Newbies Behind the Plate for the Yankees & Red Sox

This past offseason, the Yankees made a decision that Jorge Posada could no longer be the starting catcher.  This was partly due to his aging skills, along with a severe concussion he suffered last season.  Posada was reluctant at first, but once he realized the severity of last season's concussion and the potential long-term problems, he reluctantly accepted his role as the designated hitter.   You can read more about Jorge’s dilemma HERE

The Yankees decided to gamble and picked up Russell Martin, who a few years ago was the Dodgers rookie phenom catcher.  Since 2007 though, Martin has suffered his share of injuries and has not lived up to his expectations especially offensively.  Defensively though, he's a stud.  Last year Martin only hit .248, but he threw out 30.6% of base stealers, which was the 7th best in the majors!  The Yankees had a 88.8% stolen base success rate against Yankee catchers in 2010, which was the highest in the majors and 5^th highest in the Wild Card Era.  The numbers don’t lie, and Martin is getting the job done.  Martin has turned out to be an exceptional off-season pickup, even if only for his defensive capabilities.

Offensively, Martin started out the season strong.  Throughout the month of April he was hitting .293 with a .376 on base percentage and a .587 slugging percentage.  Martin played every game in the first month of the season as Cervelli was on the DL.  The month of May wasn’t quite as good for Martin and his numbers significantly declined.  In May he hit only .200 with a .333 on base percentage.  Martin seems to have hit a bit of a slump starting in May and continuing through this last Angels series.  Over the last 14 days, he is hitting only .042 and has gone 1 for his past 24.  Prior to the Angels series, Martin was 0-16.  So far on the season he is hitting .236 with a .342 on base percentage, .441 slugging percentage, combined with 9 home runs and 6 stolen bases.    I wouldn’t be surprised to see him end this slump during the homestand  though and begin to pick those numbers back up.  He was given an extra day off on Sunday against the Angels in order to give him two full days off in a row before coming back home, and if he works with Kevin Long a bit on his plate approach he should be fine.  Time will tell.

Although these offensive numbers are definitely lower than the Yankees expected, Martin has been doing well defensively. If there is one intangible about Martin, it would be his ability to work with AJ Burnett.  I don’t think any Yankee fan has forgotten AJ’s terrible 2010 season, but hopefully by the end of the season AJ will have proven his worth again.  I attribute it to pitching coach Larry Rothschild, but just as much to his catcher, Russell Martin.  Martin has provided AJ with enough confidence to using his curve ball and changeup in tight spots such as 3-2 counts.  More importantly, Martin is diving on those curve balls that fall a foot before reaching the plate (60 footers).  Posada was never able to manage AJ well, and never dove on those 60 footers the way Martin does.  Now that AJ has a catcher willing to put his body on the line to smother the curve, he is more willing to use it in pressure situations.  I have no doubt there was an issue between Posada and AJ, specifically with the use of his curve ball.  There is nothing worse than a pitcher who can’t use his best weapons, and AJ’s curve can be amazing but even when it’s not spot on, he needs that encouragement to continue throwing it.  That’s what Martin brings to the table, and that is a significant aspect of AJ’s improved 2011 season.  Keep an eye on how often AJ uses his offspeed and breaking balls compared to last year.

An unusual statistic for Martin is the lack of runners caught stealing.  He has 0 runners caught stealing this season, but the flip-side to that stat is only 6 runners have stolen bases off Martin.  Fine, he’s 0-6, but we are more than a third of the way through the season and only 6 runners have stolen a base!  I will take that any day of the week.

This year the Red Sox have a newbie behind the plate as well. after letting Victor Martinez slip away in free agency. They named Jarrod Saltalamacchia as the starting catching for the Red Sox.  Salty, as they call him, started off the season very poorly and was unable to handle the pitchers during the first month and a half.  It came to the point that Varitek is being used just as regularly as Salty is now.  It seems that all the young catcher needed though was a little bit of work with Varitek and hitting coach Dave Magadan.  Since sharing time behind the plate with Varitek, Salty’s numbers have improved.

