A little more about catchers.

Ted Berg links to a DJ Short piece, from a series about players who could be non-tendered this winter, including Kelly Shoppach.

If the Mets could sign Shoppach to a one-year deal, while is value down coming off a year when his BABIP was below average and his own career norms, that would be a nice pickup. Shoppach, who will turn 30 next April 29th, hit .214/.335/.399 in 271 AB for Cleveland in 2009.  Shoppach’s BABIP had been above .350 for the previous three years, but dropped all the way down to a career-low .286.  He swings and misses a lot, but he will walk, has a little power by catcher standards and will be one of the younger catchers on the market.

Other readers have brought up Greg Zaun and Miguel Olivo.

Olivo set a career high with a  2.2 WAR in 2009 for the Kansas City Royals when he hit .249/.292/.490 in 4.33 AB.  He’s a guy with a .278 career OBP and has never once topped .300.  That’s not good. You can’t commit multiple years to sub-.300 OBP guys and expect good things.

Zaun, who split time between the Rays and Orioles hit a combined .260/.345/.416 in 262 AB.  I’m not sure Zaun, who will turn 39 on April 14th next year, can play everyday but unlike Olivo, he’s not allergic to taking a walk.

I wanted to clarify my point from earlier.  I’m not opposed to the Mets signing a free agent catcher.  The team is looking for one.  The folly would be handing out multiple years and multiple millions to a guy who’s not significantly better than what’s already on the roster (I’m looking at you, Mr. Molina).  Adding Kelly Shoppach on a one-year deal would be sneaky smart.  Adding Zaun as an NRI would also be sneaky smart.  Signing Barajas, Molina or Torrealba to 3 yrs/$10 million would be silly.

Thole
On Thursday, while Mets fans and Americans across the country were watching lousy NFL football and eating delicious food, Josh Thole was in Venezuela, doing the same thing he’s been doing for going on two years now: hitting.  The 23-year old Thole was 2-5 on Thanksgiving with a pair of doubles, giving him doubles in three straight games*.  He homered on Friday and had three more hits Saturday to briefly push his batting average over .400.  An 0-4 Sunday dropped Thole down to .391/.488/.571 133 AB over 39 games.

He leads the VWL in AVG and OBP, is second in doubles, is fifth in slugging and is the second toughest player to strikeout in the league. As a whole, its an offense friendly league which is hitting .287/.364/.428, but Thole is just raking down there.  Thole owns 13 2B, 1 3B, and 3 HR and 24 walks against 13 strikeouts.  Just think about this: he has more extra-base hits than strikeouts.

Reviews of Thole’s defense this summer were not good, but the results appear better this winter.  He’s been tested in Venezuela, where opponents’ 38 stolen base attempts are the most against any catcher.  Thole has thrown out 11 runners, a 29%.  By contrast, the rocket-armed Henry Blanco, has nailed 62% (16 of 26) would-be basestealers. In terms of receiving, Thole has not been charged with a single passed ball.  Also, Caracas’ pitching staff has been charged with 23 wild pitches, the second-fewest in the league, but this is a staff with good control; it also leads the league in fewest walks.

Thole’s fine winter comes after an impressive summer in which he made his Major League debut on September 3rd with a 2-5 performance.  In 17 games in the season’s final month, he hit .321/.356/.396 at the big league level with four walks and five strikeouts in 53 AB.  Thole earned his September call-up by hitting .328/.395/.422 at AA Binghamton in 103 games.

The Market
Take a look at the scary list of the free agent catchers.

Age is a player’s age on Opening Day 2010.  EQA is one of Baseball Prospectus’ advanced production metrics were .260 is the league average.  Type is the Elias category for each player.

The Mets have been linked most closely to Rod Barajas, Yorvit Torrealba and Bengie Molina, all of whom are over 30, and underwhelming at best the plate.

Barajas hit .226/.258/.403 with 19 homers and 19 doubles for Toronto.  The 19 HR were two off a career-high he set in 2005 with Texas. He’s an OBP sink.

Molina hit .265/.285/.442 and set a new career high with twenty homers to go along with 25 doubles in San Francisco.  Molina has been consistent, hitting between 15-20 HR each year for the last five.  He walked 13 times in 2009.  Yes, 13.   Thole has drawn twice that number in one month in Venezuela.  At his MLB rates, Thole would equal that number in less than two months.  Molina is not an OBP sink.  He’s a black hole.  Also, Molina is a type A free agent so the Mets would have to give up their second round draft pick for the privilege of paying Molina to kill rallies.

Torrealba hit .291/.351/.380 for Colorado in a backup role.

Pass
Do you see a significant offensive upgrade over a Thole/Santos tandem?  I don’t.  The Mets must spend their money on positions, notably 1B and LF, where the market provides an appreciable upgrade over the players they ran out on the field in 2009.  Catcher simply does not offer serious improvement opportunities in the same way.

*I originally referred to Thole as being 24 on Opening Day 2010.  Thanks to an eagle-eyed reader for catching my brain fart.

