Thanks. I checked yesterday to see if he had written something about this trade considering this is one of his hot topics.
Not sure if I like the trade or not I do know this is the most I've ever read pitch framing in my life
I guess you never paid attention the decade-ish that Brad Ausmus was the Stros catcher, or never watched Mike Matheney for the Cards, or if you did you just b****ed about offense like most everybody else. Can't blame anybody too much, chicks dug the longball back then and whatnot.
To be fair, of all the (well-deserved) defensive accolades Ausmus got, "pitch-framing" wasn't the most commonly mentioned. I'm not sure the metrics had been developed by that time. I mean, we all knew by watching that the guy was legend with the mitt. Ausmus was so great to watch behind the plate--a clinic every time.
All you had to do was watch, guy had incredibly soft hands. That's what "pitch framing" (****ing buzzwords) means: set a steady target with your body whichever side of the plate the pitch is supposed to be; know where the umpire is setting up (different umps have different setups and different strikezones); don't be jerk-ey while the pitcher is in motion; center the glove on your body, don't reach or stab with the glove to catch anything, always be slightly bringing the glove back to the plate as you catch the ball. That's "pitch framing".
Actually, I never said I don't understand what pitch framing is Just said it's the most I've ever read about it To be fair, you can go through numerous threads on here and no one was mentioning it until this trade, which I also never said I didn't like But if it makes you feel better to say I b**** about offense then go ahead. It isn't true, but go ahead anyway Sheesh
This guy is arguably the best pitcher framer in MLB and one of the top 5 defensive catchers. Right now all his value is in his glove, but his minor league hitting numbers were pretty good, so there may be a little hidden value in the bat that we haven't seen just yet. Sucks to let Tropeano go, but I think this was a good trade from a value standpoint.
He can't even catch a ball. Pathetic hitter. Incapable of coming close to throwing out a steal attempt. Cannot handle pitches in the dirt and very little catching skill at all. Conger hurts our team every time he is in the game, and I'm starting to think that Luhnow is only keeping him on the Major League roster to not show that he made a terrible mistake. I don't even care if NiTro is ever any good, this trade was a failure because it made us worse.
No professional manager makes decisions based on whether fans would realize he was wrong. That's ridiculous. Have some faith in the man that has propelled us to not only relevance but legitimate competition. His average and OBP are career highs. He has never had a great arm, but it's true his numbers this year suck. I suspect this is due to him being paired with particular pitchers to a certain extent. Conger is not the problem.
From what I gather, the Astros have the second best pitch framing in the majors just behind the Cubs. I think Luhnow values the framing more than blocking balls or throwing out runners.
Sure, he's a great receiver, but he is average to terrible at everything else. If you're just giving, and I mean giving, the other team extra bases whenever they want, that pretty much negates any benefit I can see.
