Varitek BA .245 OBP .336 SLG .373 Starting Pitching ERA 4.10 290 Innings Assists 20 Double Plays 1 Passed Balls 4 Errors 0 CS 22% VMart BA .333 OBP .383 SLG .494 Starting Pitching ERA 4.49 171 Innings Assists 14 Double Plays 3 Passed Balls 0 Errors 1 CS 25% Notice Variteks passed balls. Without even considering that VMart is catching the bottom of the Tiger Rotation, most of the time, and compariing the quality of the staffs and pen and divisions, it's pretty clear that breaking the bank on Crawford and keeping Varitek was a big value and performance mistake, regardless of how this team ends up. VMart should have been kept, defensive catcher signed as the backup, Salty starting off in AAA, then transition VMart to backup catcher in year 3 and 4 of his contract, after Ortiz ages out. Theo wanted to impress people with bean counting and Crawford. I'm not impressed by his nonsense "speed ages slower". This team is a much better team with VMart catching, as VMart is adequate as a catcher and can bat 5th, if needed. It provided a legitimate RH top tier bat. Signing a solid veteran defenisve catcher (no, not Varitek), for late innings and backup starts would have made this team a lot better baseball team. Way to go Theo!
Posted by betterredthandead
Posted by betterredthandead
The point is Martinez and Tek bring different traits to the game. So far this year Jason has surprised me just by hitting a bit higher and I'm very satisfied with the way Salty is progressing. Hopefully this continues, I do agree Teks defense isn't quite as good but age will do this to a player.
We have two similar catchers to Tek and Victor in the minors in Fed and Lavarnway. Ryan is a hitter and Fed a great defender, the difference being Ryan has the potential to have the best of both worlds because of his strong arm.
Good hitter, arm and more practice behind the plate could bring comparisons to "pudge" in a few years. Salty also has good potential in this area
