GDT 8-17: Hot in Cleveland; Going for a Sweep
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Hudson2
Well-known member
Specifically, Waldrep mentioned that Murphy, while rehabbing in Triple-A Gwinnett earlier in the season, suggested that he start throwing a sinker. This piece of advice proved to be pivotal for Waldrep, who had struggled with his fastball and command, leading to low expectations for his return to the majors.
Waldrep stated that he immediately felt comfortable throwing the sinker after two days in the bullpen. He explained that Murphy's advice came after reviewing video of his pitches, noting issues with his four-seam fastball. Murphy saw that incorporating a sinker could be effective given Waldrep's existing arsenal.
To be fair, ABS likely won't affect 90% of the bad calls. No one is gonna challenge a borderline call on a 1-1 count in the 2nd inning. Unless they go completely to robot umps, pitch framing will continue to be valuable.
cajunrevenge
Well-known member
What kind of morons runs this organization. I admit defeat. We need Murphy. I guess its a bonus he gets hurt so much who knows how many prospects he can save during rehab starts. Dudes underpaid by a lot.
Hudson2
Well-known member
Murphy did what coaches haven't the past 2 years in the minors and that's why catchers make good coaches. Baldwin as a rookie couldn't have done that and helped the younger guys but Murphy seems to watch a lot of video and study his own pitchers quite a bit. I know he could bring a big prospect back to help the club out but I don't see AA trading a guy he just signed to an extension a couple of years ago. We have a lot of young pitching coming and he could be huge for those guys to develop.
UNCBlue012
Well-known member
People are really undervaluing quality catchers with superior defense and a decent to good bat. The Braves would have zero issues trading him, contract and all, for a nice return.
bravesfanMatt
Steve Harvey'd
I don't value Murph as high as some.. and I don't think he would get great return because he has been below to maybe averagish bat the last 2 years.. so most feel his decline has started. That said, I am fine with keeping him since the team has plenty of money to spend right now. I just don't want him taking ABs away from better players, nor relying on him to be the DH..
I said there is a world that allows him to catch 80 games and allow Baldwin to DH about 40 of those.. with Acuna/Profar taking the other 40.. then him being a bench bat when Baldwin catches and still allowing Acuna/Profar/occasionally murph/riley/olson to DH.. The Braves can still go after Tucker or another OF and a SS in this scenario. But they can't do any of that with Twit at the helm.
I said there is a world that allows him to catch 80 games and allow Baldwin to DH about 40 of those.. with Acuna/Profar taking the other 40.. then him being a bench bat when Baldwin catches and still allowing Acuna/Profar/occasionally murph/riley/olson to DH.. The Braves can still go after Tucker or another OF and a SS in this scenario. But they can't do any of that with Twit at the helm.
UNCBlue012
Well-known member
At this rate, I just hope they have a good amount to spend in the off-season. Anything under $60 million is going to be an absolute disaster and embarrassment after going under the threshold this past season.
bravesfanMatt
Steve Harvey'd
If they don't have ~100 million then they are cutting payroll and we should string McDork up by the balls for keeping profits to play tycoon developer...
Yeah - I’m with you. 1000% - I’m a big believer in having two good catchers. I’d rather have two good catchers than one catcher and a better hitting SS… why trade from a positon of strength to create a weakness? No thanks.
My extra catcher can pinch for the crappy SS in later/extra innings, and DH some and etc to mitigate.
Like you said- spend the money on a better SS if you gotta.
Again, the problem is that Murphy really isn't good enough to DH. His value comes from being a great defender with an above average catcher bat. That's when you run into the issue we have now, where one of our best hitters (Drake) rides the bench for 30% of the season or more.
Murphy's defense can be replaced by another vet catcher with a good defensive reputation. His bat isn't all that relevant to our success as long as Drake is healthy. Sure, if Drake goes down that hurts. But you have to factor in about 3 things:
1. The return we get from Murphy hopefully nets us a really good MLB SS or fills another position of need.
2. The money we save over the next 3 seasons (the amount saved sort of depends on what we get in return in a trade)
3. Murphy is already 30 is likely to decline soon (if he hasn't already started his decline). Catcher's tend to fall off a cliff production wise around age 30, like Jonathan Lucroy did at age 31. I'd rather not pay 15 million per year for Murphy's decline years when Baldwin is better, cheaper, and younger.
Murphy's defense can be replaced by another vet catcher with a good defensive reputation. His bat isn't all that relevant to our success as long as Drake is healthy. Sure, if Drake goes down that hurts. But you have to factor in about 3 things:
1. The return we get from Murphy hopefully nets us a really good MLB SS or fills another position of need.
2. The money we save over the next 3 seasons (the amount saved sort of depends on what we get in return in a trade)
3. Murphy is already 30 is likely to decline soon (if he hasn't already started his decline). Catcher's tend to fall off a cliff production wise around age 30, like Jonathan Lucroy did at age 31. I'd rather not pay 15 million per year for Murphy's decline years when Baldwin is better, cheaper, and younger.
jpx7
Very Flirtatious, but Doubts What Love Is.
Stephen Kwan, whose .736 OPS this year is worse than Murphy’s .744 OPS? Doesn’t feel like that’s a huge upgrade to me.
I'd rather try to land Correa if we're looking at taking on a "bad" contract. But JP Crawford is probably my top target at SS