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#1151 · September 27, 2019, 6:08 am
Quote from JasonE135 on September 26, 2019, 9:45 pmYou are right, not all catchers are slow. Only about 90% of them are. And in reality Mejia is an average defensive catcher. Maybe even slightly above. Did you know that before his bat came alive he was considered a "defense first" catcher?
I didnt see in the article where he was considered a defense first catcher when young, but thats OK. As far as his catching is concerned, its just little things that "tweek" me the wrong way. In my life, I have called over 4,500 baseball games, most on the youth level between the ages of 14-16. Ive been fortunate enough to converse with some other umpires that have made it to high levels of college or pro ball, and even have done some back field minor spring training games. And some of the things that Mejia does is just, how do I put it, just need to be calmed or refined. He is a little too jerky with the mitt when framing, he could use some additional work on blocking (that is a want, not a talent as the article wants to say), and he moves a little too much for my liking. All of these things can be, and maybe fixed down the road, in fact I think it was better than last year by a bit. But it boils down to want not cant, if that makes sense. But he has a canon for an arm, he obviously can hit better than Hedges, and there is a base to work with IMO. Back to my original post/point, if Hedges makes a pitching staff better, and you have 7 other position players that can carry his lack of a bat, then you leave Hedges at catcher. And IF Mejia can get his bat in the line up by being in LF and leaving Hedges at C. Then we are probably headed in the right direction. And IMO, Mejias bat will probably end up being better than Naylors, and I think Mejia can be better in LF too, so....?
#1152 · September 27, 2019, 6:12 am
Quote from BoosterSD on September 26, 2019, 9:09 pmQuote from JasonE135 on September 26, 2019, 9:04 pmMejia is slow, as are all catchers. He will never be ideal in LF. He probably wouldn't be very much of an improvement over Naylor. When you find a catcher who can truly hit, you have struck gold! Mejia is a catcher. He should be left there. He makes our whole lineup much stronger being there. Any LF should be able to hit. You should never have to put a catcher there.
Not all catchers are slow, I think Jason Kendall and Craig Biggio would like to have words with you over that statement.
Mejia is not that good as a catcher. Can he get better, I hope. I think I saw improvement from last year, but it needs to get way better. My suggestion with Mejia in LF was to keep his bat in the line up IF you wanted to keep Hedges as the primary C. I dont think Mejia is as slow as Naylor, and IMO he would be better in LF than Naylor.
Naylor is actually pretty fast for his size.. He usually takes an extra base on hits and steals an occasional base.. But once that body goes in motion it moves well
#1153 · September 27, 2019, 7:05 am
Really not a debate point on defense ... Hedges good / Mejia bad. Not a debate on offense .... Mejia good / Hedges bad.
Given the Padres (and years of no offense leading them to 90 loss seasons) ... getting improved offense (at the expense of some defense) anywhere they can seems justified.
Consider the 2nd half of 2019:
Mejia (135 PA) ... 0.9 WAR ... 312/363/520 (131 wRC+) ... -0.1 dWAR
Hedges (128 PA) ... 0.6 WAR ... 164/262/318 (51 wRC+) ... 10.1 WAR
For catchers with > 100 PA in the 2nd half (45) ... based on WAR ... Mejia is 14th (upper 3rd) and Hedges is 23rd (basically in the middle). Mejia as a rookie has a better chance to improve on his weaknesses than Hedges plus Padres need offense ... Mejia gives that.
Padres are losing for years with Hedges’ great defense and poor offense .... need to do something different. His defense is just not compensating for the offensive shortfall.
Mejia’s dWAR is the same as Gary Sanchez in the 2nd half with a better wRC+ (135 to 110) and Sanchez is catching for the 100 win NYY. Padres can win with Mejia behind the dish.
With only 3 control years remaining and in arbitration ...not sure I even want to continue nursing Hedges along with little expectation he will ever hit. Rather open the 2nd catcher spot first for Torrens then in a couple of years Campusano. Bet the upside on both providing a better balance of offense / defense than Hedges and maybe enough to bump Mejia to the OF (if needed). (Side: think Allen at best is a filler back-up or a trade chip).
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Henry Silvestre
#1154 · September 27, 2019, 7:49 am
Hedges at bats all look the same - and certainly most end the same. He's not even tried to change his approach - it's always that late uppercut pull swing that generates...well....nothing. He in no way, shape, or form should be considered for a starting position on our historically challenged offense.
If he can be shipped as part of a bigger deal, then so be it. If by chance he's still here come next April, it'll be strictly as a late inning replacement.
#1155 · September 27, 2019, 8:10 am
Three games left in the season ... the non-contending Padres are playing the non-contending DBacks. As the manager / front office is their any reason to play Machado, Hosmer, or Hedges over giving some ML time to Mejia / Torrens / Allen behind the plate and running out Mejia-Breen / France / Garcia / Urias in the INF?
Should we have a few bullpen days ... given some final innings to the young arms (although that may just happen naturally)?
Minor potential plus ... if they lose those three ... there is a chance to move from 10th in the draft to 8th. Not really a big objective but 8th is better than 10th towards getting your choice.
#1156 · September 27, 2019, 8:48 am
I mean I could see Grandal coming in and Pads moving Mejia to Detroit or Mets as part of a Boyd or Noah move... I can see Hedges being moved.. I can see Torrens and/or Allen move.. I think our C of the future is Campusano so I can see AJP moving 2 or 3 of the 4 I mention above in search of a SP (as per above ) or a stick .. But if I had to bet I would say Mejia/Hedges/Torrens are here and Allen is in the AL (as part of a trade) Torrens in EP AAA...
