Has there ever been a more hollow .292?

[greenback44]

1. Yadi Molina DOES call a good game, whether it's measurable or not.

How do we know this? You all-capped a word, so you're required to answer.

While he obviously doesn't have the arm Yadier has, I feel more comfortable with Bennett behind the plate, especially when one of the kids is on the mound.

A few ways...

1. Pay attention to pitch patterns. Watch the way he sets up hitters. He's very, very good at speeding up/slowing down a hitter's bat and then capitalizing.

This is one of the reasons I don't like Molina's intangibles. I pay closer attention to Reyes's starts, and they seem to know what's coming when Reyes is pitching.

2. Look at what the pitchers have to say about him when he's not in the lineup, for instance. The P-D just ran an article not too long ago about how comfortable they are with him behind the plate. Back in 2005, the SP's hit a little rough patch when Yadi was on the shelf and Bernie posted some comments from Carpenter attributing it to Yadi's being out.

Molina hit .215 a year ago, so Nichols Law is working for him. He's also got a golden arm, which bleeds into the evaluation of everything else. Aside from that, his teammates aren't going to say bad things about him to the local press.

[GatewaySnayke]

OK, having read the last four pages, I've decided that my intentions were skewed because of my initial negativity towards Molina, which is my fault for wording it like I was going to put this in the Rants section.

So, since sunshine and lollipops rule the day, I'll rephrase what I had meant to get across.

"Hey gang! Boy, this sure has been a tough season, but they'll turn it around! Has anyone seen Yadi's .722 OPS? Or how about that .292 batting average? Looks great! He's turned it around, gang! Or so it looks like it. But I think his numbers are built on shaky ground. We better take a deeper look into the numbers to see if his sudden turnaround has been because of luck or what!"

Now, my thread was NOT to start the following things:

1. Be extremely negative

2. Fuel anti-Yadi feelings

3. Say that you shouldn't enjoy Yadi's recent hot streak

4. Start the one millionth thread about him and conclude that he sucksaton.

All I intended to do was look at Molina's numbers and see if he really had turned it around. Was this so bad? Should I have left the subject alone and not brought in statistical analysis and instead just said, "that'll do." Oh my lord I brought BASEBALL DISCUSSION into BASEBALL TALK. The mere thought of discussing a players numbers is worth a whipping with the cat of nine tails.

[ghostrunner]

The catcher isn't the problem with this team. And, right now, he's not even a problem.

I don't see why people would know what's coming when Reyes pitches, vs everyone else. He's the only regular starter I can remember in the last several years to regular not make it out of the 5th inning. I don't see how you pin that on Yadi.

[jim]

The catcher isn't the problem with this team. And, right now, he's not even a problem.

I don't see why people would know what's coming when Reyes pitches, vs everyone else. He's the only regular starter I can remember in the last several years to regular not make it out of the 5th inning. I don't see how you pin that on Yadi.

The problem I see with Reyes is not that the hitters know what's coming, it's that Anthony doesn't have a clue where his pitch is going.

[ghostrunner]

All I intended to do was look at Molina's numbers and see if he really had turned it around. Was this so bad? Should I have left the subject alone and not brought in statistical analysis and instead just said, "that'll do." Oh my lord I brought BASEBALL DISCUSSION into BASEBALL TALK. The mere thought of discussing a players numbers is worth a whipping with the cat of nine tails.

I think everyone here knows Yadi's limitations.

I think they've been amply covered (my god, have they) over the last few years between here and CT.

I don't know of anyone who has expressed a certain belief that he's turned a corner. I think I may have done so in a chat, completely in jest, because for some reason he's a hot button issue.

Having said that, I don't think any .292 in the 7th or 8th slot in the order is empty. So I do disagree. If it's coming from your first baseman, it's cause for concern. Not so much from the catcher. Certainly if we can miraculously trade for Brian McCann, Walt should do it. If Bryan Anderson isn't too costly on defense, he should probably be called in as a backup and then start once Yadi's salary is too high. Really it's Walt's job and I've got plenty else to worry about, even in the context of baseball. In the meantime I like the kid and I'm glad to see him hitting.

[ghostrunner]

The catcher isn't the problem with this team. And, right now, he's not even a problem.

I don't see why people would know what's coming when Reyes pitches, vs everyone else. He's the only regular starter I can remember in the last several years to regular not make it out of the 5th inning. I don't see how you pin that on Yadi.

The problem I see with Reyes is not that the hitters know what's coming, it's that Anthony doesn't have a clue where his pitch is going.

I don't see how that's Molina's fault. Shake off the pitch. Work out a system if it's not working. Talk to Duncan. If the other pitchers aren't having this problem, why is he?

It's funny you bring this up, because Steve thinks Yadi tips off pitches. If either of you were correct, I'd think you would see problems throughout the pitching staff over the last 3 years. That hasn't been the case.

[G. Keenan]

OK, having read the last four pages, I've decided that my intentions were skewed because of my initial negativity towards Molina, which is my fault for wording it like I was going to put this in the Rants section.

So, since sunshine and lollipops rule the day, I'll rephrase what I had meant to get across.

"Hey gang! Boy, this sure has been a tough season, but they'll turn it around! Has anyone seen Yadi's .722 OPS? Or how about that .292 batting average? Looks great! He's turned it around, gang! Or so it looks like it. But I think his numbers are built on shaky ground. We better take a deeper look into the numbers to see if his sudden turnaround has been because of luck or what!"

Now, my thread was NOT to start the following things:

1. Be extremely negative

2. Fuel anti-Yadi feelings

3. Say that you shouldn't enjoy Yadi's recent hot streak

4. Start the one millionth thread about him and conclude that he sucksaton.

All I intended to do was look at Molina's numbers and see if he really had turned it around. Was this so bad? Should I have left the subject alone and not brought in statistical analysis and instead just said, "that'll do." Oh my lord I brought BASEBALL DISCUSSION into BASEBALL TALK. The mere thought of discussing a players numbers is worth a whipping with the cat of nine tails.

I for one thought your analysis was great. This has been the best baseball thread for a little while, imo, especically considering that this team is awful and doesn't give us much to talk about right now except how we're waiting for them to get better.

I frankly don't understand why taking a look at Yadi's numbers and asking whether or not he has turned the corner gets construed as blaming him for the team's troubles. Everyone knows that Yadi is not what's wrong with this team right now and nowhere did anyone say that.

[stretch]

Now, my thread was NOT to start the following things:

1. Be extremely negative

2. Fuel anti-Yadi feelings

3. Say that you shouldn't enjoy Yadi's recent hot streak

4. Start the one millionth thread about him and conclude that he sucksaton.

I haven't read the last 6 pages of this thread yet, but when I initially responded, I indeed thought you were trying to do those 4 things. Maybe I should re-read your initial post to see if I was reading things incorrectly.

[stretch]

Ok. I re-read your intial post.

What I took from it that Yadi is doing well now, but we should expect a nosedive pretty soon.

And that he calls a great game, right?

[fulldeck]

1. Yadi Molina DOES call a good game, whether it's measurable or not.

How do we know this? You all-capped a word, so you're required to answer.

While he obviously doesn't have the arm Yadier has, I feel more comfortable with Bennett behind the plate, especially when one of the kids is on the mound.

A few ways...

1. Pay attention to pitch patterns. Watch the way he sets up hitters. He's very, very good at speeding up/slowing down a hitter's bat and then capitalizing.

This is one of the reasons I don't like Molina's intangibles. I pay closer attention to Reyes's starts, and they seem to know what's coming when Reyes is pitching.

Hasn't Bennett been catching Reyes the past few turns?