I hope Maldy doesn't come back. Espada don't need that sht hanging over his head as the new manager. Verlander wants him, Javier wants him, and Framber will want him. Sorry but none of those pitchers deserve to have a personal catcher, especially what was shown last year.
Some of them are pitchers that want to throw to Maldonado and believe they will over time not do as well with Diaz…. Some are coaches that feel like Diaz’ preparation isn’t good enough.
Well then he should come back as a coach and help the team prepare for games. Actual players need to be able to hit, throw, and catch the ball.
Sure but it doesn’t have to be Maldy. He is a terrible player now. We need the stink of Dusty to fully dissipate. We need a fresh start.
Who is this magical backup catcher? Sign Him Tomorrow. I'm with you and all, it's time to move on, I've been trying to make him a coach for a year or more, but saying that what he brings to the team, the pitching staff, is worthless is just a silly thing that a silly person would do.
As a player he brings negative value, so it’s not silly at all. I’m not making that up. His offensive and defensive stats are there for you to see as well. Actually, what is silly is suggesting he should still be a player or that he brings any value as a player. Sure, let him coach…I guess.
Javier has pitched his best baseball to people other than Maldonado. Verlander threw just fine to Jason Castro and Robinson Chirinos. The training wheels need to come off Framber. If he's so dependent on Maldonado to succeed he needs to be gone. I don't think he is , and once they take Dumbo's feather away from him he'll be fine. Maldy sure AF didn't help him in the 21 and 23 playoffs. Nobody else has done enough to demand s**t. I honestly wouldn't mind Maldonado as a backup/safety net, but we all know good and damn well he won't be that. Him and his cult will demand he start and it will just create toxic locker room politics.
Wait. Let's compare the preparation between a rookie Yainer Diaz with around 10% of the total amount of games that Martin Maldonado has played? Yeah that seems fair to hold it against him. Not to mention Diaz hasn't been given consistent playing time. Let's wait to judge how he does when he's the guy all the time. Hopefully..
Maldy was never really JV's personal catcher. People need to stop pushing that. 2019 - Chirinos 2020-2022 - Injured 2023 - Castro for more than half the season.
22 was his Cy season, Castro missed most of the second half. Last year Castro wasn't on the team. But he certainly hasn't been his long term catcher, other guys have caught him and he was just fine. At this point in his career, I don't really give a s**t if Verlander is a little unhappy. He's pitching for his own accolades, so he isn't gonna suddenly start dogging it. Maldy needs to be gone. We're all long past sick of the 8 man lineup handicap we have. The pitching isn't dominant enough to carry it anymore.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...etings-shohei-ohtani-free-agents/71782294007/ ≻ The Houston Astros have no interest in trading third baseman Alex Bregman, but have privately resigned to losing him in free agency in a year, realizing it may take $300 million to keep him. The money they’ll spend is making sure that Jose Altuve stays with the Astros for life. ≻ Free-agent catcher Martin Maldonado is drawing interest from five teams: The Angels, Astros, Padres, White Sox and Marlins.
Yup. They don’t want to punt on the competitive window for 2024. They will try to address the spot after this season after making efforts this off season to see what is out there. Bregman signed his first extension to guarantee him long term financial security if something had happened to him. Now he can target generational wealth. I don’t think Bregman gets 300 million but I can see the appeal to a team. He is a lot like Adrian Beltre in that he does so many things above average that he can be a really good player even if his OPS isn’t always .900….
This doesn’t surprise me at all. I expect the same for Tucker. We let Correa and Springer walk for nothing. We are just not going to hand out these monstrous contracts of over 6 years or so. I think our front office deserves our trust and I expect we will be competitive for the playoffs, if not favored, for another 6 years.
