Today's lineup suggestion - All About Gattis!

thethe said:
You know I'm as big of a prospect homer as it gets but CB needs to hit a little to stick. If he can't OPS 650 consistently in the minors what is he going to do in the majors?

Gattis is not an awful defensive catcher and he has the potential to hit 35+ homers. Thats really rare and not something we should just take lightly.
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I keep comping Bethancourt to Yadier Molina. Perhaps that's a mistake, but they seem very similar to me. But it could just be a lazy comparison.

Anyways, Yadier put up a career OPS in the minors of .703. His age 20 season in AA, he put up a .660 OPS. Bethancourt last year put up a .741 (age 21). His career .669. So yes, Yadier was a SLIGHTLY better hitter in the minors, they are pretty similar.

Bethancourt isn't going to do much until he learns some plate discipline. But his defense is other-worldly and has some solid power potential. I think the return of a Gattis trade + Bethancourt + the millions $ saved will be far more valuable than Gattis in his age 30 season.
 
sturg33 said:
I keep comping Bethancourt to Yadier Molina. Perhaps that's a mistake, but they seem very similar to me. But it could just be a lazy comparison.

Anyways, Yadier put up a career OPS in the minors of .703. His age 20 season in AA, he put up a .660 OPS. Bethancourt last year put up a .741 (age 21). His career .669. So yes, Yadier was a SLIGHTLY better hitter in the minors, they are pretty similar.

Bethancourt isn't going to do much until he learns some plate discipline. But his defense is other-worldly and has some solid power potential. I think the return of a Gattis trade + Bethancourt + the millions $ saved will be far more valuable than Gattis in his age 30 season.
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Not saying its a bad option to go your way. I just think we should be careful. If Gattis improves even slightly as a hitter then you really have something.
 
nsacpi said:
I see Bethancourt as a journeyman/backup catcher type in the majors.
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Do you want a 22 year old defensive stud that is still learning with the bat or a 27 year old defensive liability with 1 true baseball skill (power)?

I think a lot of it depends on what type of team you are building and if you have other guys in the lineup to carry a defensive SS and/or C.
 
thethe said:
You know I'm as big of a prospect homer as it gets but CB needs to hit a little to stick. If he can't OPS 650 consistently in the minors what is he going to do in the majors?
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At this point I think I would be OK with CB morphing into a glove only backup ala Henry Blanco.
 
gilesfan said:
Do you want a 22 year old defensive stud that is still learning with the bat or a 27 year old defensive liability with 1 true baseball skill (power)?

I think a lot of it depends on what type of team you are building and if you have other guys in the lineup to carry a defensive SS and/or C.
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I would definitely take Gattis. Ain't even close. Gattis is gonna get MVP votes before his career is over.
 
Hawk said:
At this point I think I would be OK with CB morphing into a glove only backup ala Henry Blanco.
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I would rather carry CB as a starter, with a decent backup, and carry Gattis as a "Mike Napoli" type 3rd catcher/guy that moves around a little bit/pinch hits. He would get plenty of at bats occasionally spending some time behind the plate, pinch hitting, DHing, and playing some in left.
 
nsacpi said:
I would definitely take Gattis. Ain't even close. Gattis is gonna get MVP votes before his career is over.
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Its so strange to me how people just think Gattis is a sideshow and not what he is...a produtive baseball player with the potential to be really damn good.
 
gilesfan said:
I had to double check who wrote this.
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You should. Cuz so far I've been far more right about him than you have in this little extended debate we've been having. When all is said and done Gattis will do better on measures such as All-Star appearances and MVP voting than Bethancourt.
 
thethe said:
Still think Gattis is a failure?
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gilesfan said:
Not a failure, just not as good as you claim.
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I think we'll know a lot more about Gattis following this season—and hopefully know a little more about Bethancourt—at which point it'll be a lot easier and more sensible to try to project the next half-decade of catching responsibilities for the Braves.
 
thethe said:
Still think Gattis is a failure?
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I don't even take Gilesfan's posts concerning Gattis seriously anymore. He's bashed him so much and so many ways it's obvious he cannot be objective. But others here very much underrated and talk nonsense about Gattis a lot too. The game-threads the first week were filled with such nonsense (no different than last year either).

Personally, I expected a slow start by Gattis after the injury in spring training keeping him out some games. Gattis never had time to get in a groove when he came back from that late in spring training. So you'd expect a slow start the first series or two of the year. But he's actually gotten hot faster than I had expected thankfully. He's been huge to our success in this Philly series of course.
 
jpx7 said:
I think we'll know a lot more about Gattis following this season—and hopefully know a little more about Bethancourt—at which point it'll be a lot easier and more sensible to try to project the next half-decade of catching responsibilities for the Braves.
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Probably the best answer. Get to see another year of development for CB. Get to see if Gattis can improve on his numbers from last year and cut out the passed balls/wild pitches. Before Philly there was concern of his lack of patience, but 3 homers in a series and the talk is back to him receiving MVP votes.
 
thethe said:
Its so strange to me how people just think Gattis is a sideshow and not what he is...a produtive baseball player with the potential to be really damn good.
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I think Gattis is a tremendous value for us right now. I supported the decision to let Mac walk because dollar for dollar, Gattis will be far more valuable than him.

I would be a lot more bullish on Gattis' long term if he wasn't so "old" now. I think he will be a good player for us until he gets around 30. Coincidentally, that is when he'll be getting very expensive, and that is when hopefully, CB will be ready to take over. Teams will overpay for Gattis' power, and we should take advantage of that.

But I'm in no rush to get rid of the guy for the next couple of years.
 
At this point, I'd be ok with Laird making a mysterious trip to the DL and making Bethancourt our primary back up catcher.
 
gilesfan said:
Do you want a 22 year old defensive stud that is still learning with the bat or a 27 year old defensive liability with 1 true baseball skill (power)?

I think a lot of it depends on what type of team you are building and if you have other guys in the lineup to carry a defensive SS and/or C.
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This comment is galactically retarded.

Gattis isn't all power; Gattis can flat hit. It's not like he's a caveman up there with a cudgel. Good lord, he's hitting .380 and slugging .600. Who gives a **** if he walks? They'll stop pitching to him soon enough, and he'll get some walks.

To insult his catching means you aren't watching or listening. He blocks and frames very well, he's got a gun, the pitchers love throwing to him. The starters' ERA is below 2.00. Exactly what the f*** does the guy need to do to stop with the "plug him in until Bet's ready" crowd? He's Johnny Bench and Bethancourt is Johnny Estrada.
 
GovClintonTyree said:
This comment is galactically retarded.

Gattis isn't all power; Gattis can flat hit. It's not like he's a caveman up there with a cudgel. Good lord, he's hitting .380 and slugging .600. Who gives a **** if he walks? They'll stop pitching to him soon enough, and he'll get some walks.

To insult his catching means you aren't watching or listening. He blocks and frames very well, he's got a gun, the pitchers love throwing to him. The starters' ERA is below 2.00. Exactly what the f*** does the guy need to do to stop with the "plug him in until Bet's ready" crowd? He's Johnny Bench and Bethancourt is Johnny Estrada.
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Estrada was an all bat, no glove catcher so that comp doesn't really hold water.
 
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