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Post by jmei on May 20, 2014 14:20:09 GMT -5
Salty is coming back to earth. The people who are all of a sudden mad that we didn't sign him even after pretty much no one advocated it in the offseason will have less to complain about soon. His wRC+ is 58 in May. You can't hit .323 on ground balls for long as a catcher who is a dead pull hitter hitting into shifts. Well, for one thing, even if his BABIP regresses to career norms, Saltalamacchia still projects to hit a fair bit better than Pierzynski going forward (106-91 wRC+ gap by ZiPS ROS, 95-88 by Steamer ROS), with slightly better defense to boot. Plus, keeping Saltalamacchia makes the idea of integrating Vazquez onto the major league team next year a lower-risk proposition. Plus, I was pushing for re-signing Saltalamacchia over adding Pierzynski since the beginning, so this is not just the power of hindsight. Dumb decision at the time, even dumber decision now.
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Post by jimed14 on May 20, 2014 14:26:12 GMT -5
Salty is coming back to earth. The people who are all of a sudden mad that we didn't sign him even after pretty much no one advocated it in the offseason will have less to complain about soon. His wRC+ is 58 in May. You can't hit .323 on ground balls for long as a catcher who is a dead pull hitter hitting into shifts. Well, for one thing, even if his BABIP regresses to career norms, Saltalamacchia still projects to hit a fair bit better than Pierzynski going forward (106-91 wRC+ gap by ZiPS ROS, 95-88 by Steamer ROS), with slightly better defense to boot. Plus, keeping Saltalamacchia makes the idea of integrating Vazquez onto the major league team next year a lower-risk proposition. Plus, I was pushing for re-signing Saltalamacchia over adding Pierzynski since the beginning, so this is not just the power of hindsight. Dumb decision at the time, even dumber decision now. My bad, I should not have said "no one". I just don't think it was doable without a 3 year deal which was a non-starter for the Sox. Hanigan would have been better than AJP (and Salty) for me. And I don't share the same view that others have about trading players in regards to assuming we can trade him in a year or two after signing him for 3. Look at how long we've held onto Carp. It must not be that easy.
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Post by jmei on May 20, 2014 14:29:29 GMT -5
The Speier report posted above indicates that Saltalamacchia would have re-signed on a two-year deal with a vesting option for a third. If the Red Sox thought Vazquez was ready to be the starter in 2016, they could have easily manipulated the playing time in 2015 so Saltalamacchia's option doesn't vest. They probably could have also upped the AAV on a two-year deal if it was that important to them. Saltalamacchia would have almost certainly taken 2/$20m in Boston over the 3/$21m with a non-contender that he eventually signed.
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Post by Guidas on May 20, 2014 15:52:45 GMT -5
The Speier report posted above indicates that Saltalamacchia would have re-signed on a two-year deal with a vesting option for a third. If the Red Sox thought Vazquez was ready to be the starter in 2016, they could have easily manipulated the playing time in 2015 so Saltalamacchia's option doesn't vest. They probably could have also upped the AAV on a two-year deal if it was that important to them. Saltalamacchia would have almost certainly taken 2/$20m in Boston over the 3/$21m with a non-contender that he eventually signed. Completely agree - of all the off season guys who left, Salty may have been the one they really mismanaged, especially considering Ross may be one more foul ball to the noggin from retirement.
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