The upside is that it is going to be a piece of cake to find a replacement for Maldonado when the time comes. If you can't develop a guy that can handle the staff a little bit while hitting for a .600 OPS the you don't deserve to be in baseball. The bar is so low. Not like they are trying to replace Posey or Realmuto here. Name me any catcher past or present and he will likely be able to perform at least reasonably close to what we are getting from Maldonado. Luis Pujols? Sure, close enough. Carlos Corporan? Sounds good. Robbie Wine? Sign him up.
I think it would be a mistake to assume that there is no chance that Lee or Diaz will be a future Astro. The Astros are and have been frustrated by Diaz' approach, and they also were not impressed with Lee last season. However, that does not mean that the Astros will not change their view if either of them performs well this season. The Astros made efforts to add a premium catcher this Winter but avoided a number of middling offerings in free agency. Dusty Baker alluded to the Astros having to make a decision on the catcher situation. I wouldn't assume that the fact the Astros have not brought in a back up veteran means that they intend to roll with Lee or Diaz in 2024. I think it means they are willing to see what happens in 2023 with the younger catchers, and will address the position in 2024 free agency if needed. FWIW I think the approach is proper. There is no one in free agency that is a back up with huge upside compared to the in house options. My comments about Lee and Diaz were mostly in relation to either of them being a starter to open 2023, that wasn't an option. Also there is some upside for both Lee and Diaz, but also some red flags.
Vasquez is good at handling pitchers and at times he is a passable bat at the position. However, he wasn't going to back up Maldonado, so he looked elsewhere. Personally I would rather spend 3/30 on something else, but it isn't a clear cut situation to me.
I felt like Narvaez and Zunino represented good values with upside/downside mix for what they signed for, so if Houston doesn’t believe in Lee/Diaz, I wish they’d signed one of those 2 guys. But I agree that it is totally reasonable to have set the bar high for replacing Lee as backup with the idea that you can see what he does then make a move at the deadline or next offseason if needed. A backup C is significantly less of an issue than the primary catcher.
It just seems like a solid defensive LHB catcher like Narvaez was the perfect fit. Platooning them and you end up with a tandem hitting around .300 wOBA instead of like .260 while providing solid defense which would make the position a quiet strength for the team and not a glaring weakness.
Apparently I watched a different Maldy than you did last year. I saw him do things no other catcher has even thought about. Replacing him will be impossible. You can only hope to develop or bring in someone who is intelligent and competent and hope for the best.
I agree on Narvaez. Still a little skeptical of Zunino after thoracic outlet syndrome surgery. I understand why the Astros want to give Lee a shot. IF he is able to show that he could be the starter in 2024 it would be massive for the Astros. Also, it's pretty easy for Lee to outperform what we started last season with in Castro. I have hopes Lee can have an OPS+ higher than 11.......
What everyone keeps forgetting ( or stubbornly refuse to accept) is that OPS+ ( and really any hitting stats) have very little, or dare I say nothing to do with whether a catcher is good in the Astros eyes. Yet, hitting is what they keep using as reasons to change.
It's just a data point... Castro was one of the worst hitting catchers in baseball last season. I'm comfortable with what I've seen from Lee behind the plate at several AAA games. The reality is what the Astros will be looking for is stuff behind the scenes like pre game work with pitchers and developing game plans. Fans won't really have an idea of how that is going unless we actually see issues in the dugout similar to what we saw with Stassi, or when they make a move to bring in another catcher.
Seems pretty obvious to me that Maldy and Vasquez had something personal with each other. Maybe a Puerto Rican rivalry thing. Machismo. Not a stretch of the imagination by any means.
What I was told is that Maldonado viewed it as HIS team.... and Vasquez wanted to start and lead his own staff and that wasn't happening in Houston as long as Maldonado was around. Baker also made it clear to everyone that it is Maldonado's team when the trade happened. I don't think they had anything personal other than situation.
In any event, the whole thing worked out great. Vasquez will have a strange Astros legacy, given how sour his reaction was to coming and how quickly he GTFO. But I’ll always respect how he and Maldy worked through it. They won it all. Enough said. All the more impressive given how much both Alpha Dogs were vexed by each other.
