You Make the Call: Josh Thole

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Yet another question mark as far as I'm concerned, Thole came out the gates last year a worse hitter and worse defensive catcher than even I expected.

I like that his bat came together somewhat in the second half, especially if you excuse September.

But still. Um, is he the guy or what?

[Vic Sage]

.275/5hr, below average defense. He'll end up in a platoon, and then a back up. As a LHed hitter, he could linger in the majors.
Next!

[Edgy MD]

That's some pretty good numbers for a guy sliding from starter to platooner to backup to releasee.

[Vic Sage]

Edgy DC wrote: That's some pretty good numbers for a guy sliding from starter to platooner to backup to releasee.

sorry, i edited it before seeing your post. but i meant 5 HRs, not 10. And while he could linger, either on the roster or in the majors, i don't see a punchless/speedless .275 BA as sufficient to carry a sub-par glove behind the plate. certainly not as a starter... unless he was also gunning down a high % of basestealers, in which case that would certainly be useful. But so far, not so much.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Doesn't appear to be a whole lot of internal candidates pushing him at the moment. Do you envision we trade for a new receiver?

[Ceetar]

.275/.360/.350 31% CS, passable defense.

[Vic Sage]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Doesn't appear to be a whole lot of internal candidates pushing him at the moment. Do you envision we trade for a new receiver?

candidates often present themselves unannounced. And if we don't have any in the system now, then you draft, recycle, trade for or buy one.

Look, if Thole improves his defense so it's at least adequate, and the rest of the lineup is strong enough that he's the weakest bat in it, you can probably win with that. But these factors have yet to be demonstrated, so we'll just have to play it out and see. I certainly wouldn't recommend an expensive trade for a quality veteran catcher at this point, since the price would be too high (due to scarcity), and we're too far away from competing to make a "Carter" type trade of assets.

[MFS62]

Lefty hitting catchers with not much power, even playing mediocre defense, tend to stay in the majors for many years. (See Burgess, Smoky as an extreme case)
I see the same for Thole.
This year, Vic's .275 - 5 HR numbers look pretty good in 120 games. But no way to predict how many of those games will be as a starter and how many as a pinch hitter.

Later

[Ceetar]

plus if he maintains a plus OBP, he's more than valuable. I think Tejada might..well, you'll see presumably he's next.

[TransMonk]

I'll take the under.

[smg58]

I wouldn't expect a big departure from the .268/.345/.344 line he put up last year; maybe a slight boost in power, but not much else. He can remain a starter if he gets his OPS above .700 and his defense to at least average, but I still see him as a backup long-term.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

smg58 wrote: I wouldn't expect a big departure from the .268/.345/.344 line he put up last year; maybe a slight boost in power, but not much else. He can remain a starter if he gets his OPS above .700 and his defense to at least average, but I still see him as a backup long-term.

That's about where I am but I'm not ruling out he makes it difficult. Just 25 and (knocks on wood) healthy, if he could mix in more extra-base hits now and then and not change much else, not a bad guy to have in the lineup most nights.

I'm gonna err of the side of Ceetarism and say .275/.350/.385. 25 doubles and 7 homahs

[Ceetar]

that's a good .15 OPS beyond Ceetar.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

510 PA, .269/.340/.358, 4 HR, 56 R, 60 RBI, 25 XBH, 28% CS