It seems that mid May was the turning point for Saltalamacchia.  Prior to May 13, he was only hitting .203 with no home runs.  At this point, the Boston pitchers were struggling and their ERA’s were skyrocketing.  Following this may 13 turning point, Salty has turned it on.  He has gone 15-50 and is batting .300 with 5 home runs and 10 RBI’s.  Since that May 13 date, the Red Sox are 10-3 in games Salty started.  Although he isn’t playing the everyday role any longer, he is making his at bats count more.  Last weekend he went 5 for 11 against the A’s in the Red Sox weekend sweep.  Fortunately for the Yankees this week, Saltalamacchia is only hitting .179 on the road (versus .290 at Home). 

Defensively he is making strides and working with Varitek but not as quickly as anybody would like, yet in all fairness he has never been known for his defensive skills.  In 2010 he only had a 17% caught stealing percentage. Over the past few seasons, he has been on the leader board for errors as well.  In 2009 he committed 7 errors and tied for 5th highest in the AL and in 2008 tied for 2nd most in AL with 9.  In 2008 he also played first base, and had the most errors of any first basemen in the AL with 9.  Right now, he tops the AL leader board with 4 passed balls (3^rd in AL) and has allowed a whopping 38 Stolen Bases (2^nd highest in AL).  In fact, last week he almost blew a game against the Angels with a passed ball by Bobby Jenks, allowing Abreu to score which brought the score to 4-3 in the 8^th inning.  The Sox hung on to win the game, but his defensive skills are lacking and other teams are noticing. 

I supposed both Martin and Saltalamacchia are going through their ups and downs, but both players have a significant effect on their respective teams.  Both players could be a pivotal player in their teams playoff hopes.  This will definitely be something we will keep an eye on throughout the season!

Part I of this series is located HERE

The Update to Part I is located HERE

Keeping an eye on things - AL East

Looking back over the past week to my prior posts about Russell Martin & Jarrod Saltalamacchia, as well as the Red Sox Preview, the Yankees have now lost their first series to the Red Sox, 2-1.  Hughes pitched batting practice to the Red Sox on Friday allowing Boston to get their first win.  Saturday, the Yankees won with Nova on the mound.  Nova struggled but was able to keep the game in check and allow the Yankee offense to steal the show. Beckett pitched a gem of a game on Sunday night with a two hit shutout.  Saltalamacchia was not behind the plate though, as Varitek got the start.  Following the game, Beckett had high praise for Varitek with the way he called the game, and how calm he was behind the plate.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see Francona to designate Varitek as Beckett’s personal catcher.  Take a look below at Beckett’s numbers since coming to the Red Sox.

Beckett's ERA with Varitek :  3.90 ERA  in 731 innings

Beckett's ERA with other Red Sox catchers:  5.53 ERA in 201.2 innings

I think these numbers speak for themselves.  Varitek needs to catch games with Beckett on the mound. 

After the Yankees series, the Red Sox hosted the Rays.  Dice K pitched the first game and got shelled.  Maybe I am just being an arrogant Yankee fan, but I really think Dice K is going to have a terrible year.  He is 0-2 with a 12.86 ERA.  It didn't help that Saltalamacchia was behind the plate during this blowout.

Russell Martin on the other hand has been doing very well.  In Fenway on Saturday, Martin stole the show with two home runs.  He has been effective behind the plate as well, coaxing AJ through 3 wins.  (AJ has more wins than the Red Sox!)  Martin has played in every game so far, and is hitting .294 with a .333 on base percentage and a whopping .618 slugging percentage.

Tuesday night the Red Sox lost again making their record 2-9.  Varitek started this game with Lester on the mound and called a solid game.  Lester pitched well in this game going 7 innings allowing only 3 ER's.  David Price pitched for the Rays and reminded them that he is an Ace.  Price went 7 2/3 and allowed only 2 ER's.  Kyle Farnsworth, now with the Rays, picked up the save striking out two.  Joe Maddon must be desparate to plug Farnsy into the closer role.  (the Rays did lose their entire bullpen this offseason)  Crazy Kyle is always one pitch away from a meltdown, but it worked out Tuesday against the lackluster Red Sox.

