Rosenthal: David Ross to Cubs (2yr/$5M)

[Guest]

Ross - elite framing ability, old as balls

Castillo - elite terrible framing ability, relatively young

 

Ross vs. LHP last 5 years (only going this far back because he doesn't get a lot of PAs)

2014 - 120 wRC+ (67 PA)

2013 - 118 wRC+ (61 PA)

2012 - 94 wRC + (88 PA)

2011 - 78 wRC +(58 PA)

2010 - 136 wRC+ (86 PA)

 

Ross overall last 5 years

2014 - 72 (171 PA) - *significant low BABIP outlier*

2013 - 86 (116 PA)

2012 - 109 (196 PA)

2011 - 113 (171 PA)

2010 - 137 (145 PA)

 

Castillo vs. LHP last 3 years

2014 - 139 (100 PA)

2013 - 97 (101 PA)

2012 - 229 (47 PA)

 

Castillo overall last 3 years

2014 - 91 (417 PA)

2013 - 107 (428 PA)

2012 - 102 (190 PA)

 

I see the biggest downside coming in the event of a significant injury to Montero, like TT alluded to. Otherwise, I'm not even sure it's not an upgrade when you factor in the framing.

 

I definitely preferred keeping Castillo around as insurance and because he was a really solid injury replacement who could handle a larger workload, but I don't think there's some crazy gap in value that has to be made up for with a trade heist if/when Castillo is moved either.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

He's going to get PAs against righties.

[Guest]

I feel like the team started to look too good so we had to start shedding wins to get back down to 83.

 

eh, i'm not even sure he's worse than castillo in the role he'd be in once you figure the framing.

 

i didn't want this to happen but i'm not exactly upset over it. it's not like it's giving henry blanco $3.2M in 2008 dollars when you have geovany soto.

 

Dude put up a .548 OPS last year. It feels an awful lot like that.

 

it's 50 games and he had a .239 babip

he's a 40 year old catcher with no power left, of course a lot of his batted balls will result in outs.

 

No power left?

 

Yes, a lot of batted balls will result in outs. .239 is still not normal.

[Guest]

i'm mostly just surprised at how solid of a career ross has had. just not sure how much he has left in the tank at 38.

[Warren Brusstar]

But he's not going to play only against LHP. He's probably going to play when Lester starts whether we face a lefty or not.

[Guest]

But he's not going to play only against LHP. He's probably going to play when Lester starts whether we face a lefty or not.

 

and his overall offensive numbers are still mostly acceptable outside of 2014 with a .239 BABIP (admittedly, which also happens to be his most recent, age 37 season)

 

i included both their LHP numbers because i assume there'd be a heavy vs. LHP lean in either case.

[MWV]

(Montero + Ross) > (Castillo + Baker), I guess.

That's all I got.

 

and It only tooks us $50M to get that very slight improvement.

To be clear, I also think this sucks.

[Guest]

(Montero + Ross) > (Castillo + Baker), I guess.

That's all I got.

 

and It only tooks us $50M to get that very slight improvement.

 

very slight when you imagine pitch framing means absolutely positively nothing.

[Little Slide Rooter]

A backup catcher is essentially a slightly younger bench coach who occupies a roster spot. Moving on.

[Guest]

A backup catcher is essentially a slightly younger bench coach who occupies a roster spot. Moving on.

 

sure, if you have a true "everyday" (as much as one can be) starting catcher.

[SouthSideRyan]

Well [expletive]. Hopefully Castillo brings us an upgrade somewhere else. Is him for Fowler asking too much?

 

Without even considering that the Astros have 2 competent catchers, yes.

[SouthSideRyan]

He's going to get PAs against righties.

 

A lot of them if he's Lester's personal catcher.

 

Somewhat related, Lester might get a lot of no decisions.

[treebird]

i'd rather have alan rick

[sontensei]

BRING BACK TODD HUNDLEY!!!!!!

[tenderdracula]

why? I'm hoping they already have a deal in place for Castillo and considered this transaction in the context of it's end result.

[d_money]

He's just a placeholder for Schwarber

[KingCubsFan]

This sucks, but I'll wait to see what they get for Castillo before completely judging it.

[gscool89]

He's just a placeholder for Schwarber

I think this is a sign Schwarber will be up next year

[RynoRules]

Meh, lets see what the return on Castillo is. Then we can break out the pitchforks and torches.

[RynoRules]

He's just a placeholder for Schwarber

I think this is a sign Schwarber will be up next year

 

His bat certainly could be ready by then.

[Geech]

Look on the bright side you guys: he might die in some kind of tragic accident before he actually gets the chance to sign the contract.

[Tryptamine]

Look on the bright side you guys: he might die in some kind of tragic accident before he actually gets the chance to sign the contract.

 

yikes

[Deeg]

Nice to see we don't have massive overreaction to what was a completely predictable move to begin with.

 

Ross is decent against LHP and still good defensively. Lester loves him. And the main point is that Castillo was as good as gone the day of the Montero trade. Someone was going to be the backup C and platoon partner, and you could do a lot worse. It's really all about what Castillo brings back, and we don't know that yet.

[hankp101]

I'm a little disappointed, but not surprised. Castillo likely has more perceived value to someone else as a starter than he does to us as the short side of a platoon. Let's hope the FO already knows who that team is. If the last three big league additions of the offseason are Ross, Breslow, and Gomes, then the glow of the Lester signing will have faded. Here's to that not being the case.

 

 

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[rawaction]

Keep 3 catchers. Duh.