This week Joe surveys the trade market and tells us all why catcher is such an easy position to play. Joe feels this statement is true for every catcher except for Johnny Bench, who was also responsible for running the concession stands and helping out with the groundskeeping on the field. These days there aren't very many catchers that can manage people who hand out peanuts and catch a 95 mile per hour fastball, but that was just how good players were back in Joe's day. Catchers in today's game can't even come close to duplicating these great feats.
JM: Congrats to Chris Capuano for getting a win after persevering for a few years trying to get back to star status. Let's get started.
No Buzzmaster needed this week. Joe is all jacked up on Mountain Dew and ready to avoid answering some questions.
I have two problems with this statement:
1. Capuano was never a star in any fashion so he wasn't coming back to anything resembling star status.
2. Capuano is now 1-1 on the year with a 3.38 ERA and 1.438 WHIP in 10 games. He is not a star. Apparently in Joe Morgan's world one win in the majors qualifies as a player being a "star." Except when he is talking about Dallas Braden of course...
Ben (New York, NY)
Hi Joe! Armando Galarraga was sent to the minors not long after his "perfect" game and Dallas Braden has not won a game since his. Do you think throwing such great games can hurt a pitcher because he becomes over confident in his stuff?
JM: I don't think that's the case here. It helps his confidence, but I don't think a pitcher becomes overconfident like that. Dallas Braden was not a winning pitcher before he pitched a perfect game,
Dallas Braden was 8-9 last year in 22 starts with a 3.89 ERA and 113 ERA+.
He is 4-7 this year in 16 starts with a 3.74 ERA and a 111 ERA+. The A's have scored a total of 11 runs in his 7 losses this year, which comes to a grand total of 1.57 runs in these losses. Not a lot of pitchers would have a winning record with that type of run support.
Galarraga was sent to the minors so he could continue to start during the All-Star break and work on a couple of things.
Galarraga was sent to the minors, where he currently still is, during the All-Star Break so he could work on some things like, "how to be the fifth best starting pitcher on the Tigers team."
(As commenter Chad pointed out, Galarraga only got sent down because the Tigers didn't need him as the 5th starter for a while and his start against the Twins was skipped because they have a LH-heavy lineup. So Galarraga doesn't stink, but I still think he needs to work on being a better pitcher to keep that 5th starter spot in the future.)
Baseball has a way of evening things out ... you have a lot of success early, and maybe later on some ground balls find some holes that they didn't find previously. I don't think overconfidence will be a problem going forward.
Who the hell said there was a problem with overconfidence? Where did this come from? Neither Braden nor Galarraga are overconfident in any way. Braden isn't getting great run support and Galarraga wasn't that great of a pitcher to begin with.
Steve (Albany, NY)
Do the Yankees need to make a trade before the trade deadline and will they?
JM: It depends on how Mitre pitches,
Right, because anyone who watches baseball knows the Yankees are going to see if this journeyman starting pitcher can nail down the job before deciding whether to make a trade for a higher quality starting pitcher. It is not like the Yankees have already tried to trade for Cliff Lee BEFORE Pettitte got injured. Wait, yes they did.
Joe has such a weird view of why teams make moves. He really believes if Sergio Mitre pitches well the Yankees aren't going to make a move at the trade deadline and he thinks the entire NL East title depends solely on whether Jimmy Rollins, Chipper Jones or Carlos Beltran gets 100% healthy first. It is just weird sometimes to hear what he believes the pennant races in each league depend upon.
but if they NEED to make a trade, they will, or if they need the makeup of their pitching staff to change by the deadline, they will.
So Joe doesn't know if the Yankees will make a move at the deadline, but he knows if they need to make a trade they will. He's proud to provide this type of in-depth information.
One thing Brian Cashman has tried to do recently is build his team and pitching staff from within.
I have no problem with how the Yankees built their team, but the threshold for building their team and pitching staff from within is pretty low. It is not like other teams don't have similar looks from their pitching staff, but the Yankees don't seem to have an overabundance of great prospects ready to come up. Their farm system is generally considered to be in the middle of most farm system rankings for 2010 and their lineup doesn't contain an extraordinary amount homegrown impact players.
Yankees pitching staff:
Sabathia- signed as a free agent
Burnett- signed as a free agent
Hughes- homegrown player
Vazquez- traded for him this season (trading their best minor league pitcher in exchange)
Mitre- signed as a free agent
Pettitte- homegrown player
Like most bullpens in the majors, the Yankees have homegrown players and free agents pitching there.
Yankees lineup:
Brett Gardner- homegrown player
Granderson- traded for him this season
Nick Swisher- traded for him last season
Rodriguez- traded for him a few years ago
Jeter- homegrown player
Cano- homegrown player
Teixeira- signed as a free agent
Posada- homegrown player
The Yankees have gotten more impact players from their system lately, but I wouldn't say they are building from within extraordinarily more than they usually do. It is not a knock on the Yankees' way of doing business, but a knock on Joe Morgan not knowing much about baseball.
John (Dallas)
Hey Joe, big fan. John Kruk recently wrote about how Prince Fielder is a good fit in Texas. Do you think he is?
