JPA Troll Post

[Deadpool]

And dat Defense.

 

AND dat pitch framing.

[GD]

f***, he isn't even hitting dingerz to build up his value to Ruben Amaro.

[GD]

It is truly amazing/frightening that AA is so content with JPA that he didn't bother to upgrade in the offseason.

 

You know what I find truly saddening? I could be completely wrong on this, but I think I heard a JPA/Wade Davis rumor before he went to KC. That would have been an awesome trade. A controllable young power pitcher for possibly the worst catcher in the league.

[GD]

I'm not wrong. Apparently JPA for Niese and JPA for Wade Davis was discussed.

 

http://mlbbuzz.yardbarker.com/blog/mlbbuzz/article/will_jays_deal_catcher_add_pitcher/12338308?new_post=true

 

AA was probably the one to hang up lol.

[bowld]

Rotoworld...

 

J.P. Arencibia is batting just .067/.122/.067 with a 3/17 BB/K ratio over his last 11 games.

The cold streak has dropped his season batting line to an ugly .211/.233/.417. Of course, Arencibia has also hit 12 homers this season, and a low average with some home run pop was all fantasy owners were hoping for. He's not a bad second catcher in fantasy leagues but is a pretty dreadful real-life hitter.

[digiblader]

In the last 11, JPA is hitting:

 

.067/.122/.067.

 

Time to give Thole more playing time..especially with Dickey on the mound tomorrow.

[digiblader]

And playing lousy D doesn't help either.

[BlueJayWay]

Rotoworld...

 

J.P. Arencibia is batting just .067/.122/.067 with a 3/17 BB/K ratio over his last 11 games.

Which actually has improved his BB/K ratio.

[Arkadium]

f*** JPA.

[Smokey]

It is truly amazing/frightening that AA is so content with JPA that he didn't bother to upgrade in the offseason.

 

The moment I realized that he was rolling with JP as the everyday catcher (right after the Dickey trade) is the moment I lost all hope for this front office.

[Olerud363]

It is truly amazing/frightening that AA is so content with JPA that he didn't bother to upgrade in the offseason.

 

This is what is so frustrating about this team. I know the majority of the board recognized that JPs k/bb was a HUGE flag. JP wasn't hitting well (even though his numbers looked OK).

 

So what do the Jays do?? They hit him clean up and overwork him, feed his attitude and make the problem worse.

 

Look at what happened to Lind. He had to be degraded, demoted, laughed at, and disrespected to the nth degree before he was able to turn his approach around.

 

I am guessing now JP{ will turn around as long as it's handled right. Give Thole more time. Shake JPs head a lot. Hit him 9th. Play him part time. Point out that he doesn't need to be Ted Williams. He does have to get the on base percentage close to or preferably above .300.

 

A .233 on base percentage from a regular is something nobodies ever heard of. That's because any other team would solve the problem one way or the other before it happened.

[wilko]

Anyone want JPA in league 2? I'll sell him cheap!

[Angrioter]

Fixing J.P. Arencibia

I've always liked J.P. Arencibia. Guys with power are easy to like. Catchers with power are that much better, since it's a position where there aren't a lot of great offensive players.

 

In his rookie season in 2011, the Toronto Blue Jays catcher hit .219/.282/.438 (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage) with 23 home runs in 129 games. It was easy to think that, with normal progression, as he learned the pitchers in the majors, as he learned to take a few more walks and bring the batting average up, that he could one day become an All-Star.

 

It hasn't happened. Instead of progressing, in most areas, Arencibia seems to be getting worse.

 

At the moment, he ranks second from the bottom among major-league catchers with a 0.0 WAR (wins above replacement). More worrisome is that his walk rate keeps dropping. In his rookie season of 2010, he walked 7.4 per cent of the time, pretty close to the league average of 8.5 per cent. Last year his walk rate dropped to 4.8 per cent. This season, it's 2.5 per cent. That's the second-lowest walk rate in the major leagues, among players with 200 or more plate appearances. It's unacceptable.

 

The problem with walking that little is that opposing pitchers know you won't take a walk, so why should they throw you something over the plate when they know you are willing to chase unhittable pitches? Pitchers will make mistakes and leave hittable pitches out over the plate occasionally, which has helped Arencibia to hit 12 home runs this season, but if you show you won't chase, pitchers will have to throw over the plate more and give you more pitches you can hit.

