Joe Posnanski, the best sportswriter in America, tweeted thus recently: “Felipe Lopez, not yet 30, hit .310/.383/.427, signed for $2 mil? Jason Kendall, not yet 52, hit .241/.331/.305 sign 2yr/$6 mil? Confused.”
No hit. Great “glove”?
Posnanski might be equally confused to learn that the Mariners made no serious attempt to replace starting catcher Rob Johnson, who hit an abysmal .213/.289/.326 last year–and had surgery on both hips in the off-season.
Kendall is old and doesn’t hit, Johnson is young and doesn’t hit. Why do the two have jobs? Because they play the immeasurably important position of catcher.
The catcher is not the most important player in a baseball game. But he is the caddy, coach, and confidante of the most important player in a baseball game, the pitcher. In 2009, the Mariners were 25-9 when ace Felix Hernandez pitched. A .735 winning percentage. That would be 119 wins over a 162-game season. In other words, when Felix Hernandez pitches, the Mariners are the best team in baseball history.
Now listen to what Hernandez says about Johnson: “We just seem to think alike. Every time he calls for a certain pitch, I am thinking the same thing.” Do you know what having Johnson behind the plate must mean for Hernandez’ confidence? What a like-minded partner like Johnson does to increase Hernandez’ chances of success?
Me neither. No one knows, not for sure. Advanced statistics, so valuable for determining hitter and pitcher value, have proved useless at evaluating catchers.
I do know that the Mariners did not have a single playoff appearance in 1994, when they traded for Dan Wilson. With Wilson as starting catcher, the M’s made baseball’s postseason four times. And since Wilson retired, they haven’t been back. The trade, viewed at the time as a cost-cutting maneuver, brought Wilson from Cincinnati at then-manager Lou Piniella’s urging. “When I was in Cincinnati, we had this young guy in camp, a great catch-and-throw guy,” Piniella would say 18 years later, at Wilson’s retirement ceremony. “Pitchers loved to throw to him.”
The Mariners made the playoffs without Ken Griffey Jr., without Randy Johnson, without Alex Rodriguez, and without Jay Buhner, but they never made it without Wilson. Wilson solidified the defense, while Edgar Martinez, the other constant of the Mariners’ glory years, provided the offense.
I’m inclined to think that Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu, a former catcher, places great emphasis on a backstop’s value. As he said last year in response to questions about starting offensive-challenged Johnson over Kenji Johjima: “Getting hits is not the No. 1 thing. Winning ballgames is.”
Was Dan Wilson as important to winning ballgames as I suggest that he was? Probably not. Probably not.
Could Rob Johnson, a Mendoza line hitter, by providing a comfort zone to Mariner pitchers (a “belief system,” as Wakamatsu likes to call it) be the key factor that pushes the M’s back to the playoffs for the first time since Wilson left? Probably not. Probably not.
Johnson, who at 26 is on the cusp of prospect status, still has to win the starting job. He faces competition primarily from former Padre and Nationals starter Josh Bard, and from 25-year-old Adam Moore, who made his major league debut with the M’s last September. Other catchers in camp include Eleizier Alfonzo and Guillermo Quiroz, who’ve both logged time in the majors, minor-league vet Luis Oliveros, and 19-year-old Steven Baron, a first-round pick in last year’s draft.
Given his relationship with Hernandez, and the importance Wakamatsu places on catching, Johnson’s probably going to hold off the competition. Which will mean a lot of killed rallies when Johnson’s spot in the order comes up. But it could mean for a lot of wins. Could.