KC signs Martin Maldonado

[disarcina]

with Salvador Perez going down, the KC Royals have signed former Halos Gold Glove winning catcher, Martin Maldonado to a one year contact.

how this guy didn't get re-signed by Houston and has been on the market all off season and two weeks into Spring Training is beyond me, I thought he played very well for us and helped the pitching staff.

Sure, he couldn't hit a lick but I'd rather have a strong defensive catcher who can handle a pitching staff over a guy who might hit for power but really can't handle the catching chores (been there - Napoli) and now with Lucroy we may be there again. 

I was hoping the Angels would sign Maldonado again but with multiple DH types on the roster (Pujols, Ohtani, Bour) we really don't have room to have Lucroy be a C-DH type with Maldonado catching about 82 games.

KC won't lose much on D with Maldonado behind the plate instead of Sal Perez but they're sure going to miss Sal Perez's bat and team/clubhouse leadership.

I thought the SF Giants should have signed Maldonado and move Posey to 1B -- if Posey played 1B instead of the grind of catching, he would bat .300 or better averaging 185 hits per season 20-25 HRs -- instead Posey fades about late July - catching will do that to you.  Giants could trade Brandon Belt for a power hitting LF. Right now one of the contenders for LF for them is "No Arm" Maybin. 

[Pancake Bear]

40 minutes ago, disarcina said:

with Salvador Perez going down, the KC Royals have signed former Halos Gold Glove winning catcher, Martin Maldonado to a one year contact.

how this guy didn't get re-signed by Houston and has been on the market all off season and two weeks into Spring Training is beyond me, I thought he played very well for us and helped the pitching staff.

Sure, he couldn't hit a lick but I'd rather have a strong defensive catcher who can handle a pitching staff over a guy who might hit for power but really can't handle the catching chores (been there - Napoli) and now with Lucroy we may be there again. 

I was hoping the Angels would sign Maldonado again but with multiple DH types on the roster (Pujols, Ohtani, Bour) we really don't have room to have Lucroy be a C-DH type with Maldonado catching about 82 games.

KC won't lose much on D with Maldonado behind the plate instead of Sal Perez but they're sure going to miss Sal Perez's bat and team/clubhouse leadership.

I thought the SF Giants should have signed Maldonado and move Posey to 1B -- if Posey played 1B instead of the grind of catching, he would bat .300 or better averaging 185 hits per season 20-25 HRs -- instead Posey fades about late July - catching will do that to you.  Giants could trade Brandon Belt for a power hitting LF. Right now one of the contenders for LF for them is "No Arm" Maybin. 

Um, they were both virtually identical with the bat in 2018 (Lucroy had a slightly higher average and OBP, Maldy had a little bit better power numbers, although nothing amazing), and defensively (per Fangraphs - whatever you may think of that; defense at catcher is hard to rate). Lucroy has been credited for a lot of Oakland's success with their pitchers last season, so I'm not sure what you mean in the section I bolded above. Lucroy wasn't signed for his bat, he was signed because they think he'll be a good catcher.

As for Maldonado, I suspect he priced himself out of a job (based on what he reportedly was asking Houston for) until KC jumped in. Boras set his price tag higher than anyone wanted to pay until there were no starting jobs at catcher - and no one wants to grab a catcher after ST has started. It wasn't until Perez went down and KC needed a catcher that he even found a job. And even there, he took a relatively low paycheck just to get a job. 

I'm also not entirely sure what you mean when you say KC is going to miss Perez's bat and leadership. Perez hits for pretty good power, but his rate numbers aren't anything extraordinary. Isn't Maldonado considered a clubhouse leader? I wasn't aware that Perez's leadership was so legendary. I don't follow KC much, admittedly.

[JarsOfClay]

Mashitty is garbage. No one thought he was good except delusional Angel fans. He couldn't block a pitch to save his life, tons of passed balls, bad pitch framing, poor game caller, I mean you name it, he was bad at it. He also nearly ended Jewell's career by making an ill advised throw to home plate that he should have held in his pocket, but Mashitty has no brain either. What if it was Griffin Canning and not Jake Jewell? Can you really trust him with your pitching staff? I was so glad when he was traded.

He did have a cannon for an arm and I thought the angels should have made him a 2 way player a few years ago while mainly focusing on pitching. With that arm + accuracy he would have made an excellent relief pitcher.

