Photo courtesy of the NY Daily News
Things started out great in Spring Training for Jesus Montero. He was showing off the defensive strides he made last year, earning the praise of his ex-catcher manager. Looking much more comfortable behind the dish, there was even talk of bringing him north with the club as the backup Catcher, where he’d start once or twice a week as Catcher and maybe get a game in here or there as DH. Seemed like a good fit. Russel Martin is a fine defensive catcher, but has regressed the past two seasons as a hitter. An offensive oriented backup could be paired with starting pitchers who are less demanding to catch, facing teams that don’t run all that often, and provide some pop with his potent bat. He can work on his catch and throw skills in side sessions with Tony Pena, who was a terrific defensive catcher in his own right and is as good a coach as he’ll have in AAA, if not better. The Yanks said Jorge Posada broke in to the big leagues this way, so why not Jesus?
But things went quickly south for Jesus in camp. As March progressed, when the low level prospects getting a look in camp are weeded out and the MLB players start getting up to speed, it became clear to the Yanks that Jesus wasn’t ready for The Show just yet. Brian Cashman spilled the beans this past week:
“He hasn’t played well recently,” Cashman said after watching Montero catch in Tuesday’s 6-2 loss to the Orioles. “He’s better than what he’s shown recently, catching-wise.
“He’s been struggling with the bat, and I don’t know if it’s cause-and-effect. I just know that last year he didn’t start catching well (in Triple-A) until he started hitting. And from June on, both went through the roof.”
What Brian is referring to is the slow start Montero got off to last year in AAA. Before the All Star break, he was hitting .252/.328/.415 (.743 OPS) and scouts were bashing him for his lack of defensive progress. To be fair, that was his first full season of catching everyday. But the idea that he would take his offensive struggles out on the field (or vice versa) is nothing new. In the midst of his early struggles in Scranton, he was benched on May 11th of 2010 for not running out a ground ball. He continued to struggle it seemed, until the early July rumors of him being traded to the Mariners for Cliff Lee. From July 1st, he hit a monster .351/.396/.684 (1.080 OPS) and reports were he took big strides defensively as well. So what’s been wrong with Jesus this spring? The Daily News’ John Harper has some details:
..scouts say Montero’s defense has slipped again – that he’s not moving well behind the plate, getting crossed up on pitches, rushing his throws, and generally giving off an indifferent vibe with his work habits.
“He’s not a natural,” one scout said Tuesday, “so his focus, his interest level, always has to be at a high level for him to be adequate as a catcher. If he was hitting, he’d probably look a lot better back there.”
Joe Girardi chalked some of this up to “pressing” or at least that what he’s saying publicly. But the choice of Gustavo Molina over Montero speaks volumes about what the Yanks really think about his glove. This isn’t about Jesus not hitting this spring. You can’t argue that they chose Gustavo Molina because he plays good defense and hits enough, he doesn’t. Gustavo Molina is a career .122/.159/.146 (.302 OPS) hitter who has a grand total of 1 hit this spring. This is a purely defensive decision for the MLB club, where they’re simply biding time for Cervelli to return.
Jesus Montero would have been a perfect fit to back up Russell Martin, whose doubts are primarily about his ability to hit after the past two seasons. All Montero needed to show was that he was a better option than Frankie Cervelli. We all know he’s a better hitter than Frankie, Montero’s task this spring was to show the Yanks they could entrust a high priced MLB rotation to him, and he didn’t. The Yanks clearly want Jesus to spend time playing everyday in AAA working on his glove. One has to wonder if the consensus among scouts about Montero’s defense is coming to bear. At 21 years old this story is far from being written, but if Jesus can’t stick at Catcher on a championship level club, his value will be maximized by trading him for a position of need. How the first half of the Yankees 2011 season plays out for both the MLB club and Jesus Montero in AAA will in all likelihood determine whether or not his future is with the Yankees, or somewhere else.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
37 Responses to Montero’s spring of discontent
Leave a Reply
TIQ IQ
As I’ve said a number of times, I would never trade Jesus, even if he doesnt stick at catcher. Looking at the current Yankee roster and minor league system, the team has one glaring hole: young power bat. Montero fills that weakness, and can help keep the middle of the order strong as Arod and Posada age.
That’s fine, but where does he play? If you can only catch him once or twice a week and he’s a DH the rest of the time, he’s better off being used in a deal. I’ve always maintained I wouldn’t trade him for anything but high-end pitching, which is what Cashman has offered him for twice. But if he’s really not a catcher, his value will be maximized elsewhere. That’s the whole point of making deals, exchanging pieces that don’t fit for an area of need. Theoretically, both sides win.