JM: Fielder would be a good fit in most places. A guy who hits the ball out of the ballpark is a good fit anywhere.
This is true except for Adam Dunn, who for some reason no one likes. He's the only power hitting guy that I feel like no team consistently wants.
So Prince Fielder would be a good fit in most places? I like how Joe conveniently ignores the fact a team would have to have the prospects to trade for Fielder and the ignores the economics of a team having to try and re-sign Fielder after next season as well. So Fielder in a perfect wonderful world would be a great fit in most places, or anywhere, but this just isn't true. Teams that currently have a first baseman that hits well would probably not want Fielder. Life is not a fantasy draft, there is more that goes into selecting a player for your team other than the fact he is a good player.
That's like asking, would Albert Pujols fit with the Mets.
I am going to play the contrarian here and say in Joe's perfect world, Pujols would be a great fit for the Mets. Unfortunately, I don't know if Pujols would be a great fit for a Mets team that has a young first baseman with a lot of potential and a larger hole in the rotation than at first base. What would the Mets have to give up to get Pujols? Is it worth doing that to upgrade from Ike Davis AND then have to re-sign Pujols when his contract runs out? The Mets have other holes on the team that should probably be addressed first.
So yes, Pujols does fit with the Mets, but I don't know if he fits as perfectly as Joe blindly seems to believe he does. There are more variables that go into a player going to a team other than just whether he is a good hitter or not. The Mets would love to have Pujols or Fielder, but they wouldn't like what they have to trade to get him nor will they like what they have to pay to keep him on the team compared to having control of Ike Davis.
Richie Cunningham (upstate ny)
Mr. Morgan, what did you think of last Tuesday's all-star game? (It didn't seem one of the better ones, and the ratings sure indicated that.) Thanks / rgds.
If you're a National Leaguer, it was one of the better ones. I'm not sure why the ratings were so low,
Because everyone was too tired to watch the game because they had stayed up the previous night and watched the three-hour (yet it felt like it was ten hours long) Home Run Derby.
but I'm not a fan of the rule where if a pitcher pitches on Sunday, he can't pitch in the ASG. We had a great matchup to start, but we didn't have the Sabathias of the world pitching, or Jered Weaver pitching as a hometown hero.
Pitchers who pitched on Sunday weren't the reason the All-Star Game did poorly in the ratings. I am not a fan of the rule, but I completely understand why the rule is in place. The All-Star Game is an exhibition and I don't think teams should have to restructure their rotation if they have a pitcher who made the All-Star team and doesn't mind not pitching in the game.
Tito (Brooklyn)
Joe who impressed you most in the all-star game?
JM: I thought Marlon Byrd had a very good game defensively, also working an important walk and scoring a run. It's hard for me not to be impressed with most of the players there.
Good old Tito is back asking Joe some questions. As stated in the comments last week, his VORC (Value Over Replacement Chatter, a fake statistic created by a commenter smarter than I am) is very high. Still, I am sure Joe thinks he should be more consistent and doesn't think there are as many consistent chatters as there used to be.
You have to be impressed with Brian McCann getting the game-winning hit as well.
I like how Joe writes in the second person in response to a chat question asked by a chatter. The question was who impressed Joe...and then he tells us who we should be impressed with. I always feel like I am being chastised in some ways when I read a JoeChat. Joe will answer a question (the best he knows how to), name a player/team who he believes is the answer to that question, and then tell us all not to forget another player/team...when he is the one who left that player/team out.
Greg (Atlanta)
Are the Braves good enough to get to the Series with their current roster or do they need another outfield bat?
They need another outfield bat not named Jose Bautista or Cody Ross. Wait, this question wasn't for me?
The Braves do need another bat, although they are good enough to make a run because of their pitching staff.
The Braves do need another bat, except for the fact Joe thinks they may not need another bat.
Great answer. It tells us nothing. I love how Joe never actually answers the question posed, but pushes the answer ahead in the future. Joe is only able to judge things based on hindsight it appears.
"I can't predict who will win the AL MVP this year, but if you ask me after the season I will tell you who won and if they deserved to or not."
They would have a better chance if they could come up with another bat. You can't expect Troy Glaus to keep driving in runs,
Why not? He had 99 RBI in 151 games in 2008, 62 RBI in 115 games in 2007, 104 RBI in 153 games in 2006 and 97 RBI in 149 games in 2005. Based on him staying healthy there is no reason he couldn't drive in runs right near the pace he is currently on (60 RBI in 92 games).
or Heyward to stay healthy,
Why in the hell can't you expect Jason Heyward to stay healthy? He is only 20 years old and has played less than a full season in the majors. He had a wrist injury earlier in the year, but I don't see how it is not possible to expect Heyward to stay healthy. If he can't stay healthy as a 20 year who has only played a half-season in the majors when can he stay healthy through his career?
Jack (Atlanta)
Do the Padres make a trade or stand pat and hope to hold on for the rest of the season? It certainly seems that they could go either way.
JM: I'm not sure that they can take on another big contract.
So the Padres couldn't trade for Prince Fielder, who is a good fit for most teams? I thought a guy who could hit the ball out of the park was a good fit anywhere?
In this economy, it's about whether they can take on another large salary rather than whether you need to take on more players.
