6:10pm: Iannetta will receive $1.5MM on a one-year term, per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (via Twitter).
4:10pm: The Diamondbacks have agreed to a deal with catcher Chris Iannetta, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). Terms are not known at this time.
Arizona had already signed veteran receiver Jeff Mathis, presumably to pair with Chris Herrmann behind the dish. Instead, perhaps, Herrmann will continue in a broader utility role, as he did last year.
[RELATED: Updated Diamondbacks Depth Chart]
The 33-year-old Iannetta hasn’t hit much recently, but was a high-quality OBP threat over the 2012-14 campaigns. If he can bounce back in the BABIP department, perhaps he’ll return to being a solid offensive force. There are also questions behind the dish, where Iannetta has wavered in pitch-framing ratings. He emerged as a top-quality framer in 2015, but fell back to receiving poor ratings last year.
So does that mean him and Mathis will be fighting for the backup spot in spring training or will they carry three catchers
They have said they are keeping 3 catchers. Hermann is versatile and can play multiple positions
They will both make the team
I feel Herrman and Ianetta will share starting duties with Mathis purely as the backup.
Herrman can also play other positions too, so carrying all three is a possibility.
They want all the mediocre catchers. They have grit.
The new FO is looking more into defensive catchers with rave reviews, which is why they got rid of Peter O’Brien.
Gotta love those skills that are measured as strong one year and poor the next. Couldn’t be the validity of the measurement. Never that.
Ya his obp was good now it sucks. Obp is a terrible stay you’re right. Oh wait, you’re trying to disprove new stats, oops
It’s really not that hard of a stat to have it change. It’s just how many balls they get called strikes, and making sure strikes are called strikes. The only way the stat can be skewed is if the ump is truly awful, which id say happens maybe 10 times a year. And even then, if one ump has a tight zone, the next one might have a huge one. But hopefully this skill is abolished soon when there’s a robotic ump which will make pitch framing non-existent
You’d think the pitch framing skill set would be a relatively stable one. Not something prone to extremes. There would almost have to be some noise in the data.
You’d think.
Defensive stats have the same issue. They are based on hundreds if not thousands of data points every season, yet they can show players being great defenders one year, terrible the next, then great the year after. In statistics a lack of stability in the results can be telling you something important. It could be telling you about problems either in your data set or your model.
Making an accurate mathematical model is a lot more difficult than most people realize. For sure models aren’t necessarily producing predictions just because they spit out a number. If the output from your model doesn’t seem to make intuitive sense, then it probably isn’t a very good model.
He ranked poorly the year before so he made a conscious effort to improve it in 2015. My guess is he slacked off on it.
It just seems like a skill…like pitch calling…that a catcher possesses or doesnt…almost intangible and from years of development. Did he catch more high leverage innings one season and had to bare down on 3 ball or 2 strike counts….freakish umpiring?
The basic concept is that some catchers have the ability to make a ball look like a strike to an umpire. Has anyone ever posited a good theory for how they accomplish this trick, and why one catcher would be better at it than another?
You sound like a moron. What about mccutchen having a great season in 2015 then being nearly replacement level in 2016? Strong offensive numbers in one year and then terrible the next… Players have good and bad seasons offensively and defensively. Get a clue.
Since you felt the need to insult someone else’s opinion, your argument MUST carry more weight! Until they run studies cross referencing the umpires with the amount of missed calls, it’s impossible to say that it is entirely on the catcher. They have run the studies that show certain umpires call a tighter strike zone than others. Until they factor that into the metric, that noise remains in the data.
Should be a good compliment to the DBacks. At $1.5 million, its worth the risk and he should bounce back at Chase Field as opposed to SafeCo
So he once got rave reviews before, but not much since!
Well jays good job missing out on this bargain
Agreed. If Atkins isn’t willing to dish out $1.5 mil for a backup then it looks like A.J. Jimenez will inherit the job.
Mlbtr comment sections could tone down the insults just a tad. I thought it was enjoyable to be able to talk some baseball during winter…I scroll down and dont see much constructive disagreement….just harshness like a person would NEVER speak like face to face with someone. Why go there?…it ends any value in having discussion? Big deal…if there’s an inane post, non trolling…just take it for what it is….could be a young person or it could also be someone just trying to join in. No need in snarkiness and pretention. This is what’s changed around here. Moderators used to go after this.
It’s really annoying that people insult other teams/ players
Im not trying to be too PC…I get that someone might say…”oh man that guy sucks”…its the personal stuff. I dont pretend to know who im talking too….i think its interesting….especially when someone has a different take. For example….today someone was making claims that the Angels were an 85 win team….my personal reaction was basically “where was that reported.” Turns out its the fangraphs projection. So I start going through the Angels depth chart…and Im like…this could be a better team than expected, sure. I mean a lot needs to break right.
My point being that it didnt get personal, and I learned something about the Angels roster..it was interesting.
