13
2012
MMO Mailbag: Trading For Saltalamacchia Or Lavarnway?
An article by 
Alex asks…
The Red Sox just signed David Ross as a catcher and are also said to be going after Mike Napoli. That tells me that Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Ryan Lavarnway are certainly available. Which one would be a better target for the Mets and what would the cost be?
Sean replies…
Both of these players are interesting, but both have their issues and they would not be the final answer for the Mets, but possibly a stopgap for another year or two.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia can hit for power – but sadly, his strong suit is hitting for power against RHP’s, and he drowns against LHP’s. He is all power and no plate discipline, which will always keep his BA down. Defensively, he is nothing special and is somehow worse than Josh Thole at throwing out runners. Salty would make a good platoon partner for a right-handed catcher who struggled against righties. Outside of that, he only adds power to the Mets.
Ryan Lavarnway has yet to prove himself at the MLB level, and despite being able to hit for power and draw walks in the minors, has yet to see those skills carry over to the MLB level. Many scouts are not convinced he is a catcher in the long run, and I have yet to see enough of Ryan to be able to say he can’t stick at catcher. He is only 25, and has well below 300 MLB AB’s.
If the Red Sox were to accept a lower-level prospect (Travis Taijeron, Taylor Whitenton) or a utility guy (Lutz, Satin), it would be more worth it for the Mets to look at Lavarnway. Saltalamacchia can only hit righties, while Lavarnway can still amass AB’s and see if he can hit righties.
About the Author: Sean Kenny
Sean Kenny is a student/writer currently attending school at the City College of New York. For more Mets news, notes and thoughts follow him on twitter @TheSeanKenny
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I think you meant to say Saltalamacchia can only hit RHP, he cant hit lefties to save his life.
yeah, had a bit of a lapse.
There’s 30 teams and only 5 solid all around catchers. Because of that Salty is a top ten catcher. Forget the batting average with him or any catcher, after the top five they all suck. So look for huge power or huge speed. I’ll take the power.
We already know Saltalamacchia can mash righties. he’s a sure thing. The other guy looks like the next Josh Thole, no thanks.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia is living proof that prospect hype and future MLB performance are completely unrelated. Saltalamacchia was the centerpiece in the 2007 trade deadline deal that sent Mark Teixeira from the Texas Rangers to the Atlanta Braves. It was reported as “Teixeira and LOOGY Ron Mahay for Saltalamacchia and four other minor leaguers.” Three of those four “other minor leaguers” turned out to be Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, and Matt Harrison.
No Salty I will not be sold on power outta bean town again.
Off Topic:
Something to watch as it develops.
@Ken_Rosenthal
Jose Reyes could – repeat, could – be part of this. Two shortstops – Escobar, Hechavarria – going from #BlueJays to #Marlins.
https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/268493167932866560
@Ken_Rosenthal
Inclusion of Reyes unconfirmed. What we know: Buerhle and Josh Johnson to #BlueJays. Escobar, Hechavarria to #Marlins. And more both ways.
https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/268493473236258817
My dream of Dickey for d’Arnaud is toast.
I wonder how that box of chocolates tastes now?
Wow!!!! Reyes headed to Canada! If true, you gotta love those Marlins and their insistence on no trade clauses. I bet Reyes never dreamed he’d end up so far from home while he basked in the glory of that ugly Marlins jersey.
Sean Kenny loves his walks,
Nowhere does he mention either of these guys abilities to drive in runs or their RBIs. Instead he love to talk about walks and plate discipline as if that has anything to do with the end result and that’s to win a World Series/get into the post season. And you do that by driving in runs.
I think Sean needs another reminder during the season when the Mets are on a losing streak and you hear the broadcasters talking about hitters standing their with the bat on their shoulders in RBI circumstances. How many times a year do we hear things like “and the Mets continue to leave runners on” or “Mets again not hitting with runners in scoring position”
How many times are these people going to have to experience that before finally dropping this unbelievably annoying and dumb affinity with walks and plate discipline? Just leave that to the coaches on a case by case basis okay? And when discussing which players the Mets should go after i think it would be smart to know if this guy can drive in runs, how good he is driving in runs, can he hit in big spots. That’s what you should be talking about and not this stupid, stupid, stupid love of walks. It makes me sick how dumb these people are.
