One of the things I noticed this season with Welington Castillo was that about any time he had an opportunity to make an error, he did. I'm not being serious of course, but it was pretty bad. Only 6 catchers made more errors than Castillo and he only caught 413.2 innings. It also seemed he allowed a lot of passed balls and wild pitches though when I looked that up toward the end of the season it was an example of my eyes telling me something that wasn't there.
Each year Matt Klassen has been measuring catcher defense for at least the last few years. It seems like longer than that and may actually be, but I'm not sure. The 2012 numbers are out now and they do show that not only was Castillo a poor fielding catcher, but so was most of the other Cubs catchers.
Only Koyie Hill (+0.9 runs) and Anthony Recker (+0.7) were above average. Blake Lalli was at -0.6 so he was close enough. The other three, Geovany Soto, Steve Clevenger and Castillo were terrible.
Out of 116 catchers, Castillo ranked 104th at -3.1 runs. He was behind the plate for 1828 plate appearances. Soto ranked 106th at -3.4 (1911 PA) and Clevenger ranked 109th at -4.0 runs (1786 PA). Oddly enough, Soto was actually very good with the Rangers. Overall he'd have ranked around 90th.
Soto, Castillo and Clevenger each caught roughly the same amount of time and were by ard far the majority of the season behind the plate for the Cubs. Those three totaled -10.5 runs.
Klassen's numbers don't include pitch framing or game calling, which is very difficult to calculate. It's possible that Castillo and Clevenger excel in these areas, but we wouldn't really know. It's more likely they're average at best and overall below average defensive catchers. Clevenger is a very poor hitter and considering his defense has little ot no value.
This actually surprises me a bit. His numbers were slightly better than Castillo's in the minor leagues and he has the platoon advantage at the plate more frequenly than Castillo. This isn't to say Castillo is an impressive offensive catcher. He's league average at best.
The Cubs don't have to spend much money behind the plate with these two, but it's worth wondering how much they could improve if they did spend a little bit. The free agent catchers don't offer a whole lot, but one might be available in a trade.
God damn it, The Nationals! Get your shit together!
@ josh:
Just what I was thinking.
As much as I’d enjoy the Nationals losing this series because of their stupidity of shutting Strasburg down, I’m sick of the Cardinals winning shit they don’t deserve to win.
The Reds chance of reaching the World Series took a huge hit. Cueto won’t be eligible for the NLCS either. I didn’t know that.
@ mb21:
Talk about horrible timing to get bit by the injury bug.
I bet they could use Strasburg.
I don’t really give a shit about the Reds or the Giants, but I’m rooting for the Underdog as much as possible. Except for being 2 games down, I’m unclear which of these teams constitutes the “underdog.” Ergo, go Giants, I guess.
@ mb21:
It’s apparently a league thing. I thought postseason rosters could change in between rounds as with the wild card play-in game but I guess not.
@ Rice Cube:
I thought they could do. I’m pretty sure they must have changed a rule because I’m almost positive I remember teams announcing LDS, LCS and WS rosters.
There could be some rule that if you replace a guy you cannot have him in the next round. I don’t know. It’s weird. My pick for the Reds winning it all doesn’t look too good right now.
@ mb21:
They might have shaken that rule when they changed to the 2-3 format and added the artificial play-off.
@ mb21:
They still have a decent offense so it won’t be like they’re dead in the water.
mb21 wrote:
That would make some sense — if you didn’t have that provision, you could just kick your starting pitchers off the roster in favor of another hitter or bullpen arm once you got to game 5 or 6. Not sure what the actual rule is at this point, though. It kind of seems like they didn’t completely think through the process of adding an extra wild card game or something (surprisingly).
mb21 wrote:
So last night I’m walking across the bridge from the ballpark to BART after the A’s game and some guy is selling 2006 AL West champs gear, which I guess begs the question as to whether that was a new print run, or if the guy just had a box of six-year-old bootleg t-shirts he was hanging on to for a special occasion. Mostly, though, it just reminds me of how pissed off I am that the Cards got a World Series win in a year where they won all of 83 fucking games. Fuck.
Why bunt pitcher over after the leadoff double?!
I assume the Cardinals win because I touch myself at night.
