Quick Question About Bengie Molina (and catchers in general…)

12 Responses to “Quick Question About Bengie Molina (and catchers in general…)”

1. daniel says:

   December 11, 2009 at 1:13 pm

   They’re all in the minor leagues. You don’t get to the majors without being able to call a decent game. Sure there are guys who are better at it than others, but I honestly don’t think there is /that/ much variation in gamecalling skills among the 60 or so catchers that are signed with major league teams.

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2. daniel says:

   December 11, 2009 at 1:15 pm

   They’re all in the minors, at least 90% of them. You don’t last long in the majors if you can’t call a game. Either that or you move to first base.

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3. Jamie says:

   December 11, 2009 at 2:05 pm

   I know there are some catchers who don’t call their own game (they look in to the dugout for the manager’s sign) but I can’t remember who they are, because they are mostly backups. But it is easy to say catcher X “calls a good game” because calling pitches isn’t very hard. It’s really just the ability to read scouting reports and retain the information. So when a GM or manager says a catcher “calls a good game” he actually means “has reading comprehension skills”. I think us nerds maybe forget that most of these guys have never read a book without pictures.

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4. Joe says:

   December 11, 2009 at 5:07 pm

   Well, according to Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya, I think Santos and Schneider would have to be included — since apparently the poor ERA of the staff had more to do with them than it did with Oliver Perez, Mike Pelfrey, Nelson Figueroa, and others. And that’s why the Mets seem to be out to sign every backup catcher available, and Bengie Molina.

   Also, I think A.J. Burnett would have something to say on the subject about Jorge Posada…

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5. Jim says:

   December 11, 2009 at 9:28 pm

   When Michael Barrett was with the Cubs he was pretty notorious for calling a shitty game. So much so that Maddux never let him catch him. You may also recall Zambrano getting in a fistfight with him over a pitch that Barrett called for.

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6. Brian says:

   December 12, 2009 at 2:05 am

   AJ Pierzynski is pretty terrible at holding base runners on. he’s also just a huge dick in general.

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7. Phil says:

   December 12, 2009 at 2:01 pm

   It depends on the battery and their relationship. When cliff lee won the cy young, Kelly shoppach caught all of his games, but that’s not because victor martinez didn’t call a good game. Some pitchers like a catcher that will always let them throw what they want but a good veteran catcher isn’t afraid to go out to the mound after being shaken off a few times and hit his pitcher in the mouth ala Tony Pena

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8. nick says:

   December 12, 2009 at 11:07 pm

   To go along with Jorge, I’ve also read that Pudge’s game calling has gotten pretty lazy as he’s reached the twilight of his career…

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9. Sarah Green says:

   December 15, 2009 at 10:36 pm

   And I remember reading about Kenji Johjima’s pitchers having no faith in his game-calling skills.

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10. Ben says:

    December 16, 2009 at 5:38 am

    Sarah, I’m kinda confused about something. You’re a huge Red Sox fan and you have yet to write a post about the sudden change in team philosophy that has Theo focusing almost entirely on run prevention. You planning on posting soon?

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11. Sarah Green says:

    December 16, 2009 at 10:10 pm

    Hi Ben,

    You raise a valid point. 1. I have a day job. 2. At the rate they’re going, it seemed prudent to wait a few days in case Theo made any (more) sudden moves. 3. I do have a Metro column to populate (and I get paid for that).

    I’ll answer your question with a question: what do YOU make of it?

    Sarah

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12. Sarah Green says:

    December 16, 2009 at 10:10 pm

    And holy crap, I just signed my comment with my name. Who am I, my mom?!

    Yeesh.

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