Which is exactly why Prince Fielder isn't really a good fit in most places. So Joe's previous statement saying this is incorrect. Fielder is a good fit in just a few places because of his salary (now and in the future) and the cost of trading for Fielder.
They could go either way.
So the same team that Joe stated can't afford to take on another big contract may make a move to take on salary? What impact player can the Padres add without adding too much payroll or giving up a player they have on the roster they currently need?
Joe B (Aiter, NY)
Joe, do you think that Joe Torre is working Broxton too hard? He seems to have been fatigued lately and is less effective than normal.
JM: I very rarely question Joe Torre, but I'd say yes.
When the Yankees were there, he pitched him with a five-run lead on Saturday,
The reason Torre put Broxton in the game on June 26 was because he had appeared in 6 games since June 9th, had thrown only 36 pitches since June 13, and the All-Star break was coming up. He threw 19 pitches in this appearance. I don't believe he was overworked at this point.
then with a four-run lead on Sunday.
Broxton blew this lead. Broxton didn't blow the lead because he was fatigued though. He was fairly fresh and had not pitched a lot lately. It is not like he was wild. Of the 48 pitches he threw, 29 of them were strikes. So it is fine to say Broxton is tired and that is why he has struggled lately, but he wasn't tired in the examples that Joe gave so that can't be the reason he blew the four-run lead on June 29.
It is possible Broxton was fatigued after this appearance but fatigue doesn't seem to be the reason he blew this save.
He threw I think around 50 pitches on Sunday.
He threw 48 pitches, but he wasn't exactly exhausted from being overworked.
Joe Torre has been spoiled by Mariano Rivera's ability to be sharp day in and day out. It's just not that way with every other closer.
While I do agree with this statement in some ways, Broxton has pitched 76.1, 82, 69, and 76 innings over the last four years. He is currently around 42 innings, so he isn't really that far off his usual pace of work for the year.
I don't know if Broxton is struggling because he is tired or because he has hit a rough patch over three appearances.
Kevin (New Jersey)
Sunday in talking about Starlin Castro you said shortstop was the toughest position to learn how to play in the majors. I love ya Joe, but we see 19 year olds come up an play shortstop, (Andrus and Castro) but no 19 year old catchers. Cather is the most difficult position to learn, don't you agree?
Defensively, I think the catcher position would be the hardest to come in and play at a high level at a young age. There is so much going on in front of a catcher that he is responsible for. He handles the pitchers and has other duties that involve communicating with the infielders and backing up first base in the case of an errant throw. For a 19 year old, I think catcher would be the hardest defensive position to play at a high level and learn how to play.
JM: I wouldn't have said it if I agreed! To play shortstop properly is what I said. It's more difficult to make all of those defensive plays at shortstop, like learning how to be in the right cutoff position.
I would disagree completely. The catcher has responsibilities outside of his normal catching duties that he has to perform and I can pretty much guarantee there is more communication with teammates involved with the position than at shortstop. Learning to play catcher is less instinct and more learning how to handle pitchers and learning where you as a catcher have to be on every play.
Catching is putting the fingers down and catching the ball.
Well that's a nice "fuck you" to catchers. "Catching is putting the fingers down and catching the ball." What a simplistic way of looking at the position.
They call the protective equipment for the catcher the "tools of ignorance," but I think this term should be used instead for Joe Morgan's brain. Catching is so much more than just putting down fingers and catching the ball. Even in that simplified statement, Joe should realize the ball doesn't always go where it is supposed to go, so the catcher often has to block a pitch and prevent a runner from advancing and scoring.
Johnny Bench hangs his head in shame.
Veteran pitchers call their own games in the majors.
Veteran pitchers call their own games in the majors, but what about the many, many pitchers that aren't veterans? They certainly don't call their own games. Many veterans don't call their own games, the catcher often suggests a pitch and the pitcher shakes him off or throws the pitch.
For God's sake, veteran pitchers don't call their own games completely during a game. There is some help from their catcher and many pitchers prefer to use certain catchers they trust, even if they call their own games. Joe Morgan has set a new bar for himself in stupid statements.
No one makes the plays for you at shortstop. You get help when you're a young catcher. Managers will sometimes call pitches, like a football coach calling plays.
BUT NOBODY CATCHES THE BALL FOR THE CATCHER OR WALKS ON THE DAMN FIELD AND MAKES THE PLAYS FOR THE CATCHER!
The shortstop doesn't get help fielding the ball and neither does a catcher. The catcher touches the ball on nearly every single pitch and what help the catcher gets stops once a pitch is thrown. I don't see how this is even arguable that a catcher has more to learn at the major league level.
There's more you have to do as a shortstop--it's not the hardest position to play as a young player, but there's more to learn.
No way. I don't want to say the shortstop has very little to do, because it is not true, but the catcher works directly with the pitcher on the pitches thrown and is responsible for being the manager of the infield. Shortstop isn't an easy position to learn, but a young catcher has to learn how to talk to and handle a pitching staff.
Catching is difficult for young players, but they get more assistance than shortstops.
This just sounds crazy to me. Playing shortstop for a 19 year old is harder, but playing catcher is harder.
