Marlins Dump Jarrod Saltalamacchia
The Marlins signing of Jarrod Saltalamacchia to a three year, $21 million contract was always a bit on the questionable side, given that his one good season in Boston was built on the back of a .372 BABIP. That wasn’t going to last, and his contact rates were always going to be too low for him to be much more than an average hitter. But an average hitting catcher has value, and at $7 million a year, the commitment wasn’t so huge that the deal seemed like a huge mistake.
The Marlins, however, clearly had a severe case of buyer’s remorse, and today they’ve designated Saltalamacchia for assignment, ending his tenure in Miami. They’ll have 10 days to trade him or release him, since no one will take the remainder of his contract via a waiver claim. Realistically, Salty still projects to be a reasonably useful part-time catcher that a team like Arizona, Seattle, or Anaheim should be willing to take on a fraction of the $15 million he’s owed in order to upgrade their bench.
But it’s probably also true that our WAR numbers here likely overrate Saltalmacchia’s value; by Statcorner’s estimates, he was a miserable pitch-framer last year, and then there’s this from former MLB pitcher Tanyon Sturtze:
@Ken_Rosenthal @MLBONFOX not really Ken pitchers hate throwing to him, plus the fact he isn't hitting makes it easy for the #Marlins.
— Tanyon Sturtze (@sturtze56) April 27, 2015
Obviously Sturtze doesn’t speak for everyone, but pitchers do talk, and given that four organizations have now let him go, it does seem possible that Salty’s work behind the plate could be hurting his team in ways that we’re not currently capturing. So, before you get too excited about your favorite team picking up Saltalamachcia, keep in mind that he might be closer to replacement level than current estimates suggest.
After all, a team doesn’t usually DFA a guy that has real trade value. The fact that they made this move suggests there wasn’t much of a market for him, and it wouldn’t be a huge shock to see him get released and then sign with another team for the league minimum. Salty will find another job, but this might have been his last crack a starting role.
Dave is the Managing Editor of FanGraphs.
With Andrus not hitting, Feliz nothing special, and now this, maybe the Mark Teixeira deal wasn’t that bad? RIGHT?!!
The Red Sox benched Salty in the Series and them let him walk even though he was well-suited to Fenway (and the AL East to some extent) as a hitter. That ,372 BABIP in ’13 wasn’t all luck – he hit a lot of balls off the LF wall on his way to 40 doubles.
if anyone wants to look up Salty’s numbers since his concussion (so not including April 2014), you will see that the numbers he posted for the Marlins arent even close to what they actually ended up being b/c of a really good April last year. He struck out 40% of the time…40%
Also, getting a chance to watch JT Realmuto’s action behind the plate, he is exponentially better defensively than Salty. Too lazy to look at what numbers say, but I would rather have both Realmuto and Mathis than Salty every single day of the week. As a Marlins fan, this is arguably almost as good news as when they signed Stanton
I hear Dioner Navarro is available for trade. Since he’s hurt, he can’t accumulate negative WAR and is therefore probably a better option than what some teams currently have.
Half-hearted devil’s advocacy… Salty is still a switch-hitting catcher who draws a lot of walks (12%), with a reasonably good ISO (by catcher standards), and at least passable defense (by the #s anyway, subjective pitcher comments aside).
He does not seem to be worthless. The Marlins are now going to pay him $6.5 million this year, and next, to play for another team.
Given the right circumstances (e.g. strong side of a platoon… switch-hitting aside, Salty always hit MUCH better as a LH hitter), Salty has a very good chance to make the Fish regret their decision.
Maybe its b/c I had to watch him every day, but I think you and I have different definitions of “passable defense.” Also, as I mentioned, you may want to look at his numbers since the beginning of May 2014
He also has a strong downward trend in his pitch framing ability, and he cost his team 16.7 runs last year from it according to Baseball Prospectus. That would put him at 0 WAR last year over 114 games.
As a Marlins fan, seeing him hit was pure torture. I like the move.
Also as a Marlins fan, it was even more brutal to watch him behind the plate
Would he be a better backup than Tony Cruz? The Cardinals could use some better Yadi insurance.
At least they didn’t sign Brian McCann, though!
Amirite, guise?!!!!