But that assumes other teams have a position for him. Based on organizational need with the bat, I think he holds just as much value for the Yankees as a DH as he would in a deal.
Agreed completely. Even if he has to DH, he still profiles as at least an average DH with the bat and there’s value in that, especially since he’ll be cheap. He can always move to 1B when Tex’s contract is up if need be and by then, his bat should be fully developed.
Of course, you always make deals with teams you match up with. I don’t have anyone specific in mind, but as we all know circumstances change as the season plays out.
Montero has had 5 abs in the last week. The Yankees didn’t exactly give him a chance to shake off a slow start. You have to wonder if they feel his greatest asset is as a trade chip, not their catcher of the future. With cc having the opt out at years end and no attractive FA options Cashman probably feels a trade for a sp is inevitable.
You seem to have missed the point of my piece, so maybe I wasn’t clear enough. Everyone knows he can hit, this is all about his defense. He would have been a good fit behind Martin, who’s an outstanding defender with a questionable bat. But he didn’t show enough this spring to get the nod over Cervelli. Gustavo Molina is clearly a placeholder for Frankie to get healthy.
If he showed enough that they could trust him with their high-priced pitchers, Cervelli would go straight from the DL to AAA. Instead, Montero’s the one who’s heading there.
I don’t really think it’s about defense at all. If Montero was raking in the spring, he would have made the team. Then, if he kept hitting in the majors, he would have taken starts away from Martin.
Also, this has something to do with his offense. If he was killing the ball, he’d be in the majors.
So they took Gustavo Molina instead?
Again, he didn’t prove himself to be a better option than Cervelli, which isn’t saying much. That’s what this is all about. Molina’s a placeholder for Cervelli. If Montero was simply competent with his glove, he’d be heading north. He didn’t pass the “Better than Cervelli” test.
Because he didn’t hit. Then it became a defense issue, and we know that he’s not that good at that right now. But I he had hit, it would be moot.
Let me throw this into the mix as well. There’s a prevalent thought among some beat writers that the Yanks are concerned about Montero playing in the bigs, getting exposed and losing his trade value. He’s better off mashing in AAA than getting exposed as a big leaguer. Andrew Marchand explored this recently. When more than one beat writer has the same idea, chances are they’re all talking to the same person in the Yankee organization.
http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/yankees/post/_/id/13574/trade-watch-2011-jesus-montero
I think that’s a dangerous assumption, being that none of them have attributed the idea to a source and its a fairly simple idea that doesn’t really need a source.
That said, I do think there’s something to that. If the defense needs work, do it at Aaa.
It’s not the type of thing someone in the Yankee brass would put their name to. But as you said, let him do the work in AAA. That’s what the minors are there for, development in a low stress environment.
I said it in the piece, but I want to reiterate something. I have not concluded that Montero will never be an acceptable defender, just that he isn’t there yet. He’s only 21, and has only had one full season starting everyday at the position.
But one thing that bothers me is hearing words like “indifferent” being thrown around. If he doesn’t work at it, he won’t improve. Many 21 year olds have something to learn about hard work, I know I did at that time. But that will need to change for him to get better. Much of learning to catch is monotony. It’s doing drills, doing them everyday, and staying as sharp as you can be. If he lacks motivation, or just wants to hit, he’s better off as a DH.
The indifferent word was used in one article. If true, its disconcerting, but I think its early to be concerned about that.
It is early at age 21. But there have been whispers about his work ethic for over a year, I did a post quoting Kim Jones last season. Given the way Cashman tied his hitting/fielding together and the infamous base running incident from last March, it’s no longer some isolated incident. It’s become a tag he’ll have to shake. Taking your offensive struggles with you out on the field is a sign of immaturity, that’s fine. But being “indifferent” to improving your game is unacceptable on a team like the Yanks.
Those words were also used to describe Robinson Cano, and sadly, countless latin ballplayers before him. Nothing bothers me more then when those tags are so prematurely put on athletes because they don’t exhibit the body language that we expect.
I’d also contest the notion that carring offensive struggles in the field is a sign of immaturity. Rather, it’s human nature. We’ll probably read at least 10 articles detailing such instances this season. The players who can avoid this common pitfall are usually the best of the best.
Carrying offensive struggles is human nature, but it’s something players are expected to overcome at the MLB level. Also, if that’s the case then it’s obvious he cares about his performance, perhaps too much.
I think your point about “body language” is dead on. If you have a smooth style of play, the same thing that makes you look so natural can be characterized as laziness based on the result. When Daryll Strawberry hit a ball 500 ft with that smooth, easy swing of his, he was a prodigy. When he swung and missed with that same swing, he looked like he wasn’t trying hard enough. The same was said of Cano, and perhaps Montero.
