April 8, 200521 yr Gonzalez tried and failed in the two hole. He isnt the kind of guy you want there. True that batting 8th he gets crap to hit, but if anything you move him to the 7th hole not the 2nd. the #2 guy has to get on base or move the runner up and gonzalez is horrendous at the first of the two.
April 8, 200521 yr I like LoDuca ALOT. I can't see why some of ya'll don't like him. He's one of the best offense catchers in the NL. He has clubhouse leadership and calls a good game. 733816[/snapback] He's most of that. The problem I have with his acquisition was the timing. He had a terrible second-half reputation and proved it during our attempted playoff run last year. He was also due a big raise despite his declining performances. We ended up being the ones who opted to pay it. Hopefully these trends will reverse and he'll be a very productive member of the club for the next four years. 733937[/snapback] What I don't understand is WHOS BETTER???? My god we dont have the money for Piazza, Victor Martinez, or Pudge. LoDuca is just what this team needs. Better than Redmond, Castro, etc.
April 8, 200521 yr Author Id rather see Sea Bass in the 2 hole over Lo Duca 733899[/snapback] Why? He strikes out way too many times. Maybe if he learned some plate discipline. 733900[/snapback] In the 8 hole he sees nothing but garbage, but if he was batting second and being protected by Cabs he would be seeing a lot more hittable pitches. At this point, it couldn't hurt to try it for a few games.
April 8, 200521 yr I like LoDuca ALOT. I can't see why some of ya'll don't like him. He's one of the best offense catchers in the NL. He has clubhouse leadership and calls a good game. 733816[/snapback] He's most of that. The problem I have with his acquisition was the timing. He had a terrible second-half reputation and proved it during our attempted playoff run last year. He was also due a big raise despite his declining performances. We ended up being the ones who opted to pay it. Hopefully these trends will reverse and he'll be a very productive member of the club for the next four years. 733937[/snapback] last year he also had a broken hand. thats what happens when you have to catch every day because your offense is pathetic and your catching depth is worse.
April 8, 200521 yr I like LoDuca ALOT. I can't see why some of ya'll don't like him. He's one of the best offense catchers in the NL. He has clubhouse leadership and calls a good game. 733816[/snapback] He's most of that. The problem I have with his acquisition was the timing. He had a terrible second-half reputation and proved it during our attempted playoff run last year. He was also due a big raise despite his declining performances. We ended up being the ones who opted to pay it. Hopefully these trends will reverse and he'll be a very productive member of the club for the next four years. 733937[/snapback] What I don't understand is WHOS BETTER???? My god we dont have the money for Piazza, Victor Martinez, or Pudge. LoDuca is just what this team needs. Better than Redmond, Castro, etc. 733988[/snapback] I think all things considered AJ Pierzynski was a better alternative... but lets not open up that can of worms
April 8, 200521 yr I like LoDuca ALOT. I can't see why some of ya'll don't like him. He's one of the best offense catchers in the NL. He has clubhouse leadership and calls a good game. 733816[/snapback] He's most of that. The problem I have with his acquisition was the timing. He had a terrible second-half reputation and proved it during our attempted playoff run last year. He was also due a big raise despite his declining performances. We ended up being the ones who opted to pay it. Hopefully these trends will reverse and he'll be a very productive member of the club for the next four years. 733937[/snapback] What I don't understand is WHOS BETTER???? My god we dont have the money for Piazza, Victor Martinez, or Pudge. LoDuca is just what this team needs. Better than Redmond, Castro, etc. 733988[/snapback] It was a hard decision. The club was in tough spot. They were expected to compete. Disappointing hitting and inconsistent pitching were plaguing the club. There were two obvious holes (C, RP) that could have been addressed immediately. There were some in-house options down on the farm (talking Carolina here, not the journeymen in AAA), but McKeon didn't see fit to use them in the roles. So the club had two options: ride it out or make a trade. Would the team break out of their slump? How would the fans react? What would happen to the stadium deal? Who would be acquired? What would have to be given up? What baggage would they bring? Would it make a difference? In retrospect, we know the answers are the starting pitching did hitting didn't, probably betrayed, who knows, the players that were, large and mainly undeserved pay raises and not much. As a result, there were as many question in the offseason? Is Mota ready to close? Can Encarnacion bounce back? Do you spend to maintain stability at the backstop? Do you spend to your available cash for an above-average catcher or at another position? Is this player's skills being properly valued by the market vis-a-vis their production on the field and in the clubhouse? Is this player expected to live up to, perhaps even outperform, his contract? Where do they all fit into the offseason plans? My answers to the LoDuca questions would be sometimes, maybe, probably not, and unlikely, but not everyone may come to the same conclusions. Especially when balancing other personnel decisions and off-field issues. I think the best move would have been to acquire a cheap defensive-first catcher who could hit atleast .260 *cough*Redmond*cough* (perhaps tutoring a good-hitter by the name of Willingham) would have let us afford better improvements in rightfield, starting pitching and the bullpen. But such a plan would have made by mid-December to make the most sense and leave enough time to trade Encarnacion, with the arbitration-eligible LoDuca. And it would have sent the wrong the sign to those inside and outside (fans) the organization who approved of the original acquisition of LoDuca. I can understand why it was not made and why what was was. I question why the July trade was made, but I can certainly understand their decision. The team thought they had a good chance to make the playoffs with LoDuca, Encarnacion, Mota.
April 8, 200521 yr Well, since you guys are talking about who should bat second between Gonzalez, LoDuca, and Castillo, heres my take on it: Castillo - He has good patience, can hit for average, can bunt one, and can take it the other way or pull it, and with his speed it puts some pressure on the defense. LoDuca - He can make contact with the ball decently, with, as a few of you have said, with a little pop in his bat. He does ground into quite a few double plays, BUT he actually has decent speed for being a catcher. Gonzalez - Yes, a free swinger. Yes, a strikeout victim. And yes, you can't always depend on him to hit the ball. But he does bat infront of the pitcher. He could easily pop 30+ HRS if he batted infront of Miguel, Carlos, or Mikey, because they'd rather face him and give him some more fastballs or mistakes. He has speed, but we rarely send him to steal. He could have about 30 steals too if they sent him more often. Now, if you really think about it, how many times has Alex came up with a HUGE homerun for us?
April 8, 200521 yr I like LoDuca ALOT. I can't see why some of ya'll don't like him. He's one of the best offense catchers in the NL. He has clubhouse leadership and calls a good game. 733816[/snapback] He's most of that. The problem I have with his acquisition was the timing. He had a terrible second-half reputation and proved it during our attempted playoff run last year. He was also due a big raise despite his declining performances. We ended up being the ones who opted to pay it. Hopefully these trends will reverse and he'll be a very productive member of the club for the next four years. 733937[/snapback] What I don't understand is WHOS BETTER???? My god we dont have the money for Piazza, Victor Martinez, or Pudge. LoDuca is just what this team needs. Better than Redmond, Castro, etc. 733988[/snapback] I think all things considered AJ Pierzynski was a better alternative... but lets not open up that can of worms 734046[/snapback] except that he is a total cancer in the clubhouse.
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