10
2012
Alderson Says Thole Will Most Likely Be Back In 2013
An article by Hojo's Mojo
Yesterday at the GM Meetings, Sandy Alderson spoke with reporters and emphasized that while he gets perhaps a little more payroll flexibility than he originally anticipated, that it still doesn’t change much about the kinds of players they can acquire this winter, and that they still will be looking at the bottom of the free agent market pool.
Mike Puma of the New York Post added that with regard to catcher, Alderson also said they will likely be keeping Josh Thole because of how difficult it is to find just one catcher, let alone two.
Thole, who earned $498,000 in 2012, is arbitration eligible and could easily double his salary and earn close to one million dollars in 2013.
As we highlighted in a post last week, it’s slim pickings at catcher. I keep hearing many Mets fans mentioning the name of Blue Jays elite catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud as a potential target for the team. But they have as much inclination to trade their top prospect as we do Zack Wheeler, so unless we’re talking a swap of top prospects, it is unrealistic to view him as someone the Mets could potentially go after.
Any team that has a solid catcher that they are willing to trade understands the scarcity of quality at that position and would demand a premium in return and rightfully so. We would do the same in their position.
As far as Thole goes, he’s cheap and has very little offensive value, but he’s shown a good ability to catch a knuckleball, and has developed a good relationship with R.A. Dickey.
About the Author: Rob Johnson
27 Comments + Add Comment
NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 42 | 30 | .583 | - |
| Phillies | 35 | 37 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Nationals | 34 | 36 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Mets | 27 | 40 | .403 | 12.5 |
| Marlins | 22 | 48 | .314 | 19.0 |
Last updated: 06/19/2013
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No surprise there, for exactly the reason mentioned here.
Many teams are going after catchers, the market is very slim and trying to find 1 catcher let alone 2 (which we could really use) will be hard enough.
SRT good to see you back. I was worried about you being a Jersey resident. Hope you were able to salvage your home.
This! I miss having people to argue with. lol But seriously, hope all is well.
Hey Maniac. Long time no chat. Hope you weren’t affected by the storm. Have you heard from Bayonne? Haven’t seen him post anything since the storm and I’m sure his area must’ve been hit pretty hard.
Hi Fonzie. I haven’t heard a peep from Bayonne and I hope he’s okay. It’s not the same here without him. I wasn’t affected badly at all by the storm and I feel terrible about all of those who were. On the Wednesday after the storm me and my son bought $300 worth of bottled water, loaded up my truck, and drove to one of the schools they were using as a shelter in Old Bridge after we heard them pleading for water and blankets over the radio. I couldn’t believe how bad some places were hit. I heard the same as you about Bayonne getting some of the worst of it. Hopefully BMF is okay.
i’m here, i posted the other day about Ricciardi’s extension and compared it to Omar getting his extension during the collapse. But this extension is evidently ok because it’s under Alderson. I even called into the MetsBlog radio show the other day but the fact is i’m too busy getting things together over here and really have nothing positive to say and don’t want to get aggravated or get drawn into long debates that the goons eventually take off topic.
My house was fine, just got power back last Monday. but flooding was as close at 3 blocks away, many parts of Bayonne were flooded and suffered big time wind damage and it got flooded in parts that I didn’t think were able to get flooded because Bayonne is such a thin peninsula that water flows in through some of the underground structures over on the East Side as well as well as the more familiar shores sides were many of our local docks and viewing platforms were wiped out. But all in all the town is doing well and not nearly, not even close to the destruction that happened down the Jersey Shore. But i do appreciate the concern that some of you have shown just not in the mood to get in debates here right now because mostly everything i read here is depressing anyway.
Glad to hear everything is OK for you Bay, all the best to you and your family. Just north of of you got pretty wrecked so I assumed Bayonne was rocked.
Hey Bayonne! Glad you’re back and to hear you’re okay buddy!.
Good to hear Bayonne. I thought for sure your area got hammered. My sister in Howard Beach Queens lost both of her cars and about 30K worth of damage to her home. I have 2 other sisters in Jersey, Old Bridge and Barnegat that only lost power. I have a few friends that lost everything. I still can’t believe the destruction that storm caused.
Hi Fonzie,
Sorry to learn of the rough time your sister in Howard Beach went through and the damages to her property along with some friends who lost most all they had.
Too many tragedies. My cousin attended the funeral of the two girls in Brooklyn who lost their lives when a tree fell over them when walking their dog after Sandy was over. He was a friend of the family.
