Salty Pickup Proves To Be Solid

Jarrod Saltalamacchia is proving to be one of the top ten catchers in the A.L. With the Sox having one of the best catcher tandems after Detroit and Texas it seems that Theo has done a great job of getting talent on the cheap. But, what's even better is he was able to stand his ground and wait to pull the trigger. Texas was rumoured to trade Salty to the Sox for a couple of years now, but their asking price was too steep, involving proven pitcher with ace potential Chris Buchholz.

Now, Theo was able to exploit a Texas Front Office that had little trust in Salty and trade for two Single A prospects, a pitcher and a first baseman. Well, I think it's best to analyze the progress of these two first before marking it down as lopsided. Well, the pitcher Roman Mendez has been doing fine in Class A with 8 wins to a loss, a 3.7 era and 106 ks in 100 innings. Not dominating but fine I suppose. Chris Mcguinness however, has been strugling down in Texas. In 46 games of Single A ball, Chris has hit .218 with 9 doubles and just one homer. Not exactly unloading the farm for Salty!

Meanwhile, Salty has done a good job after May, hitting .256 with a .322 obp. He has 12 doubles, 2 triples (Wow!) and 8 homers. His slash line of .256/ .322 / .445 / .767 is spectacular for a catcher and he has CS'ed 25 % of his baserunners and nailing them with more efficiency. It seems that Varitek's discipline, guidance, and wizardry of pitch calling has started to rub off onto Salty and in turn the Captain will likely return next year for the season after experiencing a renaissance himself. Not only that but one of the big stories this year has been in Tim Wakefield's quest to be the winningest pitcher in Red Sox history. If Salty wasn't handling Timmy's knuckleball so well, then I'd doubt Wake would be in that position today. So, in essence, Salty's presence has allowed many veterans to continue with the ballclub which strengthens the overall chemistry and leadership of this team. Ryan Lavarnway is mashing it up in Triple A, but I'd give Salty a couple years before you replace him with a rookie. Only time will tell though.