I tivoed Thursday’s Giants debacle, so I could spend time with my family and my mom’s fantastic pecan pie at game time.  Despite text messages from friends that all included the word “crap” I still made time to watch the whole game at the end of the night.  I can barely believe I wasted my time.  Couple thoughts:

1. I liked the NFL Network’s presentation.  I usually go to a bar on Sunday to see every game, so it was nice to hear Bob Papa’s voice again.  Matt Millen, although he’s a clueless GM is a very solid color guy.

2. Matt Millen said it correctly of the Giants defense: “This is not a physical defense.”  Nope.  It’s not.  It’s a terrible defense.  Millen made the odd assertion that Corey Webster has the Giants best defensive player this year.  Ugh!  If that’s the case, well, it’s not a good defense.

3. As bad as the Giants defense was, the offense matched their ineptitude.  Small Blue had 38 yards in the first half.  Brandon Jacobs had 27 yards on 11 carries for the game.

4. Three times that I remember in the second half, Eli Manning audibled at the line, twice on the drive that resulted in the first field goal, and then another time on the subsequent drive.  Each time resulted in a Jacobs run which lost yardage.  Given the team’s other problems, this feels like nitpicking, but really, does Eli get it?

5. Anyone wish the Giants had Brian Dawkins running around the secondary instead of CC Brown?

6. That’s not a Giants team that belongs in the playoffs.

6. Well, at least NYC fans can look to the Knicks.  Er, check that.  How many days is it until spring training?  120?

Enjoy the holiday weekend.  Back Monday and back to baseball.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I’ll enjoy a day with friends, family, too much food and maybe a little football on Thursday.  I’m especially thankful for my mother’s pies (she did up a pecan pie this year).

And while we’re here, lets all give thanks to baseball for existing.

And to those of you readers who stop by,  I can’t thank you enough. Thanks.  Seriously.

- Toby

On the same day that the Mets announced the hiring of Terry Collins as the new Minor League Field Coordinator, the team also announced that manager Ken Oberkfell and pitching coach Ricky Bones would return to the Buffalo Bisons in 2010.

Jack Voigt was promoted from the Brooklyn Cyclones to be the Bisons new hitting coach.  Voigt served a similar role with Oberkfell when the Mets were in New Orleans in 2007 and 2008.  The Bisons went through two hitting coaches in 2009.  Luis Natera, who began the year in Buffalo, was sent to AA Binghamton on June 10th, with his team last in the International League in batting average and runs scored.  Bill Masse was promoted from Binghamton to Buffalo to take Natera’s place.  Where will Masse and Natera end up?  AA-Binghamton?  Brooklyn?  Another organization?

At 7:47 PM on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, the Mets announced 1. the completion of their major league coaching staff with the hiring of Dave Jauss and Chip Hale and 2. the hiring of Terry Collins to be the team’s Minor League Field Coordinator.

From the Mets release on Collins:

Collins, 60, who managed the Houston Astros from 1994-1996 and the Anaheim Angels from 1997-1999, will oversee all on-field aspects of the Mets Minor League Spring Training, Mini-Camps and Instructional League.  In addition, he will be involved in all phases of minor league on-field operations, including instruction, discipline as well as player and staff evaluations.

Collins compiled a 444-434 record as a manger (.506 winning percentage). This year, he managed Team China in the World Baseball Classic and won the country’s first game in WBC history. He directed the Duluth Huskies in the Northwoods Summer League in 2009.

In 2007 and 2008, he was the manager of the Orix Buffaloes in the Japanese Professional League.

During his career, Collins also was the bullpen coach with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1992-1993), an advance scout with the Chicago Cubs (2000), a bullpen coach and third base coach with the Tampa Bay Rays (2001), a Field Coordinator for the Los Angeles Dodgers (2002-2004) and the Director of Player Development for the Dodgers (2005-2006).

He was an infielder for 10 seasons in the minor leagues with the Pirates (1971-1975) and the Dodgers (1975-1980) before beginning a 10-year career as a minor league manager in 1981.

The Mets own press release ignores Collins’ strong relationship with the Buffalo Bisons and the Rich family, who own the team.
Collins managed Buffalo for three years, from 1989-91 and won one division title with the team, which was then a Pirates affiliate.  He was inducted into the Buffalo Hall of Fame in 1992.  According to the wonderfully opinionated Mike Harrington in the Buffalo News,

“Collins is … revered in Buffalo.  Especially by ownership and the front office… It’s widely known that he was going to be Bob Rich’s first choice as manager if the Herd had gotten a 1993 NL expansion team.”

Collins has experience in the position, big league managerial experience, and close ties to the home of the Mets AAA affiliate.  What’s not to like?

Yesterday, at MLB.com, Jonathan Mayo wrote up his review of the Mets farm system in 2009.  He wrote in part,

On the field, there were some signs of life from a system that hasn’t provided a whole lot of help in New York of late.

Mayo pointed to the development of Ike Davis, Reese Havens and Kirk Nieuwenhuis from the 2008 draft, and Jenrry Mejia and Wilmer Flores from the international signings as positive developments.

Mayo plays a difficult game where he picks a Preseason Player and Pitcher of the Year.  He picked Flores and RHP Brad Holt, while his post-season selections are 1B Ike Davis and RHP Jeurys Familia – the two guys the Mets tabbed for the organization-wide Sterling Awards.