Does Padres GM care anymore?

by Billy Almon on May 2, 2008 9:11 AM PDT

Isn't it strange that, with all his acumen in identifying and bringing in serviceable major league catchers to the Padres, Kevin Towers has not brought it in a backup for Bard, even though the prognosis on Barrett is not good? Even while Bard struggles in grinding it out because the second string catcher is really thought of as an emergency catcher in the event the starter played 22 innings the night before?

It's a strange move for KT not to make. C'mon, show us you care with another serviceable catcher. Either that or let Colt play.

This FanPost was written by a member of the Gaslamp Ball community and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Gaslamp Ball managers or SB Nation.

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the Colt thing is really remarkable

I’m not sure that Bud Black realizes he’s allowed to actually use the players. I haven’t even seen Colt pinch hit. Isn’t that weird?

by Dex on May 2, 2008 9:14 AM PDT 0 recs

Who catches after you burn them both?

Furthermore, if you have the GM telling Bud Black to play Colt Morton, why don’t we just make KT the manager, too?

I can’t think of a situation where it makes sense to sit Bard (a switch hitter) and use Colt Morton (rookie, right handed batter) instead of Tony Clark, switch hitter and professional bench-player.

Aside from the situation that Tony Clark sucks right now, that is.

The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world.

by Axion on May 2, 2008 9:38 AM PDT 0 recs

"Furthermore, if you have the GM telling Bud Black to play Colt Morton..."

Why do you think Bruce Bochy is wearing black and orange in San Francisco?

"I had a really bad dream...it lasted 39 years, three weeks and two days..."

by Drama on May 2, 2008 10:02 AM PDT up 0 recs

I am in no way saying KT writes the line-up card....

But the GM and the manager should be on the same page in a situation like this and seems that they are not. I strongly doubt KT put Colt on the roster to have him rot on the bench while our starting catcher breaks down.

This is the main reason I’d like to see Colt go back to San Antonio…or replace Hundley in Portland. Maybe Buddy will actually play Hundley.

If this is a preview of things to come involving how young players are used…Buddy better get his resume in order.

"I had a really bad dream...it lasted 39 years, three weeks and three days..."

by Drama on May 2, 2008 10:14 AM PDT up 0 recs

It's Managing 101

I completely agree.

Catching is the most demanding position on the field. You HAVE to use your backup catcher. Most backups aren’t very good and they rarely produce offensively. But sending a guy out there to hang up an 0-4 every fifth or sixth game is the price you pay to keep your #1 guy healthy. This isn’t even a young staff, where maybe you could make the argument that putting a rookie catcher out there with them is a problem. We have veteran starters who understand the situation and the team pointedly had Morton catch them all in Arizona. It’s stupid and I really feel like Black has set Bard up for a bad year, regardless of what they do with Morton and/or Hundley from here on out.

And by the way – with the way Josh isn’t hitting, does it really matter who we send out there right now to catch? Is there that big of a change if Morton goes out and goes 0-4 and has a couple of guys steal on him? How is that any different?

by Winfield's Ghost on May 2, 2008 10:42 AM PDT up 0 recs

You're 100% right.

Whoever it is they decide to have as Josh’s back-up should be assigned to Maddux. If our bullpen catcher can catch him with his eyes closed…Colt sure as hell can. Bard wasn’t catching Maddux when Barrett was healthy, so this wouldn’t be any big deal at all.

Another thing, I’d like to take back my idea about bringing Hundley up and sending Colt back. Doing that would totally send the wrong message to Bud. We don’t need Bud thinking just because he is of the opinion a guy isn’t ready, that he’ll just sit him on his ass until KT replaces him with somebody Bud approves of. Bud may be the manager, but he doesn’t make the roster. What Bud needs is a good ass-chewing from his boss. It’s unacceptable what he’s been doing to Josh. It hurts the team. And it’s just piss-poor managing. As a former pitcher you’d think the guy would be smart enough to know how important it is to take care of your starting catcher.

"I had a really bad dream...it lasted 39 years, three weeks and three days..."

by Drama on May 2, 2008 11:12 AM PDT up 0 recs

Why do we want to baby Bard?

It’s not like the guy has a big injury history. Until he proves he can’t handle the load they should run him out there. The reason they called up Mort instead of Hundley (other than Hundley not being on the 40-man) is that they were willing to let Mort rot and wanted our top catching prospect to keep playing in AAA. The main reason other teams switch their catchers is because they have a guy with an injury history, an old guy, a guy who is mainly offense and they need the defensive guy on occasion, or platoon advantage. Bard is not old, he is not frail, he is good defensively and he’s a switch hitter. You’d have a hard time convincing me that he should be taken out other than day games after night games.

I watched all 23 innings and all I got was this lousy signature.

by Wonko on May 2, 2008 11:57 AM PDT up 0 recs

There's a big difference between babying him and being smart.

We’ve only played 29 games and he’s already caught 224.2 innings. The guy is a career .270 hitter and he’s sitting at .209 right now with a grand total of 3 RBI’s. Isn’t he proving “he can’t handle the load”?

"I had a really bad dream...it lasted 39 years, three weeks and three days..."

by Drama on May 2, 2008 12:25 PM PDT up 0 recs

I don't think it's doubt in Morton's ability as a catcher

I think it’s just the fact that runs are at such a premium, barrels of oil are feeling like cheap sluts.

The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world.

by Axion on May 2, 2008 1:03 PM PDT up 2 recs

SSS

Small Sample Size. I’m sure Bard has hit .209 in a month before. No reason to say he can’t handle the load. There’s too much coddling of catchers these days. Let these guys play.

I watched all 23 innings and all I got was this lousy signature.

by Wonko on May 2, 2008 1:53 PM PDT up 0 recs

I hate to parrot what I just heard

But the SSS reminds me of someone from last April by the name of Kevin Kouzmanoff, who then, after approximately 6 weeks, turned into Kooz.

The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world.

by Axion on May 2, 2008 2:30 PM PDT up 1 recs

Innings Caught

I took a quick peak at guys that didn’t meet one of the categories I mentioned (injury, old, bad offense/defense, platoon) and they are near or over 200 innings. With Pudge, Kendall, Bard, Martin, McCann, and Suzuki all near or over 220 innings. BTW, Suzuki has 242.0 innings caught so far! Martin has 229 (plus 7 at 3B). Not sure if that helps or hurts my argument.

I watched all 23 innings and all I got was this lousy signature.

by Wonko on May 2, 2008 2:04 PM PDT up 0 recs

Bard good defensively?

Put the brakes on.

by Billy Almon on May 2, 2008 12:45 PM PDT up 0 recs

Fair enough

You could argue he’s not good defensively (I won’t believe you, but it could be argued), but it’s not like we have a great defensive backup catcher to put out there which is what I was trying to point out.

I watched all 23 innings and all I got was this lousy signature.

by Wonko on May 2, 2008 1:51 PM PDT up 0 recs