#1157 · September 27, 2019, 10:37 am
Quote from fenn68 on September 27, 2019, 7:05 amReally not a debate point on defense ... Hedges good / Mejia bad. Not a debate on offense .... Mejia good / Hedges bad.
Given the Padres (and years of no offense leading them to 90 loss seasons) ... getting improved offense (at the expense of some defense) anywhere they can seems justified.
Consider the 2nd half of 2019:
Mejia (135 PA) ... 0.9 WAR ... 312/363/520 (131 wRC+) ... -0.1 dWAR
Hedges (128 PA) ... 0.6 WAR ... 164/262/318 (51 wRC+) ... 10.1 WAR
For catchers with > 100 PA in the 2nd half (45) ... based on WAR ... Mejia is 14th (upper 3rd) and Hedges is 23rd (basically in the middle). Mejia as a rookie has a better chance to improve on his weaknesses than Hedges plus Padres need offense ... Mejia gives that.
Padres are losing for years with Hedges’ great defense and poor offense .... need to do something different. His defense is just not compensating for the offensive shortfall.
Mejia’s dWAR is the same as Gary Sanchez in the 2nd half with a better wRC+ (135 to 110) and Sanchez is catching for the 100 win NYY. Padres can win with Mejia behind the dish.
With only 3 control years remaining and in arbitration ...not sure I even want to continue nursing Hedges along with little expectation he will ever hit. Rather open the 2nd catcher spot first for Torrens then in a couple of years Campusano. Bet the upside on both providing a better balance of offense / defense than Hedges and maybe enough to bump Mejia to the OF (if needed). (Side: think Allen at best is a filler back-up or a trade chip).
I think blaming Hedges for the "teams" lack of offense and wins for that matter is short sighted.
He is so good on defense and we are lacking in offense in other areas that the best case scenario is we improve the offense at positions "known" for offense."IF" this team could hit AND we could benefit from Hedges defense....we would be much better off than sacrificing defense at Catcher(not to mention the pitchers abilities suffering) so we can put up with outfielders with Sub .300 OBP and .700 OPS.
I also disagree with putting Mejia in LF.
His bat is good "for a Catcher" but it isn't good for a everyday outfielder.
He should continue to Catch IMO.
Bottom line.....we need to have enough offense that the difference between Hedges hitting .190 and .230 doesn't matter.....shouldn't we?
Are we winning a Championship if our Catcher is "slightly" better offensively but all else stays the same?
No.
So the answer so we can keep the best defensive Catcher in baseball is to make our offense better on the whole because the difference between Mejia and Hedges offensively is not just not enough to win...it also isn't enough to warrant losing the advantages an elite Catcher brings.
Lastly,this whole debate just excuses what we got from the OF and 2B this year.......improve those positions and I vote for keeping the best defensive Catcher.....which is what just about every other team has always done.That's why offensive Catchers have all become stars...because it's pretty rare.
#1158 · September 27, 2019, 12:51 pm
It's even simpler than that fenn. Among catchers how do they rate?
Defense; Hedges-Gold Glove/best in baseball
Mejia-average(could get better)
Offense; Hedges-worst in baseball
Mejia-plus(could get even better)
Average out their offense and defense and what do you get?
Hedges-average overall(will not improve)
Mejia-above average, between average and plus(can improve both O and D)
#1159 · September 28, 2019, 11:03 am
Quote from JasonE135 on September 27, 2019, 12:51 pmIt's even simpler than that fenn. Among catchers how do they rate?
Defense; Hedges-Gold Glove/best in baseball
Mejia-average(could get better)
Offense; Hedges-worst in baseball
Mejia-plus(could get even better)
Average out their offense and defense and what do you get?
Hedges-average overall(will not improve)
Mejia-above average, between average and plus(can improve both O and D)
Padres are losing for years with Hedges’ great defense and poor offense .... need to do something different. His defense is just not compensating for the offensive shortfall.
I agree! Have argued before that Pads need to use more of an offense/defense approach with the bench C coming into a game sooner for Offense or defense in some situations; very different from traditional & even current MLB philosophy. I've never understood not having the better offensive C PH earlier in a game; usually the SP is leaving at that point. Not "disrupting" his work with the starting C... the statistically extremely unlikely loss of the 2nd C to injury with less than 1/2 the game to go shouldn't override the decision to put the team in the best position to try to win.
Hedges extremes have 2 ideal fits IMO: 1) Batting 9th on an AL team so you're not having to bat two P "quality" hitters in a row.
2) On a playoff caliber team as a defensive specialist or maybe dedicated C for a particular guy or 2. Hedges profile DOES make him very likely to steal playing time in a playoff series where it's likely to be lower scoring tight games driven by pitching.
Tough decision for Pads. SOMEone has to go by next year; can't have 5 guys on the 40. But any combo of existing C's without Hedges is pretty shaky or at least untested defensively. Hedges is so good defensively, he could actually influence a FA SP on a short term deal; they know they'll be throwing to the best C out there.
#1160 · September 28, 2019, 11:29 am
I guess this is either a 2019 anomaly or something to be concerned about going forward.
Machado hit .253 vs. a career of .278 ... not good. Doing a one level split, AWAY from his home park he has a career .273 BA and in 2019 he is at .286 ... Padres getting what they paid for. However, in his career at HOME he has hit .284 which is about the same has his AWAY stats but in 2019 at PETCO he is all the way down to .219 ... the key to a less than expected offensive year.
So, it seems that his Home/Away stats while in Baltimore are about the same and his Away stats in 2019 are also similar .... we can focus on his play in PETCO.
An issue with the park, sight lines, marine layer, .....? Just needs time to adjust to a new home environment? His history suggest he should rebound and return to his career performance level ... but ...