From Baker, we get some chilling news: Kenji's going to the DL with a broken toe, an injury he sustained early in the game that knocked him out after two and a half innings (but not before he was caught on camera putting on socks like a little bitch). This removes from the lineup a guy on pace for 11 homers and puts into the lineup a guy on pace for 11 hits. For Rob Johnson, these next few weeks are going to try even his family's love.
If Rob Johnson is such a genius pitch-caller, then he should have a decent idea of what's going to be thrown to him when he hits, which makes his offense all the more laughable. From the right perspective, even his alleged strengths make him pathetic.
God damn you, Jeff Clement.
0 recs | 50 comments
So Imagine Jeff Clement will be recalled A-sap
Poochie - May 25, 2009
*I
Poochie - May 25, 2009
Simply "imagine" is more appropriate
for I imagine that all of us are dreaming of this.
Omerta - May 25, 2009
"No, Jeff Clement is not a replacement option at this time. The team is still mulling it all over."
I don’t understand what he’s saying here. Why isn’t Clement even an option?
ermac - May 25, 2009
He's not a catcher anymore.
Jeff Sullivan - May 25, 2009
Well I miss out on the darndest things
ermac - May 25, 2009
Kids often say the darndest things
gregrabble - May 25, 2009
I was once a kid!
ermac - May 25, 2009
I want to blame Bavasi & Co for drafting nothing but busted first rounders but the rage won't allow me tho think clearly at the present moment
Poochie - May 25, 2009
Also, if Clement is not an option then what the hell are they mulling over?
Johnson and Burke, right? It’s not like they’re gonna call up Moore already.
Zack - May 25, 2009
Calling up Moore would definitely be unexpected
But exciting and unpredictably wacky at the same time!
JLC - May 25, 2009
Now that I think about it
If Johjima is out for significant time with the broken toe, Moore may very well be their best option for starting catcher.
JLC - May 25, 2009
Woo Moore!
Well, we share a last name, so it would be kind of cool to see him up in the big leagues. I might even buy his jersey if he sticks around.
Fin - May 25, 2009
Damn you Clement and your sexiness and not being able to play catcher...
Slurvey - May 25, 2009
I think this is the point where someone makes a laughable trade suggestion involving Fat Ichiro and one of our firstbasemen
Poochie - May 25, 2009
Vidro isn't on the Mariners anymore.
Fin - May 25, 2009
Betancourt.
Coach Owens - May 25, 2009
Betancourt and LaHair for Victor Martinez!
joof - May 26, 2009
I don't get to hang out here as often as I use to. What is this Fat Ichiro joke?
InSpokane - May 26, 2009
Sandoval I believe
Aaron Campeau - May 26, 2009
Correctumundo
Poochie - May 26, 2009
I don't see what the problem is, surely we could call up Mike Carp to play catcher?
Right? Right? No? Awwwww.
thewyrm - May 25, 2009
I think Prentice Redman has earned an opportunity.
Teej - May 25, 2009
Woooo left handed!
seattlebruin - May 26, 2009
.302/.375/.523
>:(
>:(
>:(
Graham MacAree - May 25, 2009
I wish Rob Johnson was riding shottie with Nick Adenhart
Graham MacAree - May 25, 2009
Ouch.
SethGrandpa - May 25, 2009
He probably wouldn't have felt anything
ermac - May 25, 2009
dude, you suck
mz - May 25, 2009
BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!
Teej - May 25, 2009
That was creative.
Fin - May 25, 2009
So does your face
Graham MacAree - May 25, 2009
I bet it was so worth creating an account just to say this
Poochie - May 25, 2009
If he was the driver of the other car, now that would be something
Then he could spend the rest of his days in a 6 by 9 cell pondering his many failures in life.
Kermit. - May 25, 2009
Instead he is pampered, living the high life.
Fin - May 25, 2009
I thought the guy riding shotgun was the one that lived
seattlebruin - May 26, 2009
I've heard Jeff Clement's knee is 100% healthy and not bothering him at all.
so I bet he’s called up very shortly!
Matthew - May 25, 2009
I hate you
Graham MacAree - May 25, 2009
Wait
are you
implying that
I’m mistaken?
Matthew - May 25, 2009
And in fine timing....
the TNT had a piece yesterday about Clement & his knee, which didn’t sound as though they were throwing him back into catching any time soon.
“Clement’s left knee swelled during the series in Salt Lake City, May 4-7. It’s the same knee he had surgery on last September. "I got an MRI and there was some fraying of the meniscus, but it was not torn," says Clement. "It’s nice to know that there is no surgery required."
