Jarrod Saltalamacchia Released

[emkayseven]

soooooooooooooooooooo dumb

[marlinsfan24]

This organization will never cease to amaze you.

[Madman81]

This organization will never cease to amaze you.

they don't amaze me at all, thank you very much

[thatnewguy]

Look, I don't like Salty and I think he sucks but I agree, it's a bad move to cut him and take away all of your trade leverage. Now instead of dumping half of that contract, you dump $1 million if it. Ouch.

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Still, a Saltyless roster is an improved one in my book. Just could've been handled better.

[Bobbob1313]

You don't actually think Solano is better, right?

[Jay]

Look, I don't like Salty and I think he sucks but I agree, it's a bad move to cut him and take away all of your trade leverage. Now instead of dumping half of that contract, you dump $1 million if it. Ouch.

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Still, a Saltyless roster is an improved one in my book. Just could've been handled better.

The current backup is a triple a catcher.
The backup on the DL has OPSed over .600 once in the last 5 years. He managed a .537 OPS with a .303 BABIP.

Also for all you Salty haters I read an article that stated Salty was considered a good pitch framer (using metrics) in Boston. I haven't looked into verifying this.

[Namaste]

BUT 2 SOLANOS PLAYED IN THE SAME GAME

[Jay]

BUT 2 SOLANOS PLAYED IN THE SAME GAME

I'd be more excited about it if even one of them was a major league quality bench player.

[thatnewguy]

You don't actually think Solano is better, right?

No, but he's only a fill-in until Mathis comes back. Whether Mathis is better than Saltamacchia...it's like asking if a broken leg is better than a broken arm. They are both terrible and I want neither. Mathis can't hit worth shit yet still isn't that much worse simply because of how bad at everything else Saltalamacchia is in comparison. The catcher position has been a clusterfuck this entire season and I haven't been able to get passed the fact that he's sucked so hard for so long. He literally had one good season that they John Buck'd him. It was not a good situation and it was only made worse because they are now on the hook for $13 million with nothing coming back in return.

[marlinsfan24]

No, but he's only a fill-in until Mathis comes back. Whether Mathis is better than Saltamacchia...it's like asking if a broken leg is better than a broken arm. They are both terrible and I want neither. Mathis can't hit worth shit yet still isn't that much worse simply because of how bad at everything else Saltalamacchia is in comparison. The catcher position has been a clusterfuck this entire season and I haven't been able to get passed the fact that he's sucked so hard for so long. He literally had one good season that they John Buck'd him. It was not a good situation and it was only made worse because they are now on the hook for $13 million with nothing coming back in return.

It wasn't just one good year. His prior two seasons before that were not on the same level as 2013, but still pretty decent.

[Jay]

He's been the same player for the majority of his career. 1.5 above average years and 1 far below average year. His contract was at his talent level and certainly not worth a DFA if he could repeat his 2014 season.

Decline has been mentioned before but it's far more likely that a 30 year old had a bit less luck last year (he's a high BABIP guy due to strikeouts) and wasn't operating on a complete information. Remember he had to catch pitchers he's never caught before, hit against pitchers he's had relatively few at bats against before, and had to call pitches against batters he's fairly unfamiliar with.

He had a .765 OPS this spring (41 AB). Then he gets a 9 game stretch to prove he's himself before they choose to DFA him (with 2 years left on his contract). Every player goes through a 9 game slump over the course of the season.

I can understand calling up Realmuto (even if I think it was too soon). I support starting Realmuto over Salty after he was called up (he needs ABs to develop). Realmuto came up hot (.711 OPS first 23 AB) but has since been in fairly awful (.473 in 33AB). And now what is plan B? Fucking Solano because the initial call up happened because Mathis broke a finger. The whole thought process here is absurd.

So Salty was supposedly becoming a clubhouse cancer because his playing time was cut. Well it's pretty easy to explain the situation rationally. Hey we have this top prospect that we want an extended look to better evaluate him. You've been slumping, he's hot. You'll get your ABs in. (He wasn't even the only player slumping during that stretch (it was like everyone not named Dee).

[emkayseven]

The only way I can rationalize it is the behind the scenes/clubhouse stuff. They told him what you said in your last paragraph, he whined about it to the media. Maybe he was bitching to other players too. It doesn't make the move better, but maybe it explains it.

[marlinsfan24]

The only way I can rationalize it is the behind the scenes/clubhouse stuff. They told him what you said in your last paragraph, he whined about it to the media. Maybe he was bitching to other players too. It doesn't make the move better, but maybe it explains it.

I don't even know if that should be characterized as whining. The media asked him if he was unhappy about being benched and he gave an answer you'd expect most players to give. If he whined about it more behind the scenes, that's another story. But it says a lot that Michael Morse had a more subdued answer when he was asked.

"I'm always just about winning," said Morse, who signed a two-year, $16 million deal this past winter. "I'm happy for anybody that gets a chance to play — especially Bour. He's swinging the bat awesome."

[BigGameFish]

I would disagree that JT has been awful. He's a rookie catcher. Any catcher really isn't going to hit more than .250-.260, let alone a rookie in his first few months. Awful is way too harsh.

[Jay]

I would disagree that JT has been awful. He's a rookie catcher. Any catcher really isn't going to hit more than .250-.260, let alone a rookie in his first few months. Awful is way too harsh.

I agree any rookie catcher isn't going to hit well and I'm being harsh on Realmuto because of the Salty situation. But they put faith in a rookie catcher who hasn't had success with the bat at other levels to assume he would stand a chance andd DFA the only other catcher in the organization who it makes sense for him to split time with was DFA. They could have ridden out Realmuto's hot bat when he came up. Given Morse more days off against righties and let Salty start there for some PAs. The 1st base situation should have an impact on this decision too. Up until Salty left the team (we can assume the DFA decision was already made when he went on paternity leave), Bour was not on the team meaning the options at 1st were limited to an injury prone player who should receive a significant number of days off to keep fresh, a lefty masher and Salty. Bour fills the role Salty leaves open at 1st now but the FO could send him down when Yelich returns. And I like Bour and think he belongs on the team but given the choice between him and Salty, Salty fills the greater need on this team and the only reason Bour would be removed is if the team carried 3 catchers (which shouldn't be considered until Mathis gets off the DL).

This is a team who is expected to compete yet whoever is catching can basically be expected to get an out every time up and anytime the result is different we she be thankful.