But your racial implication tying Montero and Cano is way, way off base to me. Roughly 1/3 of the big leagues are Latin players, and stuff like this isn’t said about all of them. Regardless of where anyone comes from, many talented players for whom the game came easily and quickly to at a young age struggle with doing what it takes to take their game to the next level. Let’s not inject race into what is a question of maturity. That’s just shifting the blame from the player to the scouts.
Players maybe expected to overcome them, but there are so many examples of veteran star players failing into the trap that it seems unfair to judge a 21 year-old using that criteria.
I wish my “racial implication” was way off base, but I can’t remember the last time a white player was criticized for being lazy, indifferent or undisciplined. Instead, those players are called gritty, hard nosed, gamers. I’d really like to believe that negative stereotypes didn’t factor into the early assessment of players, but there are lots of examples that seem to suggest otherwise. It might not be a comfortable subject to discuss, but pretending it doesn’t exist is counterproductive.
I agree with you William, and I actually wrote a post on aversive racism in baseball that was the most read post I ever penned. That said, I don’t know that the best response is to just assume that every criticism of a latin player is false. It does inject doubt, but I still think it is relevant info.
It doesn’t mean we should discount every criticism of a latin ballplayer, but when an implication about a 20 year old is made based on an incident or two, I think we all should begin from a point of skepticism. I’d rather error on the side of caution and assume the criticism is the result of cultural differences (which I think is a more appropriate description than racism in this instance) until solid evidence is produced to prove otherwise.
I can definitely agree with that. In fact, Im pretty sure I’ve posted on that as well.
I wish my “racial implication” was way off base, but I can’t remember the last time a white player was criticized for being lazy, indifferent or undisciplined.
Have you ever heard of Joba Chamberlain? All of those implications about him needing ‘a kick in the ass’ aren’t because he’s a self starter. How about Brad Penny? He was a “bad-bodied” pitcher who scouts wrote off after his shoulder injury because he wasn’t known for hitting the gym. How about Alan Horne, who scouts thought took so long to come back from TJ because he didn’t do his rehab work?
When similar things are said about white players, somehow it doesn’t count. I think the bias here isn’t on the part of the scouts, its on those too quick to cry foul.
That said, I don’t know that the best response is to just assume that every criticism of a latin player is false. It does inject doubt, but I still think it is relevant info.
I don’t assume its false in every case, I don’t know that to be true one way or the other. I can’t vouch for every scout in the sport, but smearing them with vague charges of racism without evidence is simply wrong. I think William was the one who was far too quick to jump to conclusions, and presented Cano as his only example.
BTW-Cano was benched for his lack of hustle in 2008. Is Girardi a racist, or did Robbie have some growing up to do?
I have to agree with WIlliam in that this stuff is often all to evident. And these aren’t charges of conscious racism. They are suggestions that much like all of us, scouts, fans, media, etc are all impacted by stereotypes. it is aversive racism, or “racism without racists.”
Citing Chamberlain really isn’t the best example. Joba has a Native American background, and the stereotype of being lazy is sadly often attributed to that ethnic group as well. I can’t speak for Penny or Horne, but “having a bad body” isn’t as damning as “being indifferent” or “lacking hustle”. Regardless, one or two examples of a white guy who has been characterized as lazy really doesn’t mean much, especially if there is reason to believe that in those cases the characterizations are actually true (i.e., if Penny refused to go to the gym, that’s compelling evidence, not an unfair implication made based on body language or communication skills).
As I said, I wish it really was that easy to dismiss this issue as a case of crying wolf, but it has been way too prevalent to ignore. I don’t think I am breaking ground on this topic, but I hope you’re right.
Given the racial composition of Baseball, featuring Black, White, Asian, and Latinos from every corner of the world, I can’t imagine it’s a sport infested with modern day Cap Ansons. They’ve long since been weeded out by their own flawed logic. I think baseball teams, executives and scouts are looking for the best talent to help them win, period. Their jobs are on the line if they don’t.
As Moshe mentioned above, I am by no means suggesting that baseball is populated with people who are maliciously discriminating against Latin ballplayers because they want to suppress their participation in the game. That’s a straw man argument. Rather, as I previously stated, many of the stereotypes being perpetuated are the result of cultural differences. When archetypal characterizations about players repeatedly get mentioned, it’s healthy to be skeptical. Does Montero’s failure to run out a groundball indicate he is indifferent? I find it hard to believe that an incident or two by a very young man could imply such a damning assessment, but maybe I am naïve? Perhaps, but past experience has shown that Latin ballplayers are much too easily and unfairly saddled with labels they don’t deserve. For that reason, I am going to error on the side of caution when it comes to assessing the criticism of a person’s personality.
