28
2011
Mets Better Off Without Paulino
An article by Hojo's Mojo
Andy Martino of the Daily News shares an odd exchange that occurred late last season between manager Terry Collins and catcher Ronny Paulino.
In the late innings of one game last season, Terry Collins needed a pinch-hitter, and decided to use Ronny Paulino. The Mets manager walked to Paulino’s seat on the bench, and told the catcher to grab a bat.
Paulino did not grab a bat, and he did not move, according to a person present during the conversation. Collins, perturbed, stared at Paulino for a few moments, and then asked again. This prompted the pinch hitter to stir, finally.
It was a small moment, but it illustrated why some Mets officials are pushing for a new catching combination next season. In Paulino’s first season in New York, the team did not view him as a diligent worker, adequate defensive catcher, or offensive force off the bench, and some are pushing to replace the arbitration-eligible backstop.
Paulino wasn’t that impressive defensively last season and batted just .268 with a .663 OPS in 228 at-bats. He hit two homers and drove in 19 runs. Additionally, he missed nearly all of Spring Training with visa problems, then missed the first two weeks of the season due to a banned substance suspension.
“He was supposed to hit for power, and all he did was hit singles,” said one Mets official of Paulino, who hit two home runs in 2011, and slugged just .351. “(Mike) Nickeas could do that, and he would be much better defensively.”
Josh Thole will undoubtedly get the majority of playing time next season, but despite the need for a veteran catcher, Paulino seems like a bad idea.
About the Author: Rob Johnson
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The Mets, as a team, will not move forward with Josh Thole as their main catcher.
thole and nickeas will be our catchers.
I agree they shouldn’t,but they probably will.He’s probably the worst defensive catcher in the NL and doesn’t give you enough offensively to make up for his poor defense.I don’t know where they’re getting a capable catcher but they can’t go into 2012 with the combination of Thole and/or Nickeas/Paulino.I would’ve signed Doumit for the 3mil he got and kept Nickeas instead of the other 2.Doumit is not a good defensive catcher either but he’ll give you much more offense than all 3 catchers we have now and can play 1B/RF.If we’re going to have a weak defensive catcher playing 100 games we should’ve got one that can at least hit.Hopefully Mike Zunnino us available at #12 in June.
At this point i don’t care how old the catcher is – the Mets NEED a good, solid, defensive experienced catcher if they want to try and WIN for pete’s sake!
I’d go for Pudge Rodriguez at the rate they’re going and I don’t care how old he is because it doesn’t matter at this point. And at this rate maybe they should have then paid 4 million for Blanco and let him get 300 ABs, at least we could count on his defense and he’ll hit enough.
Blanco and Rodriguez, at this point, whatever they can give you offensively would be good enough because we NEED an experienced defensive catcher regardless how old he is. He’s not gonna be here for the long term anyway.
Blanco signed for 1.25 million with an even cheaper buyout! Oh my God , that makes it even worse that he should be on this team NOW
thole and nickeas will be our catchers. best turn your focus to pitching
We need a good defensive catcher more than simply a veteran catcher.
In 2011, Paulino and Thole allowed 29 of 31 attempted steals when Pelfrey was on the mound. Dismal. Pelf is slow to the plate and when we don’t have good defensive catcher behind the plate, we have big problems. Henry Blanco is surely missed more than Ronnie Paulino when the main guy is Josh Thole.
That’s a terrible steal percentage. In contrast Blanco and Barajas were among the best in the league in 2010.
But Sandy and the “New” front office use all kinds of sabermetric advanced statistical analysis and I guess they liked Paulino’s OBP thing and…….he was saving them money!
But since they’re smart and looked deep into statistical analysis and figured they’d rather save money than spend a little more money on one of the most important aspects of a winning team…. that’s how they determined Paulino was their guy last year.
Genius.
Is Scott Hatteberg available???
Only to play first base.
I just want to say that I am really digging this site lately and enjoying the different Mets posts and opinions from everyone. I enjoy all the frequent updates. Keep up the good work.
I want to know which ‘Met Official” Idiot thought this guy was supposed to hit for power?
Based on what a dream he had?
The most power Paulino has ever showed was 4 years ago when he hit a greand total of 11 HRs and 25 doubles in 133 games!
And that was years before he got caught using a banned substance!
SO I would REALLY like to know which official said something so dumb and would like to be assured he has nothing to do with player evaluation whatsoever!
He came at a cheap price, therefore his stats don’t matter as much.. this is what happened when you sign low risk/pray for high reward players. the mets and sandy don’t care how the player does on the field as long as it doesn’t cost them as much. paulino turned out to be yet another guy who signed for cheap and didn’t pan out. thole may not be the answer. but it seems he’ll be back along with someone even cheaper than paulino, nicklaus, who’s no better but cost way less, that’s music to sandy’s ears.
Nice to see the kool aide has worn off a lot of you.
Syonara Paulino !! Who needs that kind of attitude from that subpar catcher. I still think the mets will find a suitbale 2nd cathcer away from Nicklaus and Pailino but i see Nicklas getting some abs this season none the less. Ive seenother teams interest in teams 3rd/to out of favor cathcers in rotoworld, i think the Mets will come up w something to improve backstop position..or lets hope..
Why didn’t Martino report this when it happened?