SoxSail wrote:That's correct, it's runs above replacement, not wins. There's an excellent set of stats pages available from Baseball Prospectus. That's where I got this from by selecting VORP then Boston catchers only. I didn't say that Kottaras (thanks) and Brown were exceptional, only that they were better last year in the limited playing time they had than Varitek. It's a real leap from that performance to greatness.
Norm in Oregon wrote:I assume you mean 4.2/2.1/44.6 Ruuns Above Replacement, not Wins. Can you link where you got those stats? Also, if Kottaras (with two a's i think) and DBrown are so much better than Varitek already, why don't one of them just get the chance instead of Wagner? Because I don't see why Wagner is all of a sudden going to hit like he did at AA without regular reps in the majors. In addition to that, I'm not sure where I fall on the importance of game calling, but probably more important than you think, and less so than Fogey believes, and I'd like to see Wagner get more experience calling games for Bowden, Tazawa and Mills who have full arsenals and are facing equal level hitters.
My own feeling is that the catching intangibles, while not un-important, are vastly overblown. Wagner's carries a gun with him at all times and that alone makes the team's catching vastly superior to the sorry state of affairs during the just completed season. The figures for Sox catchers, excluding Martinez, are mind-blowingly bad. How bad? Value above replacement is a paltry 4.2 which just stinks. But that's just the start. Half of that was accumulated by Kotteras and Dusty Brown in their measly 111 plate appearances. The remaining 2.1 belongs to Varitek in his 425 PAs. That's not just below the fold on the major league list, it's on the back page. It can't get any worse. There's no question in my mind that Wagner could triple that in half the appearances. That, along with Martinez' exceptional offensive game (combined 44.6 with Cleveland and Boston), would be a blast of fresh air for the catching corps.
Given his good patience and gap power, and his very good throwing mechanics, Wagner is better than both of those guys right now, in my opinion. He's 25 and entering the prime years of his career. The Sox are in dire need of a second catcher who can keep base runners honest and provide at least some offense. They already have such a guy in their system. I feel it's time to give Wagner a shot.