Tito (Brooklyn)
Joe do you think the Red Sox will pick up the 12.5 million option for Ortiz next year?
JM: Very difficult question. If they could get someone like Adrian Gonzalez, they would not.
So if the Red Sox can predict the future and know if they will trade for Adrian Gonzalez then they will not pick up David Ortiz's option. Why can't Joe just answer a question without throwing other variables in there to try and confuse the issue because he doesn't know the answer? That's what he does. He doesn't know the answer so he throws another variable in the equation so he can say we don't know the answer yet. He needs to just give the answer, it is not like anyone is going to publicly call him a moron for being wrong.
Matt (Plano,TX)
Who is your MVP for the AL and NL?
JM: Too early to tell.
Was there any doubt this was going to be the answer? Joe doesn't know his NL and AL MVP until the season is over and votes are counted. He's completely incapable of projecting what players are doing now until the end of the season. God help the man at ESPN who hired Joe Morgan.
I always feel like the MVP should come from a winning team, one that's in the pennant race.
I always feel like those players are a good start but it doesn't make sense to assume the most valuable player in the AL or NL come from a team that is in the pennant race. Here's a good example, how good would the Yankees be without Robinson Cano in the lineup? Would they still be leading the AL East if they had a different second baseman out there? Maybe. It is not like there aren't other good players on that team. Not to take anything away from the year Cano is having, but there are other valuable players on that Yankees team. I am not saying Robinson Cano doesn't deserve the MVP, but just looking at the award from the perspective of how valuable a player is.
How good would the Tigers be without Miguel Cabrera in their lineup? Would the Tigers be in second place in the AL Central without him? I think that is debatable. Therefore I would think Miguel Cabrera is more valuable to the Tigers than Robinson Cano is to the Yankees. That's just before we even talk about numbers and statistics. The MVP in each league is not an easy debate, so I don't see why useless needs to simplify it by limiting it to a team that is in the pennant race has to continue.
You always have to start with Pujols in the NL. He's the best player in the game and it's his award to lose. For a long period, David Wright was the leader, but he has cooled off. Andre Ethier was one of the top candidates for a while, and you have to mention Adrian Gonzalez because the Padres are winning,
You don't have to mention Adrian Gonzalez just because the Padres are in first place. Simply because the Padres have a good record doesn't mean they have an MVP candidate on their team. Teams don't just win baseball games because they have an MVP candidate on their team.
and he's the reason they're in first place.
Not really. The Padres starting pitching and bullpen is the primary reason they are in first place, but Gonzalez is having a great year too.
I think the last question points out how many teams are capable of still winning their divisions or the wild card, and therefore it's going to depend on which player steps to the forefront, or which team steps up to take control of a division or the Wild Card.
More great insights from Joe. So the team that will win their division or the Wild Card is the team that plays the best down the last couple months of the season. He's said this before and this may be the only statement he is 100% sure about making in his chats.
We'll be in for great races down the stretch, and I don't really see anyone running away from the field just yet.
It's too early to tell anything right now about the baseball season. So everyone just quit asking Joe chat questions, okay? Instead of asking questions, we should use this weekly chat time to try and have a conversation among the chatters to figure out exactly how Joe Morgan got a job announcing baseball games.
Dallas Braden was 8-9 last year in 22 starts with a 3.89 ERA and 113 ERA+.
He is 4-7 this year in 16 starts with a 3.74 ERA and a 111 ERA+. The A's have scored a total of 11 runs in his 7 losses this year, which comes to a grand total of 1.57 runs in these losses. Not a lot of pitchers would have a winning record with that type of run support.
Galarraga was sent to the minors so he could continue to start during the All-Star break and work on a couple of things.
Galarraga was sent to the minors, where he currently still is, during the All-Star Break so he could work on some things like, "how to be the fifth best starting pitcher on the Tigers team."
(As commenter Chad pointed out, Galarraga only got sent down because the Tigers didn't need him as the 5th starter for a while and his start against the Twins was skipped because they have a LH-heavy lineup. So Galarraga doesn't stink, but I still think he needs to work on being a better pitcher to keep that 5th starter spot in the future.)
Baseball has a way of evening things out ... you have a lot of success early, and maybe later on some ground balls find some holes that they didn't find previously. I don't think overconfidence will be a problem going forward.
Who the hell said there was a problem with overconfidence? Where did this come from? Neither Braden nor Galarraga are overconfident in any way. Braden isn't getting great run support and Galarraga wasn't that great of a pitcher to begin with.
Steve (Albany, NY)
Do the Yankees need to make a trade before the trade deadline and will they?
JM: It depends on how Mitre pitches,
Right, because anyone who watches baseball knows the Yankees are going to see if this journeyman starting pitcher can nail down the job before deciding whether to make a trade for a higher quality starting pitcher. It is not like the Yankees have already tried to trade for Cliff Lee BEFORE Pettitte got injured. Wait, yes they did.
Joe has such a weird view of why teams make moves. He really believes if Sergio Mitre pitches well the Yankees aren't going to make a move at the trade deadline and he thinks the entire NL East title depends solely on whether Jimmy Rollins, Chipper Jones or Carlos Beltran gets 100% healthy first. It is just weird sometimes to hear what he believes the pennant races in each league depend upon.
but if they NEED to make a trade, they will, or if they need the makeup of their pitching staff to change by the deadline, they will.
