We Want a Catcher, Not a Belly Scratcher (split fr/Get Used)

[Guest AG/DC]

Surprised as I was by Nymr's tolerance (preference even) for the defense-first approach the Mets have taken to filling their catching roster this year, I was thinking about this season's lack of catching punch, and wondering if it's on a pace (recognizing, duly, that paces can be deceptive this early) to be among the most punchless receiving corps (corpses?) in Mets history.

The one that I remember is the homerless outfit from 1980. Stearns was compromised by injury, and his primary sub, Alex Trevi�o, had a passionately level swing. Turns out we had some clearly worse hitting catching squads in the early years, but this year's is projected to be one of our worst since the BC (before Carter) years. Come back, Castro.

Note the stat I'm ranking by is sOPS+. The "s" is for "split." These are the squad's OPS ranked against all other catchers, rather than against all other batters, so a player who would get an sOPS+ of 60 against only catchers, may get an OPS+ of 44 when ranked against the general population.

Rank	Year	PA	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	sOPS+	Catcher 1	G	Catcher 2	G	Catcher 3	G	Catcher 4	G	Catcher 5	G	Catcher 6	G	Catcher 7	G	Catcher 8	G
1	2000	695	42	126	.311	.392	.568	.960	151	Piazza	124	Pratt	71	VWilson	3
2	2001	690	36	95	.285	.368	.523	.891	151	Piazza	130	Pratt	31	VWilson	27	Phillips	5
3	1999	716	43	142	.304	.366	.551	.917	143	Piazza	137	Pratt	52	Kinkade	1	Wilson	1
4	1996	690	42	115	.270	.364	.543	.907	142	Hundley	150	Mayne	21	Castillo	6	Greene	1
5	2002	689	36	116	.276	.348	.501	.849	141	Piazza	121	VWilson	66	Phillips	7
6	1998	678	26	92	.292	.368	.497	.865	140	Piazza	99	Castillo	35	Spehr	21	Pratt	16	Fabregas	12	Wilkins	4	Tatum	4	Hundley	2
7	1997	673	32	112	.268	.380	.496	.876	136	Hundley	116	Pratt	28	Castillo	34	Bieser	2
8	1985	697	31	102	.271	.353	.458	.811	133	Carter	143	Reynolds	25	Hurdle	17
9	1986	699	26	110	.264	.340	.438	.778	126	Carter	121	Hearn	34	Gibbons	8	Lyons	3
10	1978	665	15	77	.264	.354	.396	.750	119	Stearns	141	Hodges	30	Trevino	5	Benton	1
11	1982	661	11	58	.274	.351	.405	.756	118	Stearns	81	Hodges	74	Bochy	16	Reynolds	2
12	1976	646	10	60	.253	.343	.360	.703	117	Grote	95	Hodges	52	Stearns	30	Kleven	2
13	1968	656	6	53	.264	.333	.342	.675	116	Grote	115	Martin	53	Goosen	1	Dyer	1
14	2004	667	22	71	.276	.348	.438	.786	116	Phillips	87	VWilson	69	Piazza	50	TWilson	3	Zeile	2	Hietpas	1
15	2005	671	26	99	.245	.322	.436	.758	114	Piazza	101	Castro	99	DiFelice	11
16	2003	660	22	90	.265	.340	.424	.764	112	VWilson	89	Piazza	64	Phillips	29	DePastino	1
17	1964	651	11	63	.287	.337	.389	.726	111	Gonder	97	Cannizzaro	53	HTaylor	45
18	1995	566	18	65	.248	.358	.405	.763	110	Hundley	89	Stinnett	67	Castillo	12
19	1977	660	12	61	.265	.368	.389	.757	106	Stearns	127	Grote	28	Hodges	27	Rosado	1
20	1994	471	17	53	.244	.314	.415	.729	101	Hundley	72	Stinnett	41
21	2007	691	20	90	.267	.309	.410	.719	101	Lo Duca	113	Castro	50	DiFelice	16	Alomar	6
22	1988	649	12	62	.245	.296	.368	.664	99	Carter	116	Sasser	30	Lyons	14
23	2006	719	9	60	.289	.338	.401	.739	99	Lo Duca	118	Castro	37	DiFelice	15	Stinnett	7	Marrero	2
24	1975	641	6	50	.264	.329	.349	.678	98	Grote	111	Stearns	54	Hodges	9
25	1969	641	12	66	.241	.297	.351	.648	97	Grote	112	Martin	44	Dyer	18
26	1981	421	2	33	.277	.337	.322	.659	97	Stearns	66	Trevino	45	Hodges	7
27	1971	624	4	47	.258	.326	.340	.666	96	Grote	122	Dyer	53	Estrada	1
28	1987	700	23	104	.237	.290	.386	.676	96	Carter	135	Lyons	49
29	1989	625	7	59	.243	.283	.342	.625	91	Lyons	76	Sasser	62	Carter	47	Lombardi	16
30	1972	615	12	57	.215	.291	.333	.624	88	Dyer	91	Grote	59	Sudakis	5	Nolan	3
31	1980	666	0	71	.269	.319	.330	.649	88	Trevino	86	Stearns	74	Hodges	9	Benton	8
32	1990	596	11	62	.259	.314	.361	.675	86	Sasser	87	Mercado	40	Hundley	36	O'Brien	28	Lyons	23	Trevino	7	Liddell	1
33	1974	645	9	53	.234	.310	.312	.622	85	Grote	94	Dyer	45	Hodges	44	Hampton	1
34	1991	597	5	48	.226	.304	.313	.617	85	Cerone	81	O'Brien	67	Sasser	43	Hundley	20
35	1962	620	8	45	.242	.317	.339	.656	84	Cannizzaro	56	STaylor	50	Coleman	44	Pignatano	25	Landrith	21	Chiti	14	Ginsberg	2
36	1979	682	7	64	.238	.311	.333	.644	82	Stearns	121	Trevino	36	Hodges	22
37	1993	635	15	74	.237	.281	.366	.647	80	Hundley	105	O'Brien	65	McKnight	1
38	2008	84	0	9	.284	.357	.297	.654	80	Schneider	15	Casanova	5
39	1992	607	9	50	.221	.271	.327	.598	78	Hundley	121	O'Brien	64	Sasser	27
40	1965	557	13	37	.202	.264	.316	.580	77	Cannizzaro	112	Stephenson	47	Gonder	31	Schaffer	21	HTaylor	15	Goosen	8	Berra	2
41	1983	580	1	32	.235	.317	.274	.591	73	Hodges	96	Ortiz	67	Reynolds	24	Fitzgerald	8	Bishop	3	Ashford	1
42	1966	586	6	49	.217	.285	.292	.577	71	Grote	115	Stephenson	52	HTaylor	29	Goosen	11	Coleman	5
43	1970	629	4	45	.242	.309	.294	.603	71	Grote	121	Dyer	41
44	1973	640	3	57	.235	.281	.289	.570	68	Grote	81	Dyer	60	Hodges	40	May	4
45	1984	623	2	53	.220	.285	.272	.557	66	Fitzgerald	107	Hodges	35	Ortiz	32	Gibbons	9	Stearns	4
46	1967	583	4	34	.204	.237	.255	.492	57	Grote	119	Sullivan	57	Goosen	23	HTaylor	12	Reynolds	1
47	1963	605	8	40	.196	.257	.254	.511	50	Coleman	66	Sherry	52	Gonder	31	Cannizzaro	15	STaylor	13

