Has it worn off yet?
As the weather gets colder and our hours with the illumination of the sun begin to dwindle, even now it remains a obvious fact that almost anyone who followed the Red Sox through their storybook 2013 Championship winning season finds it difficult to fell gloomy in a season notorious for bringing about such feelings.
We are the champions and while it is the opposite of my intent to dampen the elation of Red Sox Nation it deserves pointing out that the Red Sox who are now over a month into their off-season still have failed to lock down any of their big name free agents. As we look across the league, names like Mike Napoli, Joel Hanrahan, Stephan Drew and Jacoby Ellsbury are all still without teams and yet, the reason for that is clear. For each of those respectable ball players, their futures in relation to the Red Sox are clear. Mike Napoli will PROBABLY return. Joel Hanrahan will go wherever he is given more money and despite the Red Sox front office's fascination with Stephan Drew, he too will likely leave largely for the purpose of making room for Xander Bogaerts to make the jump to the MLB full time. As for Jacoby Ellsbury, he has made it pretty clear that he wants to go anywhere but Boston.
And yet, there is one name and the position that name (for the time being fills) that has quietly climbed to the top on Ben Cherrington's list of priorities. That name is Sox catcher, Jarrod Saltilamaccia.
For 4 seasons now, Saltilamaccia or Salty as he is known by his fans, has been smacking doubles while then turning around and botching any and all plays he had to make that involved his throwing of the baseball. Do not get me wrong, in most scenarios a guy with the offensive power of Jarrod would be reason enough to hand him 700 trillion dollars and his own summer house on the moon but in Boston that is not the case. The Red Sox have power in David Ortiz, and speed in Shane Victorino as well and young talent in Xander Boagaerts. They scored 853 runs in 2013 and even when you subtract the 65 runs that Salty smacked home, it is still a fact that the Red Sox need no more offence. They were fine there and what they need more than anything else is a strong personality behind the plate and a personality whose person has the capability to throw out a runner at second base.
If you do not agree yet, all that needs to be mentioned in order to sway your opinion is one simple word: obstruction. Yes it was the right call and while it was easy to blame our plight on the umpire who made the call or Will Middlebrooks who committed the penalty as we look back on that already famed finish to game 3 it is Jarrod Saltilamaccia, the man who made the throw that careened into left field who deserves the biggest piece of the blame pie.
As we look back on Saltilamaccia's 2 years as a starter and 355 games started in Boston, while he did bat close to .235 in every season and successfully smacked in 83 doubles during his tenure, he allowed 252 stolen bases over the same time period and committed a whopping 20 errors. By comparison, coveted Cardinals catcher: Yadiar Molina allowed just 165 stolen bases and committed 17 errors during that same 4 year span.
When it comes to hitting, Jarrod Saltilmaccia is the best of best and yet when he fields the ball he is down at the bottom of the barrel.
The man brought in to replace Saltilmaccia following the disastrous postseason that cost him his job in Boston, is good in both aspects of the game. Earlier Tuesday afternoon, the Boston Red Sox signed former Rangers catcher AJ Piezynski to a 1 year 8.25 million dollar contract.
Piezynski who was recently voted the MLB's most hated player allowed just 49 stolen bases in 2013 and committed an all-star quality 2 errors. As for his batting the man who has been in the big leagues since 1998 has a career average of .283 and slammed in 70 RBI's in 2013. Miraculously, AJ hits better than Jarrod Saltilamaccia and fields better. He is the perfect fix.
As for the actions that earn him the title of most hated player, when that player plays for your team, many do not complain when the opposing catcher gets creamed at the plate or trash talked into punching AJ in the face.
0 comments:
Post a Comment