If I haven’t stressed the point enough, I don’t think the issue is racism, but cultural and even generational differences. I think I summed up this point best in an earlier post, so I’ll let that be my last point on this topic: http://tinyurl.com/4t55egj
[...] the original here: Montero's spring of discontent | New York Yankees blog, Yankees … AKPC_IDS += "11424,"; AKPC_IDS += [...]
Let Montero be the backup, we got to give him a chance, not hinder him by him repeating what he did last year in Scranton. It’s time for him to be up in the show, so let him play. The Yankees never gave Austin Jackson a shot in the bigs, but another team did, and he’s doing great, so give Montero a chance. If Posey was on the Yanks instead of the Giants, he would still be in the minors, let him play in bigs.
Fascinating listening to well-informed guys discuss such a difficult topic, with excellent nuanced points on both sides. Just wanted to thank you all for sharing your insights. It also provides me an opportunity to bounce my own humble thought on the Montero’s situation off some thoughtful baseball folks.
I’ve been following the kid’s progress since his signing as much as I can and, from what I’ve gathered along the way, they apparently badly misjudged or were surprised by his physical growth since his signing and now his broader, taller build poses a unique handicap to his position not usually faced by others who’ve gone before him. And I’ve been wondering for sometime now if this has presented an unforeseen, unsolveable obstacle to his progress or comfort level that no amount of coaching can surmount– and, with no exit strategy other than a trade or position change available to all parties concerned, couldn’t this frustrating realization somehow be coloring their evaluations of his progress and directly negatively impacting his own ability to maintain focus and effort?
Put another way, how hard must it be to be looking up at a lifelong career spent working your buns off to play a position for which you know you will always be ill-suited and never truly excel at — and knowing that every game you ever play will always be judged by whether your offensive contributions overcame your well-known liabilities in the field?
I’m having a little difficulty articulating my precise meaning here, but isn’t it possible he simply is out of position for his size and skill set now and, if so, that both his own work ethic and his handlers’ perceptions of his work ethic are being colored by a mutual sense of frustration and disappointment? I’m just spitballing here, but this isn’t rocket science we’re talking about here and I would imagine there’s just so much technique he can be taught to become a “smaller target” and more nimble behind the plate when he’s simply grown bigger and more muscular than the position’s desirable prototype.
Just saying that, at best, it must be an uncomfortable and frustrating thing for player and coaches alike. In any case, please forgive my rambling on so, and thanks again for the excellent dialogue and allowing me to participate a little bit here.
Very interesting. I think it’d certainly conceivable with all parties to be frustrated with both the scrutiny that his defense gets as well as the fact that he may just be a poor fit for the position physically. I never thought about it that way.
I think you raise an excellent point about the conflict, but I don’t think size is really the issue. For some time now, Montero has been inundated with assertions that he can’t catch. As that point continues to get reinforced, you can easily see why Montero would get frustrated. On the one hand, he is being told that he needs to work hard on his defense, but on the other, he is being given the message that only his bat matters. That conflict has to be overwhelming. Does he dedicate himself to improving his catching skills when it seems like he’ll really never get the chance to play the position? Or, does he make offense a priority, but by doing so risk having his commitment to defense called into question?
I wonder what messages the Yankees are giving him?
Thanks so much, Moshe and William, for your thoughtful feedback on my admittedly weird take on the Montero question. It definitely helped me clarify and sharpen my feelings about what’s going on there. Your patience is really appreciated.
Given that he’s been dangled twice already in potential trade deals and the general overall lack of enthusiasm concerning his Spring Training performance emanating from pretty much every end of the franchise, I’m now certainly of the mind his future lies elsewhere.
As much as it pains me to say it, I really can’t see Jesus appearing behind an MLB plate in pinstripes again. I just hope we get fair value for him, and that when his bat is ultimately unleashed — in whatever comfortable role someone finds for him — it’s in an NL uniform.
Again, thanks for sharing your thoughts, and keep up the great work. Yankeeanalysts is on my daily must-read from now on. …..28 in 2011!
I think it was wise for the Yankees to make Molina the back up. I am a huge Montero fan but yet again, I don’t think it would be wise to put a catcher who was having poor defense, and a weak bat into the back up catcher position. Molina can’t hit but he can still play defense for sure. I think Montero needs to play everday, work on his defense down in the minors, and get his bat hot before we consider bringing him up to the major league ball club any time soon.