3-23-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on X
My god, yes.
The Pirates made a statement way back at the beginning of Spring, maybe a clumsy statement, maybe even stupid about Yasmani Grandal making the team and the Pirates having a competition for the second spot.
I can’t believe I’m doing this, AGAIN, but maybe I should, after all, even the real journalists have done their best to make sure you were filled with as much dumb as they possibly could on the subject.
Here is Shelton’s quote from way back at the beginning of Camp.
“Yaz is going to catch. Yas is also 35 years old, so whoever our C2 is is going to get some time. We have to be very mindful of when he catches and how much he catches, mindful of making sure we get the second guy in there in a situation that we like all the time.” Shelton said.
Let’s break this down the way you’d like to think someone not trying to mislead people would.
Yaz is going to catch. – Holy crap, so you’re telling me the free agent catcher you just signed at the age of 35 might just make the team? Of course he’s going to get one spot.
Yas is also 35 years old, so whoever our C2 is is going to get some time. – So Yaz, the 35 year old is going to not be able to catch enough to render the second catcher unimportant.
We have to be very mindful of when he catches and how much he catches – How many ways do you need to hear they aren’t confident they’ll get a ton of games out of this guy you think is being named the starter for the season somehow.
Mindful of making sure we get the second guy in there in a situation that we like all the time. – The second guy. C2, C1, look at all the hoops to avoid using words like starter or backup. Back when these comments were made, you’d think of course they’re unsure of Henry back there, they want to see more, no guarantees needed made here.
Jason Mackey from the Post Gazette put out a little synopsis snippet from Spring Training.
Listen to it if you like but the key here is, it’s Jason’s opinion, specifically, not him reporting something he heard, not something someone told him on the sly, his opinion that he “gets the impression they wouldn’t be afraid to start Henry in AAA”. He says this right after saying the Pirates would hope the outcome would be that Henry hits and catches well and makes the club.
There’s nothing wrong with what Jason said here, or his opinion. It’s what was done with this snippet and that quote since that have been.
It got run with like Henry was ticketed for AAA (Dumb Pirates amiright), sure, maybe he has a chance to fight his way past their stupidity is the impression the wise bloggers/podcasters and sadly yes, even Journalists with a big J shoved at fans for weeks.
Even as Grandal has been too injured to play, and Henry has looked every bit the part behind the dish and at the plate.
Even as pitchers have talked about how much better he was than the catcher they worked with the year before.
Even as the team had opportunities to clear it up and chose to be still too weak wristed to accomplish it, because to the crusaders of misinformation out there, the only acceptable answer would be Henry is the starter, he’ll play 145 games, and this team is simply not trying to set expectations for work load.
Listen.
Henry Davis is the starting catcher on this team, but he being a rookie is not likely to catch much more than 100-120 games. It takes a long time to master the position, and it takes almost just as long to train your body to hold up to the rigors of what it takes along the way.
You’ve all heard power comes from the legs right? Well, try doing it while catching 140 games for the first time in your life. how far you think he’d be able to hit that juicy fastball down the pipe on game 129?
This whole thing was creating drama where there was none. Believing he won’t make the team now is simply ignoring everything you’ve seen and taking the same bait that catches you every year, the low hanging fruit that people fish with for clicks that if it can be done, and it’s dumb, of course the Pirates are doing it.
Wise up and meet your new starting catcher, some call him Hank.
Or wait for your preferred “information provider” to tell you. When they do, you’ll hear them tell you how Henry “changed their minds” or Grandal being hurt “forced their hand”, but step back from it for a minute and ask yourself, can I name one thing the Pirates would gain by doing that?
Really, what’s to be gained?
Has anyone who’s tried telling you Henry, starting in AAA was a real possibility after the first week of camp where he showed he was more than capable or playing the position, makes sense? Anyone? Anywhere?
Of course not. Because the ONLY reason for it would be, Pirates Dumb.
They have been in the past no doubt, I can point to things right now I think are dumb, know what else I can always find when I do? Yeah, motive.
This team does a ton of dumb, they don’t need help, especially when it doesn’t take all that much thought to dispel it.
This…
Yeah, that’s your starting catcher. Sheesh.
Steel City Pirates 