@ Mish:
That’s a fair trade-off, I guess.
@ uncle dave:
for him, maybe. It sucks a gorilla’s asshole for the rest of us!
@ Mish:
I like how a post about Mish touching himself becomes green in <5 minutes (dying laughing)
@ mb21:
It still blows my mind there were actually people who advocated the Strasburg shutdown on the basis of “we need to preserve him for all our future playoff runs.”
Is anybody watching this on the At Bat feed? For some reason the camera keeps zooming in on Jay’s shoes..
@ akabari:
3 times in that LaRoche at bat!
@ Mish:
I’d touch myself at night if I had a sweet bed like Mish!
@ akabari:
Is it one of those handheld cameras? Dude’s probably eating a sandwich and left his camera on.
I’m inclined to tell Nats fans to ask the 2003 Cubs how many playoff runs you are guaranteed to have by virtue of a dominant young pitching staff.
But then I remember that team fell apart precisely because they couldn’t keep their dominant young pitchers on the field after an absurd workload the year before. So I just keep my mouth shut. And drink heavily. (dying laughing)
Don’t you have to fire Rizzo and Johnson if the Nationals fail to win this series? I’d fire them both even if they won it all, but I don’t see how you keep either of them around if they don’t win this series.
@ mb21:
I don’t know…By shutting Strasburg down early to push for the future, you’d think you’d want some stability…On the other hand, it was dumb to shut him down.
@ uncle dave:
Or like last year. 2006 bothered me less because I thought the Cardinals were the best team in baseball in both 2004 and 2005 and didn’t win a championship. Also, my grandpa was alive and he was a huge Cardinals fan so I was glad he got to see the win one final time. Now it’s just getting ridiculous.
At least what I’ve seen of this game so far, no amount of Strausburg would make up for the Nats complete lack of patience at the plate though.
@ mikeakaleroy:
I’m even OK with an innings limit though I think it’s something you have to be willing to adjust to at any time. The problem with what the Nationals did was that they didn’t skip any starts, started him all season long and then shut him down before the playoffs. That’s horrible roster management. If there is an innings limit, you absolutely have to play with October in mind even if you’re as bad as the Cubs. You never know what can happen and early in the season there’s no reason not to skip a start here and there, pull him after 5 and so on and so forth. The fact they didn’t is unbelievable.
@ GBTS:
I know. See Cubs, 1946-present. You don’t fuck around when you have a chance to win it all. You go for it. Have Strasburg start the season a month late. Have him actually pitch because, well, because there’s no evidence to suggest that too many innings at his age is going to have that much of an impact on his future. Furthermore, why do the Nationals give a fuck what Strasburg is like at the age of 30? Is he signed a 15 year contract or something?
@ mb21:
I agree with that…Skip a start here and there, or limit innings would be fine. I’ve also read some folk say they should have held him out the first month of the season, but at one point I ran the numbers and they won like 4 of the games he started to start the season, which that early on, would have dropped them into last instead of first to start the year.
@ akabari:
They look terrible and it’s not as if having Stras instantly makes them win this series. It’s just that they’ve reduced their chances of winning every series they play when he doesn’t pitch.
@ mb21:
Word around Natdom when I checked the blogs a couple weeks ago was that people generally trusted Rizzo’s decision because “he got us this far.” No one seemed too up-in-arms about it.
Oh@ mb21:
Oh I know what you meant (dying laughing) I just meant that the Nats are definitely not helping themselves at ALL. Swinging at everything.
@ josh:
I got a feeling that will change if they’re “this” close to winning this series. I’m pretty sure most Nats fans will feel that Strasburg = series victory against the Cardinals and they’re probably right.
I’d say late in the season, when they realized they actually had a chance, was their time to limit Stras. Or better yet, why not shut him down a few weeks early as they did and let him pitch postseason? That’s shitty for him (being a big reason why they got there), shitty for fans, shitty for the team, shitty for casual fans, shitty for everyone.
@ josh:
I’m not sure they can just shut him down and then start him up again like that. They would have had to skip starts or just limit his innings or pitches per start and watch his side sessions carefully.