I also worked as a social worker mentoring teens with aspergers and autism spectrum…and I know often they would patrol various sports comments sections as a release…..they would post some crazy stuff..wanna chat sports all the time. It made me realize that I need to be aware that I really dont know who I talking with here. If a 9 year old or a person with an intellectual disability got on here….and posted a comment they felt was reasonable…and I just trashed THEM…how wrong would that be. Let people have their opinion…if we disagree…point out our opinion. We might all learn something. In the end…just try and speak to people like you would sitting across a table from them. Maybe its the social media depersonalization effect. Its NOT just about kindness…its about using a resource like mlbtr to its fullest.
What you said about teens with autism and asbergers is really insightful when it comes to dealing with people on sports threads. Thank you sharing that. That’s something important to keep in mind.
And yes, FanGraphs has the Angels as the first WC. And it does make a lot of sense when l look at their roster as a whole. The health of Richards makes a huge difference as does eliminating Weaver and a full season of an improved Nolasco. Then you have Street who if healthy could just have a normal season for him and close out a lot of games that were otherwise blown late last season. FG’s projections lean a lot on health. But the same goes for other teams in the AL West. And there’s not a starting rotation in the division one would call ideal either. Bullpens have basically determined the division the last two seasons. Same will probably go for 2017. Would you bet your money on the Rangers hitting that bullpen lottery just in time for the third straight season? That’s what the AL West will be about this coming season.
Very thoughtful remarks, and thought provoking. Thank you.
I’m a social worker as well. Amen, keep up the great work, and thank you for posting this.
Yeah that could be the case and I don’t really say anything negative about them or whatever team. I would rather just talk about baseball and not hear why your team or certain players suck.
I never really thought about that being the case but thank you and will help me and hopefully help others. I appreciate your post.
Let me stress though….I dont think every crazy comment is being made by a disabled person…that’s very judgemental. Just that there’s no way to tell who anyone is. We should be considerate regardless. If someone says , “Go Angels! We’re gonna win the world series!” Theres absolutely no reason to respond with personal insults. We should probably be appreciative to have a place to talk basesball.
Some people do troll…they pick fights. Theres a few I see post and question if they dont just want interaction. This place is kind of like a coffeeshop.
It just seems like more and more I scroll to see whats going on….see if theres anyone saying anything…maybe someplace to jump in and interact…and man….there’s like 6 inches of an insult comment thread. How is anyone enjoying that?
This is a great comment.. I had a friend once tell me he exercised the “bar stool rule”, meaning don’t say something to someone online you wouldn’t say sitting on a bar stool next to them, lest you get your arse knocked off it !. That simple little comment made me moderate my own behavior somewhat. (Not enough though, admittedly)
I moderated here back in 2012-2013. Was even on watch at the 2012 trade deadline. Try that one. Stayed on top of it. And was encouraged to come down on comments that had even remote potential to cause an unnecessary conflict. Seems it’s loosened up a bit too much. Can’t do that because people will take advantage of it and try to hijack the boards. I’ve seen this happen in almost every Angels forum I’ve been to on the net because of a lack of moderation and giving in to the trolls. It’s created a hostile environment of bullying and harassing any fan that won’t bash the Angels, and its resulted in many fans leaving Angels sites. I don’t quite see that happening here, but I wish MLBTR was as diligent as they were when I was moderator.
The moderation on these boards used to be the most aggressive I’d seen anywhere. If you put too much thought into a post (meaning, it was more than about 100 words) it would just disappear. Not always, but most of the time, and without explanation. Too harsh.
Board moderation often follows the rule that moderators should be invisible and never explain why they take an action, but that never made any sense to me. Visible moderators act like cops on the corner. Most people know they should be civil and normally will be without much encouragement. Those who won’t under any circumstances are pretty easy to spot.
You are right though, the trend here now is now closer to the opposite extreme. Often even the spam isn’t removed. I’ve kind of given up reporting it.
Ive been around mlbtr for 10 years or so. After the the site redo it kind of lost me, but Ive come back some. Im still reminded why I lost favor….it seemed like mlbtr did that redo right at the deadline and the floodgates of new people with harsh attitudes took over. It was a huge influx of new people. Before, I noticed quite a few regulars. I knew how they felt about baseball issues….it createdon going conversations.
As far as the moderation. Holy smokes….I can recall not even being able to figure out HOW what I’d commented needed to go to moderation. No curse words…nothing. I dont smack talk.
I suppose more users means more ad sales, but if mlbtr wants to keep this as a viable source…they need to moderate the comment sections in a reasonable fashion. Comments about other users werent allowed….comments about baseball personnel that were too harsh as well. At this point when I scroll the sections are just loaded with over the line comments. Then I also bear in mind my feelings about the potential impact a harsh personal word can inflict on a total stranger.
Garbage. Best of luck DBacks.
I don’t think you get rid of Castillo to have Hermann assume every day duties. I suspect the new regime really values pitch framing and calling a good game over offense. I can’t blame them. If many of the DBacks pitchers could pitch at their career averages, the team will be competitive.
I would bet that Mathis will be the catcher for Greinke & Miller, while Ianetta for the others (Walker, Ray, etc)?
I would guess Hermann will play the outfield rotating between Peralta and Tomas, with an occasional day catching.