[nymr83]

]Surprised as I was by Nymr's tolerance (preference even) for the defense-first approach the Mets have taken to filling their catching roster

i'm not sure if its a preference, i'd take a mike piazza any day of the week, but recognizing that such a player is unavailable i think i like schneider's defense more than i'd like a .270 hitter with no pop and no glove. as for a backup catcher its nice when they have pop AND defense like castro, but one can hardly expect an organization to have their 3rd and 4th catcers be any good at all, if they were they'd be playing elsewhere because its a very shallow position in terms of talent league-wide.

[Guest Triple Dee]

I really wonder what led the Mets to change their attitude regarding catchers. It's not like Lo Duca was a horrible defensive catcher that warranteda drastic rethink (not that I believe the Mets should have re-signed him).

If the issue wasn't the availability of a decent offensive catcher, I would hazard a guess to say Peterson may have raised the suggestion.

[nymr83]

i dont think loduca was any better than piazza (in his prime) defensively.

[Guest AG/DC]

Maybe, but we're working from hunches and stuff.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Triple Dee wrote: I really wonder what led the Mets to change their attitude regarding catchers.

I don't know that they "changed their attitude." Schneider is the best guy they were able to get, and they're probably thinking, well, at least he brings great defense.

Remember, before they dealt for Schneider they tried wooing Posada.

[Guest Triple Dee]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Remember, before they dealt for Schneider they tried wooing Posada.

I wasn't aware of that (I was probably away on holidays at the time).

[Benjamin Grimm]

It was a very brief courtship.

[Guest AG/DC]

But, man, look at that 1963 squad, and to think how juiceless they'd have been if third-stringer Jesse Gonder didn't string together a pretty good year. Let's hope these guys don't remain in the conversation.

Catcher	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	HbP	SF	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Choo Choo Coleman	263	236	18	42	0	0	3	9	22	46	4	0	4	4	.178	.260	.216	.476
Norm Sherry	158	145	7	19	1	0	2	10	9	26	3	1	1	0	.131	.196	.179	.376
Jesse Gonder	122	115	13	36	4	0	3	13	5	22	0	2	1	2	.313	.336	.426	.762
Chris Cannizzarro	34	32	4	7	1	0	0	2	1	8	0	1	0	0	.219	.235	.250	.485
Sammy Taylor	41	37	3	7	0	1	0	7	3	9	0	1	0	0	.182	.250	.273	.523
Totals	618	565	45	111	6	1	8	41	40	111	7	5	6	6	.196	.256	.254	.511

[Theoldmole]

Anything new on Schneider's thumb?

[Guest AG/DC]

Last time I checked, some boogers, and some crud from his keyboard.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I'm glad I'm not the one in charge of checking that.

[Theoldmole]

Yuk.

[Elster88]

Cancel cancelled, Casanova back.