Alyson Footer @alysonfooter http://www.astroscounty.com/2012/01/you-can-never-have-enough-catchers.html
Castro might play the next year at AAA, once he is 100% healthy. It will be interesting to see if Luhnow continues moving players rapidly through the system like Wade did or if Luhnow slows down the promotions and even regresses a bit by sending Castro back to AAA.
Happy to see a UH Cougar headed home. I'm holding out hope that this means that Q is on his way out, but I'm not going to hold my breath.
Q is a good defensive catcher and works well with young pitchers, I have no problem with him catching Lyles and Norris. We really have no catchers that are ready in the minors. Releasing Q just means we need to sign another C who has no experience behind the plate with the pitching staff.
I remember how much the Moneyball people loved Morgan Ensberg cause he could take a walk......I am not anti-sabermetric.....but if you can't do the traditional corner infielder stuff (hit for power)...eventually there is no reason to walk you and the Ensbergs and Jack Cust's of the world have to put the wood to it. Snyder is a good addition cause he upgrades the offense without sacrificing defense.
VERY solid pick up. Probably means Humberto is gone. It's about time IMO. Snyder is a great defensive catcher obviously, and will probably be a good defensive mentor for Castro.
Luhnow relies on scouting just as much as saber metrics and they are far more advanced than OBP. Also, Ensberg had a few seasons of 30-40 home runs. I can't ever figure out why he declined so quickly besides trying to take too many pitches. His swing stayed the same and he was obviously getting pitches to hit with Berkman, Bagwell, Kent, Beltran, etc. around
In 2003, Ensberg had a .377 OBP ... and a .530 SLG. In 2005, Ensberg had a .388 OBP ... and a .557 SLG. In 2006, Ensberg had a .396 OBP ... and a .463 SLG (despite hitting only .235). When he stopped hitting for power, he lost his job as a big-leaguer. Before maligning other people's opinions, it would behoove you to understand the facts.
His swing didn't even stay the same within the same at bat! He'd change his stance in the middle of an at-bat. It was nuts. He couldn't get out of his own head. He didn't have a few seasons of that kind of production...he had exactly one season of that kind of production, 2005, when he hit 36 HR's. He hit 23 HR's the next season...12 the next.
Incorrect. Quintero is horrible at working with pitchers. Wandy Rodriguez struggled horribly 2 years ago in Quintero games, but took off once Castro was called up and started catching him. If Castro is healthy coming out of spring training, then he will be on the roster with Snyder. Quintero will either be traded or designated.
Wait, isn't that sort of what I said. Who's opinion did I malign.....Yes, he walked a lot, and yes that's useful (probably less so when we hit him 6th, ahead of the Ausmus, Everett, pitcher triumvirate of offensive suck but I digress). But the reason to walk a guy is generally that you are afraid of what they will do with a strike (even Nick Johnson occasionally got into one). But, yeah you are right, clearly I am doomed to ignorance because I don't completely kneel before the SABRShrine. I only watched like EVERY HOME PITCH of Morgan's Houston career, when he was good, and when he was not so good, when I worked for Ques-Tec.
