Backup Catcher (update 3/29 - Lucroy won't make team, asked for release)

[he gone.]

Heres my take ... Yermin or Collins just has to be good enough to warrant a spot behind the plate every 4th or 5th game. That's not a whole ton, and if they are THAT bad, then they don't deserve a roster spot on the Sox at all. We're talking about beating out an aged Lucroy. 

 

I feel like we get up in arms about small issues like this... the league is full of meh defensive catchers ... Danny Jansen, Gary Sanchez ... Francisco Mejia ... catcher is a wasteland to start with, now we're talking BACKUP catcher. As long as it's not you or I back there catching the game I think we're fine if they've made it this far in their career behind the plate through A, A+, AA, AAA, etc. and are still there? We'll be fine. 

[Southwest Sider]

It sounds like they really wanted to bring both of Yermin and Collins bats to the big club with Eloy going down. They could be super useful as DH's when not catching. Lucroy may have been good, but seems he became the odd man out. 

[Quin]

So if Vaughn is the Opening Day LF and Collins is the DH, does that mean Yermin is backup C, and a single voter at the time of this post (who will remain unnamed) will have won this poll?

[GreenSox]

I see this as good news.

[Vulture]

In other words, you’re affirmin’ you’re not confirmin’ squirming’ for Yermin?

[Squirmin' for Yermin]

4 minutes ago, Quin said:

So if Vaughn is the Opening Day LF and Collins is the DH, does that mean Yermin is backup C, and a single voter at the time of this post (who will remain unnamed) will have won this poll?

No, Collins will be backup and Mercedes will cover DH when that happens.

[joemg311]

So maybe they are going to have a Yermin/Collins platoon for DH and backup catcher. Grandal can DH occasionally to stay fresh. Any given night you can have the catcher and dh hit lefty or righty based on matchups. Not bad.

[Quin]

5 minutes ago, Squirmin' for Yermin said:

No, Collins will be backup and Mercedes will cover DH when that happens.

You only say this because it wasn't you.

[Jack Parkman]

@ron883

You changing your UN back to something Yermin related. 

[raBBit]

1 hour ago, TheFutureIsNear said:

Just as you know I can’t find someone who has said publicly that he can catch, I know that you can’t find me proof that anyone has written him off as a catcher either...

  

And to the bold- so he hasn’t proven anything, but you’re also completely unwilling to let him have a chance to prove himself? And for Jonathan Lucroy? Makes 0 sense to me, but to each their own...

I am not overly opinionated on the back up catcher spot. Didn't say anything about Lucroy being some savior. I think Mercedes is absolutely awful at receiving. I think Collins lacks a lot of athleticism and fluidity back there. I have been arguing for Collins to make the team all spring though - but that's because of his bat.

As for the bolded/italicized, you have to be kidding. Ever since he was drafted every major publication's top writers have discounted the possibility of him being a capable MLB catcher. I am not sure what has occured since 2019 (when he last caught consistently in games) that leads you to believe he's all of a sudden not a liability at catcher. I would absolutely love to be wrong, but the people who have confidence in his ability to stay behind the plate all have one thing in common - they work for the White Sox.

 

[hi8is]

Interesting and good!

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

51 minutes ago, GreenSox said:

I see this as good news.

It is good news. Need some power on the bench and at DH to replace lost HR's and extra base hits by Eloy while giving Collins and Yermin chances to help the club and increase their value. Nothing was gained by keeping Lucroy . Everyone believed the hype that Lucroy was preferred and maybe he was before the injury to Eloy so maybe it turns into a blessing in disguise . Good luck Vaughn, Collins and Yermin !

[ron883]

56 minutes ago, Quin said:

You only say this because it wasn't you.

It wouldn't be the first time I was right and soxtalk was wrong

[Quin]

13 minutes ago, ron883 said:

It wouldn't be the first time I was right and soxtalk was wrong

Let the record show that you voted after 12:50 PM CT.

@greg775 is our goddamn winner if Yermin is the backup.

[yesterday333]

40 minutes ago, raBBit said:

I am not overly opinionated on the back up catcher spot. Didn't say anything about Lucroy being some savior. I think Mercedes is absolutely awful at receiving. I think Collins lacks a lot of athleticism and fluidity back there. I have been arguing for Collins to make the team all spring though - but that's because of his bat.

As for the bolded/italicized, you have to be kidding. Ever since he was drafted every major publication's top writers have discounted the possibility of him being a capable MLB catcher. I am not sure what has occured since 2019 (when he last caught consistently in games) that leads you to believe he's all of a sudden not a liability at catcher. I would absolutely love to be wrong, but the people who have confidence in his ability to stay behind the plate all have one thing in common - they work for the White Sox.

 

Man I have posted this on here time and time again... Keith Law said just a couple years ago that he calls a good game and controls the base paths but is a below average receiver. He is definitely not the butcher the board makes him out to be. 