So Joe doesn't know if the Yankees will make a move at the deadline, but he knows if they need to make a trade they will. He's proud to provide this type of in-depth information.
One thing Brian Cashman has tried to do recently is build his team and pitching staff from within.
I have no problem with how the Yankees built their team, but the threshold for building their team and pitching staff from within is pretty low. It is not like other teams don't have similar looks from their pitching staff, but the Yankees don't seem to have an overabundance of great prospects ready to come up. Their farm system is generally considered to be in the middle of most farm system rankings for 2010 and their lineup doesn't contain an extraordinary amount homegrown impact players.
Yankees pitching staff:
Sabathia- signed as a free agent
Burnett- signed as a free agent
Hughes- homegrown player
Vazquez- traded for him this season (trading their best minor league pitcher in exchange)
Mitre- signed as a free agent
Pettitte- homegrown player
Like most bullpens in the majors, the Yankees have homegrown players and free agents pitching there.
Yankees lineup:
Brett Gardner- homegrown player
Granderson- traded for him this season
Nick Swisher- traded for him last season
Rodriguez- traded for him a few years ago
Jeter- homegrown player
Cano- homegrown player
Teixeira- signed as a free agent
Posada- homegrown player
The Yankees have gotten more impact players from their system lately, but I wouldn't say they are building from within extraordinarily more than they usually do. It is not a knock on the Yankees' way of doing business, but a knock on Joe Morgan not knowing much about baseball.
John (Dallas)
Hey Joe, big fan. John Kruk recently wrote about how Prince Fielder is a good fit in Texas. Do you think he is?
JM: Fielder would be a good fit in most places. A guy who hits the ball out of the ballpark is a good fit anywhere.
This is true except for Adam Dunn, who for some reason no one likes. He's the only power hitting guy that I feel like no team consistently wants.
So Prince Fielder would be a good fit in most places? I like how Joe conveniently ignores the fact a team would have to have the prospects to trade for Fielder and the ignores the economics of a team having to try and re-sign Fielder after next season as well. So Fielder in a perfect wonderful world would be a great fit in most places, or anywhere, but this just isn't true. Teams that currently have a first baseman that hits well would probably not want Fielder. Life is not a fantasy draft, there is more that goes into selecting a player for your team other than the fact he is a good player.
That's like asking, would Albert Pujols fit with the Mets.
I am going to play the contrarian here and say in Joe's perfect world, Pujols would be a great fit for the Mets. Unfortunately, I don't know if Pujols would be a great fit for a Mets team that has a young first baseman with a lot of potential and a larger hole in the rotation than at first base. What would the Mets have to give up to get Pujols? Is it worth doing that to upgrade from Ike Davis AND then have to re-sign Pujols when his contract runs out? The Mets have other holes on the team that should probably be addressed first.
So yes, Pujols does fit with the Mets, but I don't know if he fits as perfectly as Joe blindly seems to believe he does. There are more variables that go into a player going to a team other than just whether he is a good hitter or not. The Mets would love to have Pujols or Fielder, but they wouldn't like what they have to trade to get him nor will they like what they have to pay to keep him on the team compared to having control of Ike Davis.
Richie Cunningham (upstate ny)
Mr. Morgan, what did you think of last Tuesday's all-star game? (It didn't seem one of the better ones, and the ratings sure indicated that.) Thanks / rgds.
If you're a National Leaguer, it was one of the better ones. I'm not sure why the ratings were so low,
Because everyone was too tired to watch the game because they had stayed up the previous night and watched the three-hour (yet it felt like it was ten hours long) Home Run Derby.
but I'm not a fan of the rule where if a pitcher pitches on Sunday, he can't pitch in the ASG. We had a great matchup to start, but we didn't have the Sabathias of the world pitching, or Jered Weaver pitching as a hometown hero.
Pitchers who pitched on Sunday weren't the reason the All-Star Game did poorly in the ratings. I am not a fan of the rule, but I completely understand why the rule is in place. The All-Star Game is an exhibition and I don't think teams should have to restructure their rotation if they have a pitcher who made the All-Star team and doesn't mind not pitching in the game.
Tito (Brooklyn)
Joe who impressed you most in the all-star game?
JM: I thought Marlon Byrd had a very good game defensively, also working an important walk and scoring a run. It's hard for me not to be impressed with most of the players there.
Good old Tito is back asking Joe some questions. As stated in the comments last week, his VORC (Value Over Replacement Chatter, a fake statistic created by a commenter smarter than I am) is very high. Still, I am sure Joe thinks he should be more consistent and doesn't think there are as many consistent chatters as there used to be.
You have to be impressed with Brian McCann getting the game-winning hit as well.
I like how Joe writes in the second person in response to a chat question asked by a chatter. The question was who impressed Joe...and then he tells us who we should be impressed with. I always feel like I am being chastised in some ways when I read a JoeChat. Joe will answer a question (the best he knows how to), name a player/team who he believes is the answer to that question, and then tell us all not to forget another player/team...when he is the one who left that player/team out.