When you strike out in 140 times in 405 AB, you aren’t helping your team. Salty had 59 RBI. 25 of those minimum are from home runs. If we just assume that, he has 34 non-home run RBI. Remove 4 sac-flies, we have 30 RBI. That’s 65 hits to 30 RBI.
Salty is more liable to strike out then he is to make contact. That isn’t conducive to any hitter (see: Barajas, Rod) regardless of how many empty homers you hit.
In an RBI situation, would you rather a guy who can make contact or a guy who is a three outcome hitter? If Salty isn’t hitting with men on base (which due to his propensity for the K he would probably hit 7 or 8) then what is the value?
The Giants won the WS with virtually no power and scrappy contact hitters who did all the small things right. Oh, and both teams had GREAT catchers both offensively and defensively. Would Salty or Lavarnway throwing out >20% of runners be conducive to winning in that division? Of course not.
The walk idea = easy premise. Can’t score runs without people on base unless you hit home runs. Citi Field isn’t homer-friendly. The team isn’t fast, so they can’t manufacture bases with their legs. Unless you have found a way to score more runs without home runs or consistently making contact, walks will remain an avenue the Mets can use.
If this was a few years ago, with Beltran (good discipline) Delgado (good batting eye) and Moises Alou (good discipline) you’d just mention how they hit HR and make contact. Walks put pressure on the pitcher. Look up the numbers for pitchers with runners on first and >2 outs as opposed to no runners on with >2 outs. Prepare to be amazed.
And last – what big situation did either of the Sox catchers hit in? They were out of the playoffs at about the same time the Mets were.
“Salty had 59 RBI. 25 of those minimum are from home runs. If we just assume that, he has 34 non-home run RBI. Remove 4 sac-flies, we have 30 RBI. That’s 65 hits to 30 RB”
Okay, how many of those RBIs won games or helped his team win? That’s all I’m interested in. And you don’t have to research it. And your remark about Rod Barajas is wrong too because he helped carry this team during the early part of his stay and then when he went into a slump for a long time then he was moved. How he hit when he carried this team, whether he was a hacker or not is not the point. He is what he is and you’re not gonna change him – and he also was outstanding catcher working with Mets young pitching staff.
So you’re knocking these guys for striking out too much and not knowing how their RBI hits were divvied up and your only answer for that is to go for guys who walk a lot. That’s too random. What about the rest of the team? What type of team did they have? I am sorry but you cannot always get the most statistically satisfying player that suits your agenda at every single position.
it’s not gonna happen. That’s why you have to be creative and open minded to ALL kinds of players when building a team. You want to talk about walks? Then fine we’ll talk about it when discussing leadoff hitters. You can even discuss it when talking about #2 hitters although that can be debatable..again…depending on the type of team you have. Depending on the team or resources you have I like to have a good “bat handler” in the #2 hole because that position can so variable depending on the score of the game. If he’s a good hitter than great, if not than you try to get the best kind of player that can work that #2 hole.
Or you can just talk about OBP and make life easy and forget everything else. That’s what you guys do.
And hitters like Salty usually bat 7th or so, depending on the year they’re having, etc. So even though he strikes out a lot he does provide power and the LAST thing i want to acquire a guy like that for is to forego his power and try to work a walk just to clear the pitcher’s spot.
Walks are a by-product of a hitter’s talent and not something that should be in the fore front of any discussions when acquiring players unless said player is a leadoff hitter. The guys you mentioned are far from ideal but lots of winning teams have had far from statistically satisfying players in their lineups as long as……again….the sum is greater than the individual part and each does his part during a 9 inning game, to help his team win.
But forget all this let’s just get guys who “walk” and if they don’t “walk” make them “walk”
It makes me sick. You guys and your walks are just flat out WRONG and all you’re gonna get is losing, losing, and more losing.