[YourWhatHurts]

I'm sad to see Lucroy fail to make the cut.  This is going to hurt our pitching staff.

I'm excited to see Collins get a shot.  He deserves it.  The Sox fucked up not giving him a better opportunity earlier on, but it is what it is.  I am very hopeful for him.  I think he has a chance, and I think he's a better player than the prospect people having been making him out to be for a long time.

More than anything, I am really rooting for Collins to have a great year.  If he does, it should prompt the Sox to try to dump Grandal over the winter.  Since Collins' ceiling is really a player a lot like Grandal anyway, if Collins could develop into a backup C/backup 1B/part time DH LH power bat, that really helps the Sox out in so many ways going forward.  Few baseball-related things would make me happier than seeing the Sox dump Grandal's contract over the offseason and pick up a better C option, even if Collins would be splitting the time down the middle.

[raBBit]

27 minutes ago, yesterday333 said:

Man I have posted this on here time and time again... Keith Law said just a couple years ago that he calls a good game and controls the base paths but is a below average receiver. He is definitely not the butcher the board makes him out to be. 

Keith Law said he's not a catcher in the MLB. 

[YourWhatHurts]

48 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

It is good news. Need some power on the bench and at DH to replace lost HR's and extra base hits by Eloy while giving Collins and Yermin chances to help the club and increase their value. Nothing was gained by keeping Lucroy . Everyone believed the hype that Lucroy was preferred and maybe he was before the injury to Eloy so maybe it turns into a blessing in disguise . Good luck Vaughn, Collins and Yermin !

I think Lucroy was preferred, but I think Collins showed the Sox that if they forced Collins out of the picture now it could really come back to haunt them.  If they force him out now, then there's a good chance they would have ended up dumping him off in a lower-level trade midseason.  And maybe the Sox just think they could have a decent 5 to 6-year player in Collins, and cutting him out of the picture without getting a quality return in a trade (which is likely not available) is just a bad move all around.

[Harry Chappas]

Are the White Sox panicking here?  They will have two back up catchers neither of whom is even average at catching and both of whom are making the team to be a platoon at DH.

A back up catcher should be a defensive stalwart.  The White Sox are using the spot as a rotating DH.......

[Chicago White Sox]

10 minutes ago, Harry Chappas said:

Are the White Sox panicking here?  They will have two back up catchers neither of whom is even average at catching and both of whom are making the team to be a platoon at DH.

A back up catcher should be a defensive stalwart.  The White Sox are using the spot as a rotating DH.......

Why should the backup be a defensive stalwart and not just the best overall player?

[EloyJenkins]

This is the McCann luxury rubbing off on everyone. Sox had an unbelievable situation last year. There are less than 5 teams in the league that have a backup catcher that can hit AND catch well or above average. It's one or the other, and you ride with your team makeup/needs. Collins deserves this chance or you never will know. 

[South Side Hit Men]

3 hours ago, Donny Lucy's Avocado Farm said:

 

This is the best news, both for this particular move and that the Sox didn’t keep a guy just because he was brought in by the manager and or coaching staff.

Hope it works out for Lucroy elsewhere if he is still physically able to catch, but this is the year to give Collins and also perhaps Mercedes a chance to catch as a backup.

There will always be a veteran backup type available from one of the taking teams if neither are able to catch adequately after a reasonable period of evaluation.

[Harry Chappas]

20 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Why should the backup be a defensive stalwart and not just the best overall player?

Because it is the most important defensive position on the field especially with all of metrics that are now available.  To keep two back ups neither of which are strong defensive catchers makes no sense to me.  Especially when neither has proven they can hit major league pitching so we may have two guys that can neither hi9t or catch.

I was all for Collins getting a shot but keeping three and having two that are questions marks seems like a bad idea, especially when you consider if Grandel goes down the defense there goes down the drain.

[Dick Allen]

13 minutes ago, Harry Chappas said:

Because it is the most important defensive position on the field especially with all of metrics that are now available.  To keep two back ups neither of which are strong defensive catchers makes no sense to me.  Especially when neither has proven they can hit major league pitching so we may have two guys that can neither hi9t or catch.

I was all for Collins getting a shot but keeping three and having two that are questions marks seems like a bad idea, especially when you consider if Grandel goes down the defense there goes down the drain.

Worse case scenario, they will be able to pick up a catcher who plays good defense for next to nothing if their 2 guys don’t work out. Zavala impressed LaRussa too, but remember when he thought Joel Skinner was going to be something.

[Chicago White Sox]

17 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

Worse case scenario, they will be able to pick up a catcher who plays good defense for next to nothing if their 2 guys don’t work out. Zavala impressed LaRussa too, but remember when he thought Joel Skinner was going to be something.

Exactly...not exactly hard to find a good defense, bad bad catcher like Lucroy.