Greg (Atlanta)
Are the Braves good enough to get to the Series with their current roster or do they need another outfield bat?
They need another outfield bat not named Jose Bautista or Cody Ross. Wait, this question wasn't for me?
The Braves do need another bat, although they are good enough to make a run because of their pitching staff.
The Braves do need another bat, except for the fact Joe thinks they may not need another bat.
Great answer. It tells us nothing. I love how Joe never actually answers the question posed, but pushes the answer ahead in the future. Joe is only able to judge things based on hindsight it appears.
"I can't predict who will win the AL MVP this year, but if you ask me after the season I will tell you who won and if they deserved to or not."
They would have a better chance if they could come up with another bat. You can't expect Troy Glaus to keep driving in runs,
Why not? He had 99 RBI in 151 games in 2008, 62 RBI in 115 games in 2007, 104 RBI in 153 games in 2006 and 97 RBI in 149 games in 2005. Based on him staying healthy there is no reason he couldn't drive in runs right near the pace he is currently on (60 RBI in 92 games).
or Heyward to stay healthy,
Why in the hell can't you expect Jason Heyward to stay healthy? He is only 20 years old and has played less than a full season in the majors. He had a wrist injury earlier in the year, but I don't see how it is not possible to expect Heyward to stay healthy. If he can't stay healthy as a 20 year who has only played a half-season in the majors when can he stay healthy through his career?
Jack (Atlanta)
Do the Padres make a trade or stand pat and hope to hold on for the rest of the season? It certainly seems that they could go either way.
JM: I'm not sure that they can take on another big contract.
So the Padres couldn't trade for Prince Fielder, who is a good fit for most teams? I thought a guy who could hit the ball out of the park was a good fit anywhere?
In this economy, it's about whether they can take on another large salary rather than whether you need to take on more players.
Which is exactly why Prince Fielder isn't really a good fit in most places. So Joe's previous statement saying this is incorrect. Fielder is a good fit in just a few places because of his salary (now and in the future) and the cost of trading for Fielder.
They could go either way.
So the same team that Joe stated can't afford to take on another big contract may make a move to take on salary? What impact player can the Padres add without adding too much payroll or giving up a player they have on the roster they currently need?
Joe B (Aiter, NY)
Joe, do you think that Joe Torre is working Broxton too hard? He seems to have been fatigued lately and is less effective than normal.
JM: I very rarely question Joe Torre, but I'd say yes.
When the Yankees were there, he pitched him with a five-run lead on Saturday,
The reason Torre put Broxton in the game on June 26 was because he had appeared in 6 games since June 9th, had thrown only 36 pitches since June 13, and the All-Star break was coming up. He threw 19 pitches in this appearance. I don't believe he was overworked at this point.
then with a four-run lead on Sunday.
Broxton blew this lead. Broxton didn't blow the lead because he was fatigued though. He was fairly fresh and had not pitched a lot lately. It is not like he was wild. Of the 48 pitches he threw, 29 of them were strikes. So it is fine to say Broxton is tired and that is why he has struggled lately, but he wasn't tired in the examples that Joe gave so that can't be the reason he blew the four-run lead on June 29.
It is possible Broxton was fatigued after this appearance but fatigue doesn't seem to be the reason he blew this save.
He threw I think around 50 pitches on Sunday.
He threw 48 pitches, but he wasn't exactly exhausted from being overworked.
Joe Torre has been spoiled by Mariano Rivera's ability to be sharp day in and day out. It's just not that way with every other closer.
While I do agree with this statement in some ways, Broxton has pitched 76.1, 82, 69, and 76 innings over the last four years. He is currently around 42 innings, so he isn't really that far off his usual pace of work for the year.
I don't know if Broxton is struggling because he is tired or because he has hit a rough patch over three appearances.
Kevin (New Jersey)
Sunday in talking about Starlin Castro you said shortstop was the toughest position to learn how to play in the majors. I love ya Joe, but we see 19 year olds come up an play shortstop, (Andrus and Castro) but no 19 year old catchers. Cather is the most difficult position to learn, don't you agree?
Defensively, I think the catcher position would be the hardest to come in and play at a high level at a young age. There is so much going on in front of a catcher that he is responsible for. He handles the pitchers and has other duties that involve communicating with the infielders and backing up first base in the case of an errant throw. For a 19 year old, I think catcher would be the hardest defensive position to play at a high level and learn how to play.
JM: I wouldn't have said it if I agreed! To play shortstop properly is what I said. It's more difficult to make all of those defensive plays at shortstop, like learning how to be in the right cutoff position.
I would disagree completely. The catcher has responsibilities outside of his normal catching duties that he has to perform and I can pretty much guarantee there is more communication with teammates involved with the position than at shortstop. Learning to play catcher is less instinct and more learning how to handle pitchers and learning where you as a catcher have to be on every play.
Catching is putting the fingers down and catching the ball.
Well that's a nice "fuck you" to catchers. "Catching is putting the fingers down and catching the ball." What a simplistic way of looking at the position.