 

Yet, Arencibia seems to wear the "I don't walk" label with pride. He tells us that he doesn't need to walk, that he is an RBI guy. The trouble is that if you chase pitches and strike out, you can't drive in runs.

 

Hit and miss

 

This season Arencibia has swung at 38.9 per cent of pitches outside of the strike zone, compared to a league average of 29.2 per cent. He has made contact with these pitches 53.9 per cent of the time, compared to a league average of 63.3 per cent. So he swings at pitches off the plate far more often than most players, and he misses those pitches more often as well. Not a good combination.

 

Arencibia's strikeout rate is also climbing. In his rookie season he struck out 27.4 per cent of the time, much higher than the league average of 17.5, but with a power hitter we expect some strikeouts. Last year his strikeout rate was 29.0 per cent, and this year 32.2 per cent.

 

Getting on base is important. Arencibia's on base percentage in his rookie year was .282, well below the league average of .327, but he was a rookie and we expected improvement. Last year it was .275. This year he's at .233, dead last in the majors among players with at least 200 plate appearances. That means he makes an out 77 per cent of the time he comes to the plate.

 

How about defensively? This season, Fangraphs rates him as the worst defensive catcher in the game, among full-timers. I'm always a bit skeptical of defensive rating systems for catchers, but the eye test tells us much the same story. Arencibia hasn't thrown out a lot of base stealers this season. He doesn't look the smoothest behind the plate. It's a small thing, but far too many times we've seen him crossed up by a pitch, where it seemed like he thought a different pitch was coming and he whiffed on the catch. That shouldn't be happening at this level. And he isn't great at blocking pitches in the dirt.

 

Pitch calling? Handing pitchers? That's tough to judge. I have no problems with his pitch calling. And apparently he has become better at framing pitches. His pitchers are getting more strike calls on borderline pitches than they have in the past. But, watching him, I really don't see the improvement. Far too often, he still has his glove moving at the moment he catches the ball.

 

What should Alex do?

 

Is there anything the Jays can do, besides hoping that Arencibia suddenly gets better?

 

When Henry Blanco was the backup catcher, he was so bad offensively that Arencibia had to play every day, except when knuckleballer R.A. Dickey started. Now that Josh Thole is the backup, I'd like to see the Jays go to more of a 50/50 usage at catcher. Thole, a left-handed batter, has shown an OK bat in the past with the Mets and looks to be a pretty good defensive catcher. He should play against most right-handed pitchers.

 

The other thing Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos could consider is sending Arencibia down to the minors to work on his swing. The Jays have had amazing results doing that with Adam Lind and Edwin Encarnacion. Both were so bad that the Jays exposed them to waivers. Any team in baseball could have picked them up for free, and no one did. Now they're important parts of the team.

 

Maybe it's time to do the same with Arencibia. Try some tough love. Tell him to go down to the minors, fix his swing, learn not to chase pitches off the plate, and then he can come back.

 

I don't know if that's the answer, but Arencibia has to improve. Otherwise, the Jays must look at making a change behind the plate if they hope to contend.

 

.....

[Angrioter]

My favorite quotes:

 

But my production as far as RBIs (30) even though I should have more, it’s pretty up there for my position. The biggest thing, though, is trying to help the team.”

 

For your position?

Bro, you're the worst defensive catcher all-time

[Abomination]

Right now, JPA is getting to 3 ball counts at close to league average rate, so I'm not sure he needs to go to the minors to be fixed. The real issue comes once he gets to 3 balls. On average 41% of the people that get to 3 balls in the AL this year draw a walk, while JP is only at 16%. If JP drew the walk ONCE GETTING TO 3 BALLS at a league average rate, he'd have 10 more walks on the season which (without doing the math) would probably raise his average about 10 points and OBP by 40 to 50 points. That's without him changing ANYTHING else. Combine that with the fact that's he's in a slump right now (probably partly due to overuse), and I don't see major adjustments that can't be made at the major league level. Just one tweak in that thing he calls a head when he gets to 3 balls.

 

Some of the other things would be nice (and should be worked on), but just that one change probably puts him back to where he's at least a partial asset to the team.

