Posada's Deal Vs. Varitek's
I have a friend who got angry at me when I said I thought Posada's deal would probably look a lot like Giambi and Damon by the time it's done. I mean, the Yankees are overpaying for a catcher through his age 40 season. He then said it wasn't as bad as Varitek's current deal. Other than making more than $12 million less over the same time period, I told him that Varitek still brings something to the table, even now that his bat is average for a catcher. So he said, "like what?"
I said the basics like he's a second pitching coach. He literally runs the pitcher's meetings. He prepares more for games than Posada and calls a better game. He actually blocks the plate and gets down on balls in the dirt. Now looking at the stats, they seem to back up what I said. Varitek had 4 passed balls last year next to Posada's 13. He also threw out a higher percentage of runners and allowed 63 steals compared to Posada's 102. And this is Varitek in year 3 of his deal compared to Posada, who hasn't even begun his 4 year deal.
Anyways, I was wondering what your thoughts were on this. Does Varitek bring something to the table other than an average bat for his position, and if so, how much does it improve his value? And if any of you stat heads out there have any more in depth stats I'd love to see them.
I said the basics like he's a second pitching coach. He literally runs the pitcher's meetings. He prepares more for games than Posada and calls a better game. He actually blocks the plate and gets down on balls in the dirt. Now looking at the stats, they seem to back up what I said. Varitek had 4 passed balls last year next to Posada's 13. He also threw out a higher percentage of runners and allowed 63 steals compared to Posada's 102. And this is Varitek in year 3 of his deal compared to Posada, who hasn't even begun his 4 year deal.
Anyways, I was wondering what your thoughts were on this. Does Varitek bring something to the table other than an average bat for his position, and if so, how much does it improve his value? And if any of you stat heads out there have any more in depth stats I'd love to see them.