GDT 7/9/21 - Braves @ Fish - Arcia’s day off

PawPawMaxwell said:
Hasn't Smith been catching Morton his last few starts. Maybe Contreras passed balls irked Charlie.
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I think it's entirely possible that one of the main reasons Contreras was sent down was to work on his receiving skills. I doubt a major insurrection by the pitching staff was looming, but they are all probably more comfortable throwing to veteran catchers. Contreras was forced into action and the physical toll for catchers is difficult enough much less having to call the game, worry about framing, etc. At the same time, d'Arnaud led the league in passed balls last year and couldn't throw out Cy's grandmother (much less his mother) trying to steal a base, so I hope no one is pining for his defense.
 
50PoundHead said:
I think it's entirely possible that one of the main reasons Contreras was sent down was to work on his receiving skills. I doubt a major insurrection by the pitching staff was looming, but they are all probably more comfortable throwing to veteran catchers. Contreras was forced into action and the physical toll for catchers is difficult enough much less having to call the game, worry about framing, etc. At the same time, d'Arnaud led the league in passed balls last year and couldn't throw out Cy's grandmother (much less his mother) trying to steal a base, so I hope no one is pining for his defense.
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Lmao.
 
50PoundHead said:
I think it's entirely possible that one of the main reasons Contreras was sent down was to work on his receiving skills. I doubt a major insurrection by the pitching staff was looming, but they are all probably more comfortable throwing to veteran catchers. Contreras was forced into action and the physical toll for catchers is difficult enough much less having to call the game, worry about framing, etc. At the same time, d'Arnaud led the league in passed balls last year and couldn't throw out Cy's grandmother (much less his mother) trying to steal a base, so I hope no one is pining for his defense.
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Little doubt in my mind that that's the case - as bad as Smith and Lucroy are with the bats it would have just made sense to let him try to hit his way back into a hot stretch if they were looking for ANY offense from the position at all.
 
I just checked Contreras' framing stats and they aren't very good, so there is that. When the margin is slim a team has to look at every angle so maybe they think this is an area where they have determined it's best to trade a bit of offense for better defense and pitch framing. It's not like Contreras was scorching the ball, so that weighed into the decision.
 
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