Comments on: Introducing Skill Assesments (and about 1500 words on Jason Varitek)

By: Tylenol maker.

Tylenol maker. — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 07:58:15 +0000

Tylenol contamination….

Narcotics that are tylenol free. Tylenol recall. Tylenol sinus causes bright yellow mucus. Tylenol….

By: Soxlosophy

Soxlosophy — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:55:16 +0000

Wow, really interesting post. (unlike this comment.)

By: Sox Fan

Sox Fan — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:03:33 +0000

Anybody notice during Varitek’s first AB, that, after getting ahead 2-0, he looked down to the 3b coach for a sign. My immediate reaction was, if he gets anything other than a take signal, I’m going to scream. Sure enough, I screamed. He went after a pitch that was outside and high. Even Remy and Orsillo deigned to criticize his approach.

The time has come to start PHing for him late in games. Even Cora seems like a better bet at this point.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:47:22 +0000

I didn’t say that he was good or bad at defense. I said he has a weak arm, which he does.

He had a weak arm in 05 when he won the Gold Glove, and he has a weak arm now. There has never been a season where Jason Varitek has been above average at throwing out runners, and teams run on him at an above average rate.

I also didn’t say that Cash shouldn’t be replaced, I said he wouldn’t. I did say that Kottaras and Brown aren’t good enough to justify benching Varitek and releasing Cash…the Red Sox will not do that.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:28:58 +0000

Oh yea and Jeff looking at SB% as a means of evaluating a catcher’s defense is an incomplete story. You also have to look at the amount of attempts there are on the catcher. Someone like Posada has everyone and their mother try to steal on them. The have a slightly better percentage than a Varitek but more than double the attempts. I would say he use to be better than average and is starting to get worse than average but is still living on rep.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:16:07 +0000

Wrong Jeff Wrong. There isn’t catcher bad enough not to boot Cash off the team. He is the worst hitter with 400 PA in the history of baseball. There is no way that Dusty Brown or Kottaras could be worse without being crippled.

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:35:40 +0000

Oh, and since nothing good is happening on the baseball field, I’m going to leave this post on page 1 over the holiday weekend.

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:20:23 +0000

Yeah, I can’t really wrap my mind around him at this point. In a vacuum, I’d say he’s toast…but he’s had awful stretches like this (where it looks like he can’t catch up to MLB fastballs) in each of the past few years, after which he recovers.