For a team destined to win the World Series by everyone before the season started, it’s pretty funny watching the season play out for Boston.  I don't think the Red Sox will play like crap all season, but they are sure digging a big hole for themselves to work their way out of.  

Newbies behind the plate for the Yankees & Red Sox

YANKEES

This past offseason, the Yankees made a decision that Jorge Posada could no longer be the starting catcher.  This was partly due to his aging skills, along with a severe concussion he suffered last season.  Posada was reluctant at first, but once he realized the severity of last season's concussion and the potential long-term problems, he accepted his role as the designated hitter.  

The Yankees decided to gamble and picked up Russell Martin, who a few years ago was the Dodgers rookie phenom catcher.  Since 2007 though, Martin has suffered his share of injuries and has not lived up to his expectations especially offensively.  Defensively though, he's a stud.  Last year Martin only hit .248, but he threw out 30.6% of base stealers, which was the 7th best in the majors!  His defensive skills will drastically improve this team. The Yankees actually had a 88.8% stolen base success rate against Yankee catchers in 2010.  This was the highest in the majors AND 5th highest in the wild card era.  Martin was necessary for this team, even if just for the defense.

Surprisingly enough though, Martin is having a great offensive start to the 2011 season, as we saw yesterday with his two home runs against Boston!  He is hitting .321 on the season with 3 home runs & 8 RBI's.

UPDATE:  The NY Times reported today that Russell Martin actually trained this offseason by incorporting mixed martial arts (MMA).  Pretty interesting article can be found here.


RED SOX

This year the Red Sox let Victor Martinez slip away in free agency and named Jarrod Saltalamacchia as the starting catching for the Red Sox. This should be cause for concern to any Boston fan as Saltamacchia can lead to the downfall of their team.  As we have seen in the past two games against the Yankees, he struggles offensively.  Although he caught Jeter stealing yesterday, he hasn't been terribly effective behind the plate either.  In fact, he could be the reason why the pitcher's are struggling so much.

In 2010 he only had a 17%  caught stealing percentage. Over the past few seasons, he has been on the leader board for errors as well.  In 2009 he committed 7 errors and tied for 5th highest in the AL and in 2008 tied for 2nd most in AL with 9.  In 2008 he also played first base, and had the most errors of any first basemen in the AL with 9.

Defense isn't his biggest struggle though as this season Saltalamacchia has struck out in every game he has started!  He has already struck out three times in the Yankees series already, and there is still a game to play today.  Salty (as they call him in Boston) has struck out 9 times for the season and is hitting a mere .182.  He went 0-10 in the opening series in Texas last weekend.  The scouting report on him says he will swing at everything!  On the bright side for Boston, he did hit well against the Yankees on Friday, driving in an RBI to break a 6-6 tie. 

Boston's starting pitchers on paper should be the best rotation next to the Phillies but they are not getting the job done.   I can't help but wonder if putting a young kid behind the plate has anything to do with this.  Varitek was one of those catcher's that could call a game better than nearly any catcher, and Victor Martinez was a seasoned catcher as well.  Varitek is such a heady catcher that he has been the catcher in 4 no-hitters!  Now the pitchers, especially the younger ones, must rely upon themselves more.  Lester & Buchholz have struggled this season so far and Lackey hasn't done much better.   The starting rotation for Boston so far in 2011 is 1-5 with a 7.46 ERA.  Take John Lester out of the mix and the ERA jumps to 9.10.  Hopefully the Yankees will capitalize on this tonight when they face off against Josh Beckett.  Beckett allowed 29 earned runs against the Yankees last season in 26 total innings!!!

Overall, I think the Yankees were more successful in the offseason, behind the plate.  Martin was a bit of a gamble with his numbers declining, but he's a great defensive catcher putting up strong numbers this season.  On the other hand, it should be interesting to see how the Red Sox can make this adjustment to a young catcher behind the plate this season.  Definitely something to keep an eye on!