastball calls.

He called shit games.

Lmao...

Didn't realize when he put the index finger down that meant throw the ball down the middle. .

Wow. . [emoji116]

 

[Parade_Rain]

Yep. There is no call for a belt high fastball ever. It's either at the knees or at the highest part of the zone.

 

[Bear Pride]

Yep. There is no call for a belt high fastball ever. It's either at the knees or at the highest part of the zone.

Sure there is, it's called right in the hitters wheelhouse, just ask Jackson.

 

[Parade_Rain]

Sure there is, it's called right in the hitters wheelhouse, just ask Jackson.

Um, no. That's called a pitcher lacking command.

 

[SilenceS]

Green means sarcasm in this establishment


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[Parade_Rain]

Thanks. I always wondered what that meant.

 

[brett05]

If you consider Montero's catching skills subpar, you don't know catching.

If you think it's above average you don't know catching. He is great at framing and bad at throwing out runners.

 

[brett05]

Montero is one of the better catchers at calling a game.

What evidence is there on pitch calling? I understand framing and arm, but what is there for calling?

 

[TC in Mississippi]

If you think it's above average you don't know catching. He is great at framing and bad at throwing out runners.

As other have pointed out he does have a reputation for calling a good game, how you quantify that I do not know and certainly won't argue about it. As far as throwing out runners you are correct, it is not a strong point of his game but it also seems to be a much lesser required skill with framing and calling a game seemingly being the most important traits for a catcher in today's game. Castillo, whether he can improve at calling a game or not, is considered a throwback with blocking and throwing being his strengths. His value ha obviously been hurt because of that.

 

[brett05]

As other have pointed out he does have a reputation for calling a good game, how you quantify that I do not know and certainly won't argue about it. As far as throwing out runners you are correct, it is not a strong point of his game but it also seems to be a much lesser required skill with framing and calling a game seemingly being the most important traits for a catcher in today's game. Castillo, whether he can improve at calling a game or not, is considered a throwback with blocking and throwing being his strengths. His value ha obviously been hurt because of that.

Castillo got replaced because of his framing, nothing else as far as I have read. As others have pointed out he did call a pretty good game but if there is some sort of metric I'd be interested.

I'd be willing to say that this year there will be little difference seen in Montero over say Tyler Flowers. I could also see a plethora of "doubles" thanks to the arm of Montero this season.

 

[CSF77]

If the staff ERA drops with Montenero the I do not see an issue with it. Castillo did not put up earth shattering production.

The reality here is it is Castillo's fault that they signed Montenero. He did not develop into the player that they expected.

The arm issue is over rated. This is not the 70's where teams played on astro turf and built teams for speed. Having a gun is lower in the pecking order.

The main purpose of a catcher is to call games and catch the ball. So blocking has value here but game calling still carries the most weight. Just in experience Montnero is a upgrade here.

Framing pitches is a new issue and I believe it holds more weight with pitchers that live on the corners. Arrieta and Lester both live on the corners. Hendricks also. Just getting those 3 (or 2 seeing Ross as Lester's catcher) continuing what they did last year is worth it.

O wise I see them as a wash. .235 I expect out of catcher. But seeing what Soler, Baez and Bryant have done. I'm not too concerned

 

[CSF77]

The should trade Castillo. I can't see the point of carrying 3

 

[Parade_Rain]

Green means sarcasm in this establishment


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

And I'm goin to add that "green" text doesn't show up on tapatalk. At least on my version it doesn't. :shrug:

 

[SilenceS]

And I'm goin to add that "green" text doesn't show up on tapatalk. At least on my version it doesn't. :shrug:

Showed up on mine. Its no issue. I think Brett had to tell me about green months ago.

 

[SilenceS]

The should trade Castillo. I can't see the point of carrying 3

No, there is no point. Castillo can bat .250 with a .320 OBP and pop 12 to 15 homers. Add into his defensive skills and **** Ross. I could care less that Lester needs his safety blanket.

 

[Zvbxrpl]

A simple eye test tells you Castillo blows at calling a game. If jerking off to advanced metrics is your thing, than look at his pitch framing, he's god awful at that too. Bottom of the league awful.

He has a cannon and decent reflexes when runners try to steal. That's okay. He has an above average bat for a catcher, that's also nice. That's not the part of his game that irritates me. The most important part of his game, the part he sucks at irritates me.

I'm with CSF, deal him. There's gotta be some prospect out there in return we can hype up farther before he's played a single MLB game.