[Deadpool]

Right now, JPA is getting to 3 ball counts at close to league average rate, so I'm not sure he needs to go to the minors to be fixed. The real issue comes once he gets to 3 balls. On average 41% of the people that get to 3 balls in the AL this year draw a walk, while JP is only at 16%. If JP drew the walk ONCE GETTING TO 3 BALLS at a league average rate, he'd have 10 more walks on the season which (without doing the math) would probably raise his average about 10 points and OBP by 40 to 50 points. That's without him changing ANYTHING else. Combine that with the fact that's he's in a slump right now (probably partly due to overuse), and I don't see major adjustments that can't be made at the major league level. Just one tweak in that thing he calls a head when he gets to 3 balls.

 

Some of the other things would be nice (and should be worked on), but just that one change probably puts him back to where he's at least a partial asset to the team.

 

So much fail here... So much...

[Abomination]

So much fail here... So much...

 

Such a useful comment here...

[GD]

Such a useful comment here...

 

I'm pretty sure he was referring to JP's suckitude, not the quality of your post.

[Abomination]

I'm pretty sure he was referring to JP's suckitude, not the quality of your post.

 

Hmm, that could be. If so I apologize. If not, he needs to state why he thinks I'm wrong (and back it up).

[GD]

Hmm, that could be. If so I apologize. If not, he needs to state why he thinks I'm wrong (and back it up).

 

There wasn't anything wrong and generally Deadpool a.) backs up his posts and b.) hates JPA. Seriously, all of his posts in the last 20 minutes have been anti-JPA lol.

[eastcoastjaysfan]

Thanks for the info Abomination

[eastcoastjaysfan]

John McDonald career: .237/.275/.328

JPA career: .219/.266/.429

 

Aside from the obvious advantage in power, advantage Mac!

[eastcoastjaysfan]

Sal Fasano (now remember, the guy is built like a milk bag with almost zero athletic ability to speak of. Widely considered to be a laughingstock at the plate)

 

.221/.295/.392

 

In a dead heat with our beloved catcher!

[eastcoastjaysfan]

Spread JPA's current numbers over a 162 game spread

 

205K/16

 

Yes, over a 162 game season JP Arencibia at his current output would've K'd TWO HUNDRED AND FIVE TIMES AND WALKED SIXTEEN TIMES

 

To quote the great BTS: "What is this, I don't even"

[digiblader]

JPA is batting 8th today:

 

Cabrera LF

Bautista DH

Encarnacion 3B

Lind 1B

DeRosa 2B

Davis RF

Rasmus CF

Arencibia C

Izturis SS

[fireballW]

Made a post on the old forum a long time ago about when I used to play baseball and how hugely annoying it was to pitch to catchers who wouldn't give a good target. JPA would always flip his target up right when the pitcher is about to release the ball like he needed to sneak it so the batter didn't no. Just stupid. Apparently had time with Sal and watching him lately he is ACTUALLY PUTTING UP A TARGET!!! This seems like a basic idea but it took this meathead years to figure it out. Oh yeah, and our pitchers are pitching better. Surprise.

[fireballW]

Right now, JPA is getting to 3 ball counts at close to league average rate, so I'm not sure he needs to go to the minors to be fixed. The real issue comes once he gets to 3 balls. On average 41% of the people that get to 3 balls in the AL this year draw a walk, while JP is only at 16%. If JP drew the walk ONCE GETTING TO 3 BALLS at a league average rate, he'd have 10 more walks on the season which (without doing the math) would probably raise his average about 10 points and OBP by 40 to 50 points. That's without him changing ANYTHING else. Combine that with the fact that's he's in a slump right now (probably partly due to overuse), and I don't see major adjustments that can't be made at the major league level. Just one tweak in that thing he calls a head when he gets to 3 balls.

 

Some of the other things would be nice (and should be worked on), but just that one change probably puts him back to where he's at least a partial asset to the team.

 

JPA is actually talented. He is just so impossibly dumb and even more stubborn. Seriously, he is so unable to reflect objectively on himself, it must be a defense mechanism. Of course he sucks when he is at 3 balls. He has publicly called people who think he should walk "nerds." I believe he actually believes in his heart that taking a walk is for pussies. Our catcher/leader on the field has the brain of a high school student. Not the all around athlete/scholar one, the jock type who gets by with 60% but thinks he's da s***. Apparently he decided to start listening to CM and change some things recently. If this guy could just grow up and grow a brain he has the talent to actually take some walks and be a top 20 catcher... maybe. He can be funny, even charismatic but he is sooooooooo dumb.