 

 

[Stradling]

4 hours ago, JarsOfClay said:

Mashitty is garbage. No one thought he was good except delusional Angel fans. He couldn't block a pitch to save his life, tons of passed balls, bad pitch framing, poor game caller, I mean you name it, he was bad at it. He also nearly ended Jewell's career by making an ill advised throw to home plate that he should have held in his pocket, but Mashitty has no brain either. What if it was Griffin Canning and not Jake Jewell? Can you really trust him with your pitching staff? I was so glad when he was traded.

He did have a cannon for an arm and I thought the angels should have made him a 2 way player a few years ago while mainly focusing on pitching. With that arm + accuracy he would have made an excellent relief pitcher.

 

 

This post is littered with poor opinions.  Blaming him for the Jewel injury is asinine.  

[TroutField]

4 hours ago, JarsOfClay said:

Mashitty is garbage. No one thought he was good except delusional Angel fans. He couldn't block a pitch to save his life, tons of passed balls, bad pitch framing, poor game caller, I mean you name it, he was bad at it. He also nearly ended Jewell's career by making an ill advised throw to home plate that he should have held in his pocket, but Mashitty has no brain either. What if it was Griffin Canning and not Jake Jewell? Can you really trust him with your pitching staff? I was so glad when he was traded.

He did have a cannon for an arm and I thought the angels should have made him a 2 way player a few years ago while mainly focusing on pitching. With that arm + accuracy he would have made an excellent relief pitcher.

 

 

Wtf are you talking about?? He was very good defensively and handled the staff well... Just ignore all the stats if you want I guess lol he wasn’t even THAT bad offensively here, considering sooo? 

[Stradling]

3 minutes ago, TroutField said:

Wtf are you talking about?? He was very good defensively and handled the staff well... Just ignore all the stats if you want I guess lol he wasn’t even THAT bad offensively here, considering sooo? 

He has a hard on for Maldonado.  

[JarsOfClay]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

This post is littered with poor opinions.  Blaming him for the Jewel injury is asinine.  

How is it asinine? That injury was entirely on Mashitty.

He had no chance to throw the runner out at the plate. NONE. It was stupid to throw the ball to a pitcher with a 250 lb man charging toward him. You put it in your pocket rather than risk injury. 

Watch the vid and tell me if he actually had a chance and why even risk it?

https://www.mlb.com/video/jewell-exits-game-with-injury/c-2205292383

[Stradling]

37 minutes ago, JarsOfClay said:

How is it asinine? That injury was entirely on Mashitty.

He had no chance to throw the runner out at the plate. NONE. It was stupid to throw the ball to a pitcher with a 250 lb man charging toward him. You put it in your pocket rather than risk injury. 

Watch the vid and tell me if he actually had a chance and why even risk it?

https://www.mlb.com/video/jewell-exits-game-with-injury/c-2205292383

Ok I watched the video.  Every single catcher in the game would do exactly what Maldonado does.  The ball didn’t go too far away and he got to the ball and threw it to home plate.  Jewel slid awkwardly towards home plate and you blame Maldonado.   Watching that video just tells me what I already knew, you hate Maldonado.  

[stormngt]

7 hours ago, JarsOfClay said:

Mashitty is garbage. No one thought he was good except delusional Angel fans. He couldn't block a pitch to save his life, tons of passed balls, bad pitch framing, poor game caller, I mean you name it, he was bad at it. He also nearly ended Jewell's career by making an ill advised throw to home plate that he should have held in his pocket, but Mashitty has no brain either. What if it was Griffin Canning and not Jake Jewell? Can you really trust him with your pitching staff? I was so glad when he was traded.

He did have a cannon for an arm and I thought the angels should have made him a 2 way player a few years ago while mainly focusing on pitching. With that arm + accuracy he would have made an excellent relief pitcher.

 

 

how did he win a gold glove?  And please do not say because of his offense.  

[stormngt]

1 hour ago, JarsOfClay said:

How is it asinine? That injury was entirely on Mashitty.

He had no chance to throw the runner out at the plate. NONE. It was stupid to throw the ball to a pitcher with a 250 lb man charging toward him. You put it in your pocket rather than risk injury. 

Watch the vid and tell me if he actually had a chance and why even risk it?

https://www.mlb.com/video/jewell-exits-game-with-injury/c-2205292383

LMAO  a throw in front of the plate and they have the runner.  It wasn't that ill advised!  It was  off  line.

[eligrba4ever]

Lucroy's strong glove and strong bat were the reasons Maldonado was his backup for years with the Brewers. 

The Brewers never lost a step on defense when Lucroy sat, and Maldonado provided just enough batting pop to make it work.

If you're gonna lose Perez, you're darn lucky to pick up Maldonado.