Don’t you mean “Natinals” ?
josh wrote:
why? to me that makes it sound like you are ok with them basically ceding the division in april. not sure if that’s the case with you but i know that there wasn’t much of an outcry at the start of the season when the nats announced this plan. well, people thoguht it was stupid, but i don’t really recall any nats fans saying, “hey, are you really giving up already? that’s fucking ridiculous.” i don’t care if you’re the fucking 2012 chicago cubs, you better at least pretend to think you have a shot in april/may. the idiocy of the plan itself is almost secondary; it’s the reason that mgmt decided to implement that plan in the first place that blows my mind.
but i guess i wasn’t paying too much attention at that point so maybe i missed all of that.
Dear The Nationals: Fuck you.
@ EnricoPallazzo:
I meant wait to limit his innings until the div looks to be under teh belt, like in August or Sept, instead of an all-out shutdown.
somebody made a post at BN about Ben Wells contract requiring he be on the 40-man roster for next season. any way to look that up somewhere to verify it??
@ EnricoPallazzo:
I’m actually not sure what you’re saying on a re-read, though.
THAT’S the Barry Zito we know and love.
The umpire on the giant’s game is calling a legitimately shitty strikezone, if Gameday is any indication.
josh wrote:
Is this like legitimate rape?
@ Mish:
He is squeezing Zito a little too hard, wink wink.
@ EnricoPallazzo:
I was in DC in May and the consensus I got was “Bahhh, they’re not serious.”
I mean, look at this shit! This is the kind of game dude’s been calling all day.
LOOGY vs. Votto. I suppose the safe bet is on Votto.
@ Rice Cube:
SAMSONITE! I was way off.
Lincecum the reliever!
TIMMAY! Lincecum in relief is still a bit crazy, especially after Zito was on such a short leash today anyway.
What the hell @ strike zone
I’m still annoyed that Lincecum is a reliever but he’s taken it in stride, and by jove it’s WORKING.
You’ve got them on the ropes! Why are you bunting?!
@ AB:
Might look up his contract details at the beginning of his contract, but I’m not sure you’ll find a site that tracks that sort of stuff.
@ mb21:
He signed for $550,000, which is late 2nd round money. He was taken in the 7th round. I have a hard time believing he’ll have to be added to the 40-man roster, but who knows?
Giants are trying to make this series interesting. They better whip ass on the Cards, whoever wins this.
Bummer, Lincecum gave up a run.
@ josh:
Seems the Cards are more than capable of shutting a team down, though I’m sure the Nats’ approach hasn’t helped them much.
Love how Timmy was displaced in the rotation by Zito, but gets more innings anyway.
Bryce Harper so far: .067/.067/.133. Good thing ROY voters have cast their ballots already.
@ Rizzo the Rat:
I’m surprised he’s batting.
Oh NOW they call that outside pitch a strike.
Pickoff error? No problem, I’ll just strike this guy out.
/Lincecum’d
@ Rice Cube:
Yeah, that wasn’t very wise (and neither was using him in such a low-leverage situation; Timmy is still valuable, imo, and much more so than their relievers. Then again, the Giants were fighting for their lives.)
Ryan Flaherty. Of course!
@ Rice Cube:
It took Sullivan less than 20 minutes to insinuate the Cubs should not have let him go. Idiot.
I’ve never Tweeted at Sullivan, but he has me blocked anyway. (dying laughing) (dying laughing) (dying laughing)
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Did you try to set the Shire aflame?
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
At the time it was stupid that they left him unprotected. I’d still take him over Josh Vitters. The worst part was they had a spot on the roster. It’s no big deal that they lost him and never was, but it wasn’t well done by the Cubs at the time.
The O’s are magic.
Come The Orioles, beat these assholes into the ground!
josh wrote:
Better.
If the O’s win, they’ll be up in the series despite a run differential of -3.
I’m really crossing my fingers hoping they win the series with a negative run differential.
Uh oh.
Pitcher with one of the highest strikeout totals in AL vs. lineup with most strikeouts in AL = perfect storm…
How very sad that A-Rod, a HOFer, has to be pinch-hit for in a “clutch” situation.
fuckity shit
Moneyball magic is about to end
@ Rice Cube:
It drives me crazy that it worked, since it’s very likely the wrong decision. And, of course, this invites more A-Rod bashing.