They call the protective equipment for the catcher the "tools of ignorance," but I think this term should be used instead for Joe Morgan's brain. Catching is so much more than just putting down fingers and catching the ball. Even in that simplified statement, Joe should realize the ball doesn't always go where it is supposed to go, so the catcher often has to block a pitch and prevent a runner from advancing and scoring.
Johnny Bench hangs his head in shame.
Veteran pitchers call their own games in the majors.
Veteran pitchers call their own games in the majors, but what about the many, many pitchers that aren't veterans? They certainly don't call their own games. Many veterans don't call their own games, the catcher often suggests a pitch and the pitcher shakes him off or throws the pitch.
For God's sake, veteran pitchers don't call their own games completely during a game. There is some help from their catcher and many pitchers prefer to use certain catchers they trust, even if they call their own games. Joe Morgan has set a new bar for himself in stupid statements.
No one makes the plays for you at shortstop. You get help when you're a young catcher. Managers will sometimes call pitches, like a football coach calling plays.
BUT NOBODY CATCHES THE BALL FOR THE CATCHER OR WALKS ON THE DAMN FIELD AND MAKES THE PLAYS FOR THE CATCHER!
The shortstop doesn't get help fielding the ball and neither does a catcher. The catcher touches the ball on nearly every single pitch and what help the catcher gets stops once a pitch is thrown. I don't see how this is even arguable that a catcher has more to learn at the major league level.
There's more you have to do as a shortstop--it's not the hardest position to play as a young player, but there's more to learn.
No way. I don't want to say the shortstop has very little to do, because it is not true, but the catcher works directly with the pitcher on the pitches thrown and is responsible for being the manager of the infield. Shortstop isn't an easy position to learn, but a young catcher has to learn how to talk to and handle a pitching staff.
Catching is difficult for young players, but they get more assistance than shortstops.
This just sounds crazy to me. Playing shortstop for a 19 year old is harder, but playing catcher is harder.
Tito (Brooklyn)
Joe do you think the Red Sox will pick up the 12.5 million option for Ortiz next year?
JM: Very difficult question. If they could get someone like Adrian Gonzalez, they would not.
So if the Red Sox can predict the future and know if they will trade for Adrian Gonzalez then they will not pick up David Ortiz's option. Why can't Joe just answer a question without throwing other variables in there to try and confuse the issue because he doesn't know the answer? That's what he does. He doesn't know the answer so he throws another variable in the equation so he can say we don't know the answer yet. He needs to just give the answer, it is not like anyone is going to publicly call him a moron for being wrong.
Matt (Plano,TX)
Who is your MVP for the AL and NL?
JM: Too early to tell.
Was there any doubt this was going to be the answer? Joe doesn't know his NL and AL MVP until the season is over and votes are counted. He's completely incapable of projecting what players are doing now until the end of the season. God help the man at ESPN who hired Joe Morgan.
I always feel like the MVP should come from a winning team, one that's in the pennant race.
I always feel like those players are a good start but it doesn't make sense to assume the most valuable player in the AL or NL come from a team that is in the pennant race. Here's a good example, how good would the Yankees be without Robinson Cano in the lineup? Would they still be leading the AL East if they had a different second baseman out there? Maybe. It is not like there aren't other good players on that team. Not to take anything away from the year Cano is having, but there are other valuable players on that Yankees team. I am not saying Robinson Cano doesn't deserve the MVP, but just looking at the award from the perspective of how valuable a player is.
How good would the Tigers be without Miguel Cabrera in their lineup? Would the Tigers be in second place in the AL Central without him? I think that is debatable. Therefore I would think Miguel Cabrera is more valuable to the Tigers than Robinson Cano is to the Yankees. That's just before we even talk about numbers and statistics. The MVP in each league is not an easy debate, so I don't see why useless needs to simplify it by limiting it to a team that is in the pennant race has to continue.
You always have to start with Pujols in the NL. He's the best player in the game and it's his award to lose. For a long period, David Wright was the leader, but he has cooled off. Andre Ethier was one of the top candidates for a while, and you have to mention Adrian Gonzalez because the Padres are winning,
You don't have to mention Adrian Gonzalez just because the Padres are in first place. Simply because the Padres have a good record doesn't mean they have an MVP candidate on their team. Teams don't just win baseball games because they have an MVP candidate on their team.
and he's the reason they're in first place.
Not really. The Padres starting pitching and bullpen is the primary reason they are in first place, but Gonzalez is having a great year too.
I think the last question points out how many teams are capable of still winning their divisions or the wild card, and therefore it's going to depend on which player steps to the forefront, or which team steps up to take control of a division or the Wild Card.
More great insights from Joe. So the team that will win their division or the Wild Card is the team that plays the best down the last couple months of the season. He's said this before and this may be the only statement he is 100% sure about making in his chats.
We'll be in for great races down the stretch, and I don't really see anyone running away from the field just yet.
It's too early to tell anything right now about the baseball season. So everyone just quit asking Joe chat questions, okay? Instead of asking questions, we should use this weekly chat time to try and have a conversation among the chatters to figure out exactly how Joe Morgan got a job announcing baseball games.
Galarraga was sent to the minors, where he currently no longer is (he's made two MLB starts since All-Star break), because the Tigers pen needed a fresh arm and the only start he missed was against lefty-heavy Minnesota.