While he has served as the DH, the swelling has subsided, and he expects to soon return to a routine of catching and making occasional starts at first base. "It’s definitely getting better," said Clement. "Hopefully soon I can take more ground balls (at first base) and start catching.""
msb - May 25, 2009
Sounds like a Bucky Jacobsen knee ...
so let’s hope that Clement doesn’t go on rehab and eat his way up to 325 lbs.
Steve Nelson - May 25, 2009
Mo Vaughn was awesome, though!
Coach Owens - May 25, 2009
I Love D'Ohjima
Brian Floyd - May 25, 2009
Hello!
Honestly, I think they go with the Jamie Burke memorial 40-man two-step yet again. Still, Moore’s getting close.
Still, this organization – Z, Blengino, etc. – really likes Rob Johnson. I’m trying to think of another player that would engender this big of a gulf between the SABR-oriented FO and the SABR-oriented blog, and, well, Jeff Clement comes to mind.
marc w - May 26, 2009
The Clement gap is probably half of the Johnson gap.
I imagine even the Ms FO likes Clement’s bat and his work ethic. They just hate his defense for some reason that seems to tie in with handling pitchers.
We, by which I mean I, hate everything about Rob Johnson (at the moment). He cannot hit. He cannot field. He cannot do anything. He needs to be in Tacoma trying to build on his 2008 season there and showing that he can be a long term backup at catcher.
Matthew - May 26, 2009
That's a good point
There are gaps in eval. of both Clement/Johnson, but the Johnson gap is as large as anything I’ve seen – maybe larger than anything in the Bavasi era.
The FO’s focus on defense is impressive, and thus the majority of the gap centers on how to evaluate C defense. I’m 99% sure the M’s don’t have some amazing metric/process to evaluating C defense, so we’re just back to night/day opinions based on watching Johnson catch.
This implies that the real ‘gap’ here is the weighting that should be applied to C defense. I think there’s essentially 0 chance that Tony Blengino’s unaware of the studies on C defense that Graham’s linked to recently, or the ‘debunking’ of cERA. So where’s this coming from? The scouting side? New, perhaps more nuanced, metrics? What?
marc w - May 26, 2009
Does anyone have a good way to evaluate it?
I know Tango and Sean Smith have taken cracks at it, and Tango concluded that any catcher who reaches the majors falls within -10 < x < 10 runs a year, but beyond that I have no idea how reliable it is. Thoughts, anyone?
Decatur - May 26, 2009
I took a look at it years ago and came to the same conclusion.
Concerning what we can measure, there just isn’t that much difference between catchers. I’ll do my best to recall it off the top of my head.
Essentially, I came up with seven areas where catcher’s defense comes in to play:
1. Controlling the running game
2. Calling/framing pitches
3. Catching pitches (preventing PB/WP)
4. Catching pop-ups
5. Fielding bunts
6. Fielding throws/blocking plate/tagging runner
7. Dealing with pitching staff
1. The first one turns out to not be that meaningful because primary responsibility likely falls on the pitcher and even ignoring that aspect, there’s a high degree of diminishing returns from the catcher’s POV in preventing SB attempts since stolen bases are not a great tactical move for the offense. The +/- spread per season on this ended up around 5 runs.
2. The second one, a.k.a. cERA, has never, to my knowledge, been demonstrated to be meaningful. I do actually subscribe to the theory that catchers can impact pitch sequencing , and I certainly believe pitch sequencing matters, but I am not confident that there’s a demonstrably better or worse system that can attribute the skill to the catcher. The decision ultimately lies with the pitcher.
3. Quantified already. The +/- spread per season on this ended up around 5 runs.
4. The vast/entire majority of pop-ups that would be fielded by the catcher have so much hang time that there’s such a high success rate that there’s not enough of a sample to differentiate value here. JI’s Clement GIF notwithstanding.
5. Pretty small sample of plays and once again, most just involve throws to first base and made with a high rate of success.
6. Even smaller sample of plays and entirely subjective and depends a lot on the nature of the incoming throw. Possible that it might be quantified, but doubt there’s much spread at all once proper regression is factored in.
7. //shrug
Matthew - May 26, 2009
Sweet Jesus, that's a good answer.
Decatur - May 26, 2009
Yes, yes it is...
Personally, I think #7 is directly proportional to a catcher’s batting line. If it sucks, and the catcher is a personal guy, then more than likely the correlation is + 3 runs over the course of a season. If, however, that catcher wears an ASU Boyd cap and drives a BMW 3-series, and his batting line isn’t too terrible, it’ll more than likely correlate to -3 runs over the course of a season.
+/-2 runs for Cranky Yankee’s opinion…
PositivePaul - May 26, 2009
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