Hi SRT,
Just read about how hard hit you were and sorry for all that you had to go through and your town, which you mentioned many had severe property damage. But so happy to know you and yours are safe and sound and you haven’t lost all that you and the family built up.
Let’s hope something this severe never happens again – the “perfect” storm.
Welcome back pal.
SRT, see all the love you get in MMO?? We argue and fight most of the time, but we show solidarity for our people here…
^^ THIS
Hi Rob,
Your point about trading Wheeler for Travis d’Arnaud is an intriguing thought even though not practical from a Toronto perspective with Travis being both a catcher and an everyday player. Though the Jays can certainly use young starting pitching, an everyday catcher with the potential of d’Arnaud doesn’t come along every day and I don’t know how comfortable the Jays are with Canadian born Arencibia behind the plate and Jeff Mathis as a back up. In two full seasons, the former first round draft pick has shown he can hit for power but overall has a very weak bat and d’Arnaud coming back from that knee injury is going to be given every chance in 2013.
Though he is still a top rated prospect, I’m wondering why the former Phillie draft pick has needed to spend six years in the minors when he long ago proved he can hit minor league pitching. I haven’t read about problems with his defensive skills.
Though I doubt there could be any serious trade talks including the two prospects is if the conversation ever did come up, I bet Met fans would take it in a heartbeat, considering we already have a core of good young starters in the rotation already.
It’s just rotisiere talk, of course.
“Though he is still a top rated prospect, I’m wondering why the former Phillie draft pick has needed to spend six years in the minors when he long ago proved he can hit minor league pitching.”
um have you looked at his stats? he didn’t have a good offensive year until 2011. And he got hurt in late June last year and missed the rest of the year; he probably would’ve been called up in august or september if he stayed healthy. But yeah the mets would probably have to overpay to get him.
Hi This,
Don’t discard his 2008 performance and though his batting average went down in 2009 his bat in the lineup was worth one run a game. In 2010 I believe he was injured.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=darnau001tra
But would love to have Toronto’s backstop situation with Arencibia (his low batting average offset by his power) and d’Arnau. Both are young and upcoming.
Where did you get that stat that says his bat was worth 1 run a game in 2009? I legitimately don’t know where that is.
J.P. Arencibia sucks. his major league line is 222/275/433. This is with half his games at the hitter friendly rogers center. His walk to strikeout ratio last year was 18 to 108 and his defense is worse than thole’s by the numbers and by my eyes. he’ll be 27 next year and his 2012 was worse than his 2011 so he’s not some raw kid with a lot of room for improvement. All he has is power.
Hi This,
The formula is to add the runs scored plus the runs batted in minus home runs (since that counts as both a run scored and RBI). You will notice that the final total comes up to just a bit more than the amount of games played. It’s a general stat, of course, but one worth noting.
I agree with you about Arencibia limitations but with him as the backup that’s a nice and young catching situation to have.
Sorry but that stat is completely retarted. No better than opsbi. It’s entirely context-dependent. But yeah arencibia is fine as a backup
Hi This,
Like any stat, it of course should not be taken too seriously, especially since this particular one is so dependent upon base runners ahead of him and the hitters behind him.
However, it is a general representation of simply having a very good run producing season. David Wright only accounted for slightly above that mark in 2012. In 2006 it was around 1.15 per game and the following year it was around 1.1. Something we obviously did not need to know to appreciate either of those great seasons.
So the only reason I brought it up was so not to underestimate Travis’ overall performance in even in 2008 and how looking at stats in general can be quite deceptive. Those who saw him day in and day out that year I am sure appreciated the progress he showed as a hitter that year irrelevant of stats as well.
Thanks for not getting hostile and defensive. Yeah scouts have been touting d’arnaud’s tools since he was drafted… I’m sure many people saw his breakout from a mile away. He’s special, could be victor Martinez if victor Martinez wasn’t an embarressment to catchers with good defense.
Hi This,
Why get hostile or defensive – not between friends!
You were being just as courteous to me, don’t forget.
Lol yeah but you know… If this was someone else they probably would have shit all over me after I said one of their ideas is completely retarted.
Hi This,
You were talking about the stat…, not me! LOL
Are you kidding me?
I understand the catching market is tough, but anyone that’s capable of handling the entire pitching staff, not just ONE who throws a knuckleball is a huge step up from the sack of crap that is Thole.
YES! Can I preorder my playoff tickets yet?
Hi Christopher,
Yup, order them post-season tickets now.
Even if the Mets have to refund your money, I am sure they will try to get away with some sort of 15 percent restocking fee!