Forgot Click sucks even though we just won 11 in a row, and are in first place yet again, pitching lights out, and oh yeah doing so without Springer, Correa, and Reduced outputs from the rest of the gang sans Yordan. Yeah let’s dog him for Niko. I don’t like Niko either but Jesus we just replaced him with one of our, what, 6 legit catching prospects?
What I liked best about Papierski is his baseball IQ. He is not Ausmus but he is a smart player. I agree with Snake about his future.
To be fair, that’s what this trade is to a large extent Doesn’t mean it isn’t a good trade. The only reason SF would move him is LaStella is coming back and they needed the roster spot. Their young catcher is striking out about half of the time so adding a potential catcher for the mlb team carries some value, and Click had been after Dubon for a while it sounds like So yea, maybe this is thinning one area of the farm to improve a roster spot Click missed on, doesn’t make it a bad trade.
I think most people that follow baseball for very long realize that playoff baseball is 50% talent and 50% Streak, hot or cold.
I can't remember the details, but one of those Bullpen trades at last year's deadline included a high upside catcher in the lower levels. But I haven't heard much on him since. I suspected it was a key part of the deal that nobody was mentioning at the time.
Astros are really set at catcher with both Lee and Diaz really good prospects. Lee is almost a can’t miss given his defensive abilities. Any offense he gives is gravy.
The Straw/Maton trade brought back Yainer Diaz. He is 23 in AA and having a mediocre season so far. He hits the ball hard and is adequate defensively but does not walk enough and needs to get more balls in the air if he’s going to project as an everyday C. He currently has a .278/.303/.437 line for Corpus.
At this point, not hurting you is an improvement. Maldonado has the psychology and the machete to keep his job. But 35 is old in catcher years.
Madly can’t hit. And it bugs fans because that’s what we see and understand the most. But let’s be honest, we can’t understand qualitatively or quantitatively how much credit he gets for the performance of our pitchers, which I believe is at the top of the AL and MLB (maybe yesterdays blow up knocks us back a peg). Strommy is out in AZ weaving his magic (seriously, take a look at MadBum and Gallens resurgence), yet our pitchers are doing as well as last year or better. Maldy is the on field continuity, known for his off field video work. Something tells me that Maldy’s role is way more significant than any of us fans can possibly understand. I can say I’ve seen him chew Frambers ass when he can’t find the zone. Or encourage Garcia when he is in trouble. We hate his ABs because it’s what we know and understand.
Eventually he will have to be replaced. Hopefully Lee is that guy. I’m thinking Maldi is a candidate for our coaching staff.
There is a reason Verlander will not let anyone catch for him other than Maldy. Maldy is part of the reason our pitchers seem to come out of no where assuming they have some command.
