Baseball Prospectus – Prospectus Triple Play: Atlanta Braves, Minnesota Twins, Tampa Bay Devil Rays
I guess you get what you pay for: Eddie Perez sucks, Rafael Furcal can run. Jeez, tell us something we don’t know!
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After all the column ink/server space devoted to Marrero’s expected role(s) this year, why does BP still think the Braves only intend to use him as a backup catcher and nothing more? If he was only a backup to Estrada, yes, it would be dumb to give him 2.5 million and hire Perez. But clearly that is not the case.
Perez is needed precisely BECAUSE we have Marrero. The former’s presence on the bench allows us to use the latter in much more versatile ways throughout the game, since Bobby wont be losing his precious backup catcher.
And besides, i would bet my Smoltz jersey that Perez turns in a better year than the Blanco he’s replacing.
why does BP still think the Braves only intend to use him as a backup catcher and nothing more?
I guess I post this every time we get a BPro link, but it does not appear that the fellas over at Prospectus spend a lot of their time keeping track of what the Braves are doing. Maybe the Premium stuff is better, but the free articles don’t have much Braves insight.
BP is a heavily AL group, and a West Coast/Midwest group. The Braves, a southern/east coast/NL team, are about as far away from them as is possible. If anyone there is very familiar with the Braves, it’s David Cameron, but he’s basically a minor league guy… As I mentioned in another BP link, if Dave Nilsson were sure to be 100% — and if they’d already had him — the combination of him and Marrero would have equalled (1 backup catcher) + (a lefty/righty bench combination) + (a lot of positional flexibility with their abilities to play first and outfield). Of course, Nilsson wasn’t signed until recently and is a longshot, but I wouldn’t have brought Eddie in at all, but gotten another Marrero-type player. Well, there’s nobody quite like Marrero, but someone who’s primarily a hitter who can catch, and when he’s not doing that play first or a corner outfield spot. Remember Jerry Willard? Like that.
“Of course, Nilsson wasn’t signed until recently and is a longshot, but I wouldn’t have brought Eddie in at all, but gotten another Marrero-type player. Well, there’s nobody quite like Marrero, but someone who’s primarily a hitter who can catch, and when he’s not doing that play first or a corner outfield spot.”
Do the words Robert and Fick mean anything to you?
Do the words Robert and Fick mean anything to you?
I thought we all agreed to pretend that Robert Fick being in a Braves uniform never happened? Did someone forget to send Walter the memo?
Robert Who?
Fink. I’m pretty sure that was the name…
Perez is needed precisely BECAUSE we have Marrero
Well, call me a nut, but I still don’t get it. Between those two we’re averaging, what $3.5m+ for each of the next two years, in order to maximize flexible use of a 30 year old guy whose main asset seems to be that he’ll backup all positions with backup-catcher level offense? Why is that a _good_ thing?
And for that matter, why do people even assume Marrero is the better hitter of the two?
You heard me, former american league allstar* Robert Fick.
*I couldn’t type that without smirking.
Seriously though, he did bat .300 for a good part of the season(granted, he also batted .009 for a while too), my main complaint was his woeful defense at first. But he’s an adequate corner outfielder and brings alot of thump from the left side as a catcher.
Far be it from me to 2nd guess Bobby (seriously–there are things I’d disagree with, but he’s got the credentials to back it up–and not in the ‘Tony LaRussa supergenius’ mold–but, I digress), but I disagree a bit with how Fick was played last year. He seemed to be handled in almost a strict platoon fashion (note the almost–not entirely, but, then, at times it was hard to pick up any discernible pattern to his playing time), while his history did not indicate a background of major platoon splits. I remember seeing some numbers before the year started that said he was very similar (if not practically identical) against righties & lefties. I just wonder if things might have been different if he had not been platooned.
Maybe it’s just an instance of ‘coulda/woulda/shoulda’, but I do wonder what he might have done if basically been given the job full time.
Another thought is that it could be selective memory I’m having, and, it being late, not verifying everything.
Then again, I said “maybe things would have been different…”–well, of course they would have, but they won 101 games anyways, and it’s not like we’re wondering why they didn’t win the division. So maybe I should just delete this whole post…nah…