Agreed on the framing. On face, he fits the Astros mold. But if a pitcher is constantly shaking off the catcher, it messes with their rhythm. I trust the team on this one - Luhnow knows the framing stats and Hinch is a former catcher. For whatever reason, it wasn’t working out.
The framing is elite, no doubt. I have noticed when watching the games he's caught this season a visible, palpable frustration between him and the starter... Cole and JV particularly. Maybe I'm projecting based on some rumors that were reported last year, but I believe it. Beyond all that, don't you think there's a reason that as soon as we acquired Maldonado last year, he was immediately our starting catcher for the rest of the season and playoffs? Stassi caught the bulk of games prior to the Machete acquisition and hit decently.
Fair enough. Stassi had his chances to be a long term catcher on this team. I hadn't noticed pitchers having issues with him but seems like it's common knowledge. No issues with Maldonado acquisition. Good luck to Kemp!
Kemp for Maldonado is a fine trade. I would rather have gotten a lotto prospect for Kemp and gotten Avila from Arizona for nothing but oh well. Will be interesting to see if they try to pass Stassi thru waivers.
How do you interpret it? The Astros could easily put together a package without Tucker that would exceed MadBum's trade value.
Tell that to Cole and JV. Ever since JV and Cole got split up, Stassi has not caught Cole, too. JV and Cole seem to be doing fine.
Ma Giants will put a QO on Madbum like the Astros did for DK. But someone will sign Madbum and the Giants get a comp pick. So a trade for Madbum needs to be better than the comp pick in the Giants minds.
Would be funny if Stassi gets claimed and then puts up a 3-4 WAR season somewhere next season for practically free.
I am getting nervous that we are going to see just little moves that patch holes. That innings eating started is just not in the cards. Now. I am always wrong. So.. I am standing by the above to help us all.
Yeah, I think it’s beyond obvious that the pitchers don’t like pitching to him and when you combine that with hitting 176 with no particular pop there’s not much reason for the FO not to move on from you when it’s essentially free to do so.
Wouldn’t totally surprise me. He’s a good pitch framer and throws out runners - he has defensive value, and has shown the ability to be a plus offensive player. I hope the Astros can find someone at the deadline willing to take a bet on him and at least get some value - he needs a fresh start.
I always hear that baseball is the only profession you can succeed 25% of the time and still have a job. Being a baseball journalist, you can succeed none of the time and still have a job. It is laughable looking at Twitter. These guys are randomly throwing stuff on the wall, retweeting and confirming each other's tweets, taking stabs in the dark. They have absolutely no idea what the hell they are talking about.
