Comments on: A Minor Review of 2009: Seattle Mariners

By: Jason T

Jason T — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:27:21 +0000

No, just meaningless. CERA, COPS, COPS+. It’s what Bill James call a ‘bulls*** dump’.

By: BrettJMiller

BrettJMiller — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:27:03 +0000

Small sample size maybe?

By: BrettJMiller

BrettJMiller — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:26:00 +0000

Agreed. Rob Johnson is not a catcher. He drops strikes, allows passed balls with great frequency, and many “wild pitches” should have been called passed balls. I went to almost every home game this year and watched almost every road game on TV. Rob Johnson’s defensive skill is that he calls a good game, but based on how he uses his glove, he might as well not be wearing one. He never goes down to his knees to block balls in the dirt. He stabs, and when he does, he misses.

He’s just a shitty, shitty player.

By: CMC_Stags

CMC_Stags — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:19:20 +0000

And Johnson caught Felix, Bedard, and the good version of Washburn while Joh was stuck with Silva, Fister, Jak, Olson, Vargas, etc.

Unless you control those stats for the quality of opponents faced, ballpark effects, etc. they are meaningless.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:46:09 +0000

Also to add to Johnson, Mariners pitching has a OPS against of .660 when Johnson is catching, compared to Johjima’s OPS against of .777

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:44:02 +0000

Yes, Johnson does do bad with balls in the dirt, but excels at calling games. For example, when Johnson catches King Felix, Felix’s OPS against is .571. When Johjima catches Felix, his OSP against is .904. That is the reason Johnson played this year

By: diderot

diderot — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:53:36 +0000

Marc,
I don’t know if you had a chance to actually see Johnson catch this year, but he did a real disservice to the name of his position–he is woeful at actually catching the ball.
If there were a metric for having balls in or near the strike zone (i.e., not in the dirt) actually bounce of a glove without being caught, he would have no peer.
If Moore has not passed him on the organizational depth chart, there is something seriously wrong.

By: JH

JH — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:08:45 +0000

I’m optimistic about Noriega’s future, but I think it’s just as likely he’s a 2010 tumbler as sleeper. He’s really thin and doesn’t really have a power swing, and he’ll probably be moving up to the MWL, where the prospect statuses of promising short-season players go to die.

He’s definitely on my long-term radar, but I think 2010 could be a brutal season for Noriega.

I don’t know if you can really call a guy who hit a major league home run this year a sleeper, but my Mariners sleeper is Matt Tuiasosopo. He got hurt early and only played one full month in the minors this year, but what a month it was: .322/.426/.619 with 8 home runs in Triple-A. He’s just about major league ready, and has a chance to be a solid regular who virtually nobody saw coming.