Look at it like this. The Astros can get marginal improvement signing someone like Narvaez or another back up catcher....... or they can acknowledge that Lee and Diaz are not ready to start, but by having one of the back up catch 50 games a year, they will have a better idea what both catcher are capable and maybe one of them emerges as a quality catcher or even a platoon catcher in 2024. If either of them emerge, that is a long term fix at little cost - and lets me honest, the batting requirements are not terribly high.... in 5 seasons with the Astros, Maldonado only has an OPS of .628.
I thought they got along great and were friends? I think its as simple as both thinking they were better suited for the Astros' job. Maldy knows his pitchers and presumably feels like he's doing a really good job managing them and put in a lot of work during downtime to prepare - he feels he's the best choice for the Astros, despite hit bat. Vasquez wasn't happy to leave Boston, wants to be a starting catcher, and probably wasn't thrilled being a backup to someone when he feels he has a better bat on a team that had some lineup depth problems. Nothing wrong with either view - they just weren't likely super-compatible as a duo.
They fit the needs of the Astros...... but yes, they are two people with different agendas and personalities in a tough situation. Vasquez was in the midst of a great year entering free agency. He expected to re-sign in Boston or at worst continue starting and sign a 3-4 year deal in free agency. Instead, he is traded and on a team that doesn't plan to start him and on a team where 60% of the rotation didn't want him to catch them. Maldonado was hurting badly last year. The Astros were having an exceptional year with their pitchers and were very good, Maldonado didn't want to give up his staff or job. He knew his bat was struggling, and was likely a little insecure. On top of that, Maldonado is extremely competitive and can be very direct in how he deals with others. That likely didn't help. Last, I am sure Vazquez didn't like Maldonado lobbying to start every game leading up to the title.
seems to me this is a similar calculus when it comes to Hensley as the utility guy, or maybe giving Meyers some run as a 4th OF. Jurickson profar is a safer/more established bet than Hensley and can give you some OF. But there is value in finding out what Hensley and Meyers can do, what they can become. Not only their viability as reserves on a championship caliber team, but value in exploring their viability as possible starters down the road, and growing their potential trade value as young players with club control.
We are the only team that places value on Maldonado. So if Maldy had an issue with Vazquez, did he have an issue with Lee as well? I mean he is viewed as the better bat and future (or was). So are the bad reports that the Astros got on Lee, were they driven by Maldy and Baker. Wouldn't be the first time Baker has torpedoed young talent to protect one of his guys.
Lee wasn't trying to supplant Maldy last year. And Maldy wanted to retire this year. There's no reason he'd have an issue with Lee - no moreso than Castro or whatever other backup catchers the Astros might have had. Maldy has been valued highly by Lunhow, Hinch, Baker, and Crane. This isn't "one of Baker's guys", whatever that means.
Yup. That money starts to add up as well. Vazquez was 3/30 and Castro was 2/7..... Maldonado only makes like $4.5 million this season. The Astros have spent very little on catchers and seem fine with doing that unless they are elite, in which case they will make competitive offers. If Lee or Diaz prove capable of being even a back up catcher in 2023-2024, that saves about 8 million over two seasons. If Lee proves capable of being a full-time starter, even just an average or slightly below average one, that saves the Astros a decent amount of money over the next 5 years. If Diaz proves capable of being a good hitter, then he saves money on a back up catcher and back up 1st baseman and possibly a back up left fielder. That possibly makes someone like Brantley not necessary. Hensley is the same way, his upside is to be like Bill Spiers.
Yeah, Lee knew there was no way he was going to take Maldy's job last year. The Astros were not going to put a rookie catcher in charge of a WS caliber team. Lee was brought up last year so the coaches on the MLB staff could see him and get impressions of him and see what he had to work on. The Astros were not impressed by Lee, and they sent him down and he finished the year strong in AAA. I don't think they believe he will be great, but there is no reason he cannot be an okay back up catcher this year, and if he does well, maybe he gets a shot in 2024 to start. While it is true that Dusty Baker liked Maldonado, I don't know if I would call him one of Baker's guys. Just about everyone in the Astros organization at the top likes Maldonado. Baker also didn't want to change the catching situation late in the season last year when the staff was doing so well. I am sure that had the Astros gotten Contreras or Murphy, he wouldn't have objected.