ReplyDeleteChad, I was wrong. I will note it. Thanks. I don't know how I missed the June 20th start on his Baseball-Reference page.
ReplyDeletecan't believe you missed the name of one of the chatters:
ReplyDeleteJoe B (Aitin, NY)
how great is that??!!
Joe really fell on his face with the Ortiz question and answer. In addition to your point, he then spent the remainder of the answer talking everyone how key David Ortiz is for the success of this year's Red Sox team. But this had nothing to do with the question asked.
ReplyDeleteJoe's newest chat today was shorter than normal and there were no Howard or MVP questions. Joe even admits than Juan Pierre's OBP isn't good enough. But there are still a few good answers though, like the fact that Joe thinks allowing five runs in a game is equally as challenging as allowing zero runs in a game.
Matt, I can't believe I missed that either. I really dropped the ball on that. I remember the Aitin, NY part, but I didn't catch on. That's pretty great.
ReplyDeleteAnon, he didn't even come close to answering that Ortiz question. I get so tired of him talking about how important Ortiz is to the Red Sox. We get it, but the question was a/b whether the Red Sox would re-sign him or not.
I haven't gotten around to Joe's new chat, but I hate it when he talks about run support in relation to how well a pitcher pitches.
Joe must've missed when Jimenez, Halladay, Johnson, Lee, Price, Hughes and Pettite pitched in the all-star game.
ReplyDeleteAs for Joe's instance on SS being the hardest position, all I kept thinking about reading his answer was: this is shit that you can learn in HS or in rookie ball. Where you stand for the cut-off throws doesn't magically change when you get to the pros, nor do the plays that you're expected to make.
Catching though? You have to know the entire pitching staff, learn signs, study MLB level hitters and deal with MLB umpires who won't give you the benefit of the doubt on close calls.
Veteran pitchers call their own games in the majors.
There haven't been many times when I read something and just feel sick. This is one of those times.
Like you said, not all pitchers are veterans. Could you imagine being 19 years old and catching for Strasburg? Or for that matter, Carlos Zambrano?
Then of course, there's the fact that Joe is a complete moron. After his perfect game, Roy Halladay said:
"We felt like we got in a groove early and about the fifth or the sixth I was just following Chooch," Halladay said, calling Ruiz by his nickname. "I can't say enough about the job he did today. Mixed pitches. For me it was really a no-brainer."
Managers will sometimes call pitches
Lets say that on average a catcher sees 130 pitches in a game. How many of them are being called by the manager? the pitcher?
On the flip side, a young SS doesn't have to do shit. Managers call in defensive alignments and I'm sure the 2B and 3B can give a young SS all the help in the world, especially considering shortstops get moved to other positions all the time. I'm sure Michael Young doesn't laugh at Elvis Andrus and call him a moron when he asks him a question.
Rich, I am surprised you are the first one to talk about this in the comments. That comment a/b the catcher was ridiculous. SS is a tough position, but it is nowhere near a 19 year old trying to play catcher at the big league level. It's not even in the same league. A catcher is in charge of the pitching staff, no matter what Joe says.
ReplyDeletePitchers shake off pitches but they don't completely call their own game. That quote from Halladay showed that. Greg Maddux (who I am pretty sure is a HoF pitcher) refused to work w/ Javy Lopez and it isn't b/c he didn't like how the ball went in his glove. He didn't like how Lopez called a game. From knowing that, it is obvious even Maddux didn't call his own games.
I didn't feel sick, but I got close when Joe just assumed all veteran pitchers call their own games so catcher automatically have nothing to do. How many veterans really their own games? I wouldn't say too many.
What happens when a pitcher that isn't a veteran is on the mound? Who calls the pitches? I don't know if the manager calls those pitches all the time.
What an ignorant comment.
I remember when Schilling first came to Boston. He commented on how ell Varitek calls a game and how he completely trust him and wouldn't shake him off. That was on a SUNDAY NIGHT BASEBALL GAME! Joe was THERE! How the hell does he not remember stuff like that
ReplyDeleteAnon, another great point. I don't want to overstate the case here, but that is a completely ignorant and incredibly stupid comment by Joe. It's not even comparing a 19 year old playing SS to a 19 year old catcher, but just his comments about how little he thinks a catcher does.
ReplyDeleteVeterans pitchers don't call their own games. They pitch and work together with the catcher. I remember when Brian McCann first came up the one thing John Smoltz liked the most about him was how he called a baseball game. That was 38 year old Smoltz talking about 21 year old McCann. I think if veterans called their own game, Smoltz would have done so in that situation.
i think that was a situation where joe just tried to defend an inane point because he didn't want to admit his mistake. there's no real way to argue that ss is harder to "master" than catcher. if he truly believes this, then he truly is joe morgan (aka, idiot).
ReplyDeleteMatt, at some point he needs to cut bait and realize he is wrong. Apparently he didn't care to do this.
ReplyDeleteHe took it from a simple opinion that SS is harder to learn for a 19 year old than a catcher and added a whole level of stupidity to it. I would have mentioned it w/o the comment about how catchers just catch the ball, but it wouldn't have been such a big deal. It is an idiotic comment I can't believe a person who played baseball professionally made.