Mathis' broken hand a blow to Arizona's playoff push

[tomsred]

3 hours ago, Vegas Halo Fan said:

Well, Mathis did approach his "career year" average of .218 with Toronto, batting a robust .215 this season.

I can understand why he is kept around as a backup. What I have never understood is why he starts nearly half of his team's games most of the time. He doesn't hit at all, he is hardly a shutdown catcher at throwing out runners, and I haven't seen anything defensively from him that makes him stand out from most of the other catchers in baseball.

Maybe other teams value a catcher who throws to first when the runner is stealing second.

I think you have referenced all of the analytical measurements of Mathis as a catcher, and you are correct nothing stands out.  What we don't have are the intangibles, and how he relates to his teammates, specifically pitchers, potentially making them better.  The athleticism still seems to be there, but I no longer see that much of him, so I can't say that for certain.  Your last sentence is interesting in the sense that we all define players by a few plays that tend to stick out in our memory, especially the negative ones.  Fans generally take a few isolated incidents and form an opinion on a player, and generally they never leave that opinion especially as the player moves on and we no longer see them perform day to day.  I would also say that managers generally like the guy because of his communications skills, his physical toughness (he will play through a lot of pain), he will try to make athletic plays defensively (he is a fearless team guy), he actually has a decent playoff record,  he has good experience, and he doesn't cost a lot (in todays player salary structure).  Catching is a really tough position, and there are really not enough great ones to go around.

Edit:  His postseason batting is a BA of .407, OBP of .429, and OPS of 1.132.  Pretty nice for a guy who can't hit the broadside of a barn in the regular season.

[Stradling]

I’ve said this before, maybe in this thread, too lazy to find it.  Mathis is the perfect example of us fans not knowing everything.  There’s obviously something about the guy beyond the stats that keeps him employed.  When he was on the Angels it was he must have compromising pictures or he was good at handing out gum balls.  Or it was Sosh being Sosh.  Those are old jokes that were never all that funny.  Now the guy has had an 11 year major league career despite not looking good on paper.  Arizona gave him a two year deal, which probably means other teams had offered him one year deals.  The people paid to evaluate players keep employing the guy, so they KNOW something we don’t see.  

[nate]

Bengie Molina and Jeff Mathis handled the pitching staff better than anyone else the Angels have had.

Mathis just didn't have a bat.  Being in the NL makes a lot more sense for him where offenses are not as potent.

[Stradling]

1 hour ago, nate said:

Bengie Molina and Jeff Mathis handled the pitching staff better than anyone else the Angels have had.

Mathis just didn't have a bat.  Being in the NL makes a lot more sense for him where offenses are not as potent.

It’s funny cause I almost look at it as being the opposite.  You can carry a bad bat in the AL but in the NL having Mathis then the pitcher is throwing away that inning.

[IEAngelsfan]

It's obvious Sosh saw something in Mathis and he has a high standard for catchers.

I think Sosh sees something in Maldonado as well.  I'm basing that on how many games he played and how he handled the pitchers. He may end up being better than both Molina and Mathis.

[m0nkey]

I agree with stradling on the mathis subject.  We fans think we know a lot, and a lot of fans do know baseball, but I have to think that people that get paid a lot of money to make decisions would know more about the intricacies of baseball than we do.  Good for Mathis for sticking around so long

[JustATroutFan]

A lot of people assumes that "one of the worst hitters ever means one of the worst players ever." It is not just about hitting in the game of baseball. Defense counts too. Defense, especially at the catcher position, impacts the game greatly. The catcher position impacts defense the most. And I think that is why Mathis has been able to play for like 10 years now. His defense and game calling is good even though he hits just as good as Brandon Wood did.

[Jobu]

5 hours ago, Stradling said:

The people paid to evaluate players keep employing the guy, so they KNOW something we don’t see

Or they're bad at their jobs.

[Stradling]

7 hours ago, Jobu said:

Or they're bad at their jobs.

Give me a break.  

[Jobu]

15 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Give me a break.  

Everyone here agrees that Jerry Dipoto is bad at his job. He's the only one in the league?

[Stradling]

6 minutes ago, Jobu said:

Everyone here agrees that Jerry Dipoto is bad at his job. He's the only one in the league?

The Diamondbacks GM seems to know what he’s doing.  It’s ok that there are people that know and understand more than us.  It’s also ok to have parts of the game that the fans can’t quantify. 

[tomsred]

3 hours ago, Jobu said:

Everyone here agrees that Jerry Dipoto is bad at his job. He's the only one in the league?

Yep, he's the only one, and he's so bad that it makes everyone else look good.

[tomsred]

3 hours ago, Stradling said:

The Diamondbacks GM seems to know what he’s doing.  It’s ok that there are people that know and understand more than us.  It’s also ok to have parts of the game that the fans can’t quantify. 

Careful, you might bruise the pinnacle of intelligence on display here.  I have never understood why some posters on here think they have all the information they need to form intelligent decisions about player personnel, front office personnel, or coaches on here.  They are missing the biggest and most important piece, the day to day interaction and communication within the organization both on and off the field.  A baseball team has to deal with complex human interactions and performance issues every day on many different levels.  Quantification of performance by scrutinizing numbers is only a piece of that puzzle.  All teams have access to the numbers, and they are public, the edge goes to those who understand the intangibles and manage them best.  A lot of the intangible side is not public at all.