@ Rizzo the Rat:
That’s really unfortunate. The contract was going to look absolutely terrible no matter what but there’s no denying what a great player A-Rod was, and still might be.
This Orioles/Yanks game is fun.
Me and my big fucking mouth.
fuck that
Wow Ibanez
@ mb21:
SHOULDA BEEN A CUB
/2009′d
god damn it I hate the post season. If this was MLB The Show, I’d skip this shit and advance to the next season.
8 K’s through 5 IP for Scherzer. Ick.
If we get a Tigers-Yanks-Cards-Giants LCS combos, I’ll probably stop watching.
@ GBTS:
Which is precisely the matchups MLB is begging for. (dying laughing)
@ GBTS:
Awww, but I like the Giants.
I’d prefer the A’s beat the Tigers though.
@ GBTS:
No. Fucking. Shit.
4 teams I couldn’t give less of a shit about if I’d been constipated for a week.
Ibanez WPA = 0.827
The A’s and the O’s were pretty much the only reason I was tuning in.
And it’s a fucking bye week for the Bears? This may be a good weekend to take up smoking again.
@ josh:
You could always take this opportunity to take more pictures of arthropods.
(#*&$%#($&*% TOOTBLAN-RBI grumble
That knocked Scherzer out of the game at least. But damn.
that was super lame.
@ Rice Cube:
Fucking cold as shit up here. Everything’s dead. God damn crickets and nothing else!
@ josh:
Arthropopsicles.
@ EnricoPallazzo:
although… i was just offered tickets to the game at yankee stadium on friday and i had to turn them down for a really stupid reason. so now if the o’s lose tomorrow, i won’t have to feel bad about refusing the tickets.
fuck yeah silver lining.
The Raul walk-off was pretty majestic. He left no doubt.
@ mb21:
That’s fine, but insinuating in any way–as Sullivan did–that the Cubs are hurting over losing a guy who K’d 43 times and walked 6 times in 167 PA this season is just asinine.
Sleep > This bullshit game.
Six more outs for Oakland, but I fear time has run out on Moneyball 2012.
Why does regression crucify everyone but the turdchugging Cardinals?
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
That question is about as difficult to answer as why Jhonny Peralta spells his name so stupidly.
Er. Ma. Gerd.
Moneyball making a comeback.
SUCK IT VALVERDE
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
The Cardinals regular season run differential disagrees
*DIES*
Baseball!
Verlander tomorrow
2 extremely dramatic games last night. And people here are complaining about the post-season?
@ Rizzo the Rat:
Amen.
Odd that the Yankees win in extras with both Jeter and ARod on the bench. Times, they are a’changin’.
I wonder if Joe Morgan still thinks you can’t Moneyball a win in the playoffs without big home runs.
I am generally not a fan of the 2-3 format, but 4 elimination games in one day is ERRMAHHHGAHHHD
GBTS wrote:
But but but…. The Tigers and the Cards are small market teams! MLB couldn’t be begging for small market teams!
/competitive balance lottery
I like how this blog was too lazy to even post a final version of the Race to the Top. It’s dedicated to its discreditation.
@ Rizzo the Rat:
Because fuck the Yankees.
So I went to bed too early last night. In my defense, I was tired as a mass murderer at a bimbo convention.
@ WaLi:
MLB must be breathing a sigh of relief that the Rangers and their small market were eliminated in the WC game
/Yellon
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Agreed. I had no idea what he was insinuating. I was only responding to your comment that Sullivan said it was a bad idea. I agree and was outspoken about it when the Cubs left him unprotected. I just assumed Sullivan meant it for some stupid reason. (dying laughing)
The teams I’m least interested in seeing advance are the Orioles, A’s, Cardinals, Giants. I’d probably have no interest in watching the LCS or WS if those teams advanced. It’s looking like we could easily get 3 of those teams to advance so my interest in the postseason will fade quickly. I’ll be watching the Yankees/A’s series if that’s what happens, but that’s about it.
new shit: http://www.obstructedview.net/commentary-and-analysis/the-worst-20-cubs-performances-in-2012.html