Monday,
September 13, 2010
What to Do? Who Catches Pavano?
It seems like something that has been debated for months already.
Sometime in late May or early June, Drew Butera
became the personal catcher for Carl Pavano. Pavano went on a very nice run of good starts and gave a
lot of credit to the defense of Butera. But as the
Twins are set to start a three game series in Chicago, and Pavano
is scheduled to start on Thursday night, the question has to be asked. Who
should catch Pavano?
Let’s take a quick look at how Pavano has done
with the two catchers this year:
Caught by Drew Butera:
·
14 games, 102 Innings.
·
3.18 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, .683 OPS
·
13 SB in 19 attempts
·
0.53 HR/9
·
4.9 K/9
·
1.67 BB/9
Caught by Joe Mauer:
·
15 games, 95 Innings.
·
3.79 ERA, 1.08 WHIP .691 OPS
·
16 SB in 18 attempts
·
1.04 HR/9
·
4.45 K/9
·
1.13 BB/9
From May through August, I thought the move made a ton of sense. With the
amount invested in Joe Mauer, both in years
and in dollars, they must force themselves to give him adequate time off.
Giving one of the pitchers the backup catcher, in my mind, is a decent way of
doing that. When the backup catcher is as good as Drew Butera
is, it doesn’t hurt. I think we can all admit now,
even if you couldn’t earlier in the year, that Butera
does a tremendous job behind the plate. I know some may disagree, but the idea
of having Joe Mauer catch every day is just
not smart. I think everyone understands that.
However, now we are in mid-September. The Twins play three games in
Chicago with a chance to dash the hopes of the White Sox. Carl Pavano is scheduled to start on Thursday night. Who
will catch him? Will it be Drew Butera
again, or will Joe Mauer get to catch the
Twins righty? Is Pavano slightly better when Butera catches him? That argument could be made. But is
that slight difference worth the offense lost by having Butera
catching and batting ninth in the lineup, or Thome DHing and batting in the middle of the order?
I am of the belief that if (WHEN!) the Twins make the playoffs, Joe Mauer will be behind the plate, catching Pavano and the rest of the Twins starters. I would be
completely shocked if Butera caught in the playoffs,
and I think we all know that he won’t.
So the biggest question is… How important is it for Mauer
and Pavano to work together in a game situation
before the playoffs? I’m of the belief that it isn’t as important as many want
to think. Mauer caught Pavano
a lot earlier in the season. He caught Pavano last
year when he came to the team in August. Before each series,
all the pitchers and catchers meet together to discuss the plan of attack on
the opponent’s hitters. Mauer and Pavano are both in the meeting and hearing the same
information. I have zero concern about Mauer and Pavano working together. Would it be nice for them to get a
couple of starts together before the playoffs? Sure. Is it vital? Not
necessarily.
So, what happens on Thursday night? Maybe it depends upon what happens in
the first two games or maybe now is the time to make the transition. The Twins
have a little leeway here. Having Mauer healthy is
much more important in my mind than having him play every day and catching Pavano during the regular season.
That speaks to several things.
The Twins are just 2.5 games behind the New York Yankees for the best record in
the American League (1.5 games behind Tampa). The Yankees and Rays play to each
other seven times this year yet. The Yankees play six more games against the
Red Sox. It is fully within the realm of possibility that the Twins could have
the best record in the league and home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The Twins are playing great at Target Field. They are 48-23 at home and 37-36
on the road. That means something in the playoffs. The Twins should absolutely
push to achieve the top record in the league, but I also believe that having
players go into the playoffs at 100% is also important. That means that the
team should give Joe Mauer a few more days. It
means that JJ Hardy and Orlando Hudson should get time off to get
healthy. It means Jim Thome should rest his
back. It means that it would be nice to give Michael Cuddyer
a day off sometime. My opinion is that the Twins can compete with anyone in the
league when they have their full complement of players healthy. I think that is
just as important as gaining home field advantage. I believe players need the
time off. That doesn’t in any way mean that they should not try to win games,
and regardless of who is in the lineup, they should expect to win. If Ben
Revere gives Denard Span or Delmon Young a day off, I expect that he will
contribute. If Matt Tolbert gets another start or two at 3B, that is
fine, and he can contribute. It is a fine line, no doubt, between going for the
league’s top record and making sure players are healthy. I tend to side with
health.
But that’s just my opinion… what do you think? Feel free to leave
your questions and comments here.
By the way… last night, I co-hosted Fanatic
Jack’s Twins podcast, so be sure to listen to that here. Darren “Doogie” Wolfson and Andrew
Bryz-Gornia were guests of the show.