How much longer is Brad Ausmus going to be allowed to be our everyday catcher?

OutMost maybe a great leader off guy.

The problem with hitting 7th is that pitchers do not give you pitches to hit. Brad is a great contact guy and will make a lot of sense hitting #1 in front of Bidge.

 

I think you should have layed off of the booze during lunch.

 

I disagree ... I'd rather have Chavez in there ... He at least doesn't hit into a DP nearly every time he has a chance to. I'll take my chancel with Raul catching Andy, Roger, and Roy. Probably rather have Ausmus in there for Zeke (hopefully him) and Brandon.

 

Problem solved if Lane hits 2 homers every night! No worries!\

On a serious note, I think it has been made explicit my both Roger and Andly that having the chance to work with BA was important in their decision to come and play here. Obviously if he continues to hit under .100 I think they will understand if he is dropped, but:
a) Surely that average has to get better
b) most people feel it is more important that those 2 are happy and that they are allowed to pitch their best.

In the winter I argued for them to consider re-teaching Biggio to play catcher that way allowing another bat into the line up e.g. Burke but was shot down in flames, and legitimitely so, but it was only an idea. In summary I am resigned to Brad and his batter box impotence but I also think he is somewhat of a scape goat for the rest of the team's offensive futility thus far (last night not included) especially Adam Everett who needs to wake up and Baggy who needs to take the team on his back and try and relive some of those MVP days.

 

can you thrust instead of sliding when coming round to homeplate

 

what about getting BA to just step into every pitch, like that dude in major league..

 

"Dorn?... you mean Roger Dorn?"

 

Brad just got his first RBI. It was an RBI Double.

 

By the way most of our pitchers call their own games.

DD

 

You are talking out of your ass.

 

Exactly.

 

Watch the games, Clements, Petitt and Roy O all call their own games.

Sure, Aus may call for a pitch, but they shake him off or one up it all the time. They are in charge of the final say...not ausmus.

DD

 

thanks. So the only way you can have 'your own opinion' is to disagree with the decisions of the club? I get it now. Everyone who agrees with the club is a moron. You're a genius. Got it. Why don't you have a job in the majors again?

People aren't saying that Ausmus calling a great game MAKES Andy or Roger what they are. That's not what this is about. We're saying he makes their job easier, he makes them more comfortable, and they will do better more often under these conditions.

If we still had John Buck or a better option, I think we would have gone to it this year--I think Buck was the plan this year. Chavez is slow as hell and not much better at the plate. I don't think Quintero is ready either. The Ausmus benefits outweigh the benefits (if any) of the 2 potential replacements.

No one argued Ausmus's inability to hit, as far as I know. We know he's a .250 career hitter.

 

I'll agree that they do shake him off here or there. But I don't think that justifies saying that they 'call their own games'...I'm thinking they have a feel for what they want a lot of times. Sometimes it agrees with Ausmus. Sometimes it doesn't, but they'll go with Brad's call. And sometimes they really want to throw something and it disagrees, so you'll see the shake-off.

Of course, in the same way, I bet Brad does get *some* calls from the dugout, though I know he's not one of those guys who looks in for every pitch (or even close to that).

 

I didn't read the whole thread. But exactly who are we going to replace Ausmus with? Unfortuantnly he is our best catcher, unless you guys want to move Biggio back to the C spot. That's the closest to reasonable thing i can think of.

 

Remember what...Tony Larussa(?) did when he was with the Cardinals? He had the pitcher bat 8th and some other player bat 9th so he would see better pitches because the top of the order was coming up. Maybe we should try that for a couple of games.

Pugs

 

It's sad that you don't know a damn thing about catching. Someone else has already pointed out the additional weakness of your ridiculous overgeneralization conerning agreeing with Astros' management. Furthermore, you may want to investigate the purpose and proper placement of the apostrophe within the English language. Your capitalization is horrible, as well. All in all, stupid post, stupid point, stupid thread. Congratulations.

By the way, Chavez is a below average catcher with a historically worse bat than Ausmus. But, you knew that, right?

 

I agree with r-fat here...i DO think calling a good game is overrated to an extent.

I think Ausmus has been in the lineup for so long because of his past defensive skills and his "handling" of pitchers. Those qualities overrode his batting skills, or lack thereof when we had a better lineup. Now, we really dont have a spot for a guy who cant hit (we have enoug of those)...granted Chavez's career hasnt been much better at the plate...but he has hit this year and we are in need of any offense we can get.

 

Correct. But catching defense is *not* overrated, because it is far more than "calling a good game". Watch the difference, for example, between Chavez and Ausmus in the following:
--the way they set up
--target placement
--receiving the ball
--footwork
--posture when a pitch is in the dirt

There is no comparison. In fact, as old as Ausmus is, there are still very few that are his equal in this.