The Rockies agreed to bring Micahel McKenry back for a one-year, $750,000 minor-league deal. McKenry debuted with the Rockies in 2010 where he only played in six games and went without a hit. He’s coming from Pittsburgh where he finished three season hitting .226 with 17 home runs. The thought is that he will be spelling Rosario since Pacheco hasn’t been saddled with behind-the-dish duties as consistently as he should have been over the last few seasons.
McKenry Back With Team

I’d only be elated if we’d signed McCann…anyone else is mehhh in my mind…
Not a horrible move by any stretch. Nothing to really write home about either. So, yeah meh.
So is Yorvit toast or something? I don’t remember any news about him so is it a given that he won’t be back?
Yorvit is a free agent looking elsewhere last i heard…
FanGraphs had an interesting article on pitch framing a couple of weeks ago the contained a ranking of all MLB team’s 2013 pitch “framing.” I don’t remember the details, but the top team(s) stole around 2 strikes per game. The last place MLB team lost 1.5 strikes per game.
The last place team = Rockies.
I had hoped for Kurt Suzuki for this spot.
sdcarp, interesting point. Pitch framing is the hot sabermetrics topic now. I know Ed the Ump is skeptical about catchers “fooling” him. I think some of the numbers just look exaggerated — for example, Jose Molina is supposed to be saving 35 runs per 120 game season, which is just a ridiculous 3.5 wins or so — but the studies so far do show a real effect. Guess who’s been the second worst pitch framer over recent years? (Ryan Doumit… Read more »
I definitely think there’s enough pitch framing data (along with many other various “defensive” metrics) that point to us needing our #2 catcher to be a veteran, “defensive,” pitcher friendly type of guy.
Some folks rolled their eyes when the Rays signed Ryan Hannigan early in the off-season. But he’s a poster child for this “defensive” type of catcher (I use the term “defensive” in a broader sense than just scooping balls in the dirt and throwing out runners).
I mentioned Dan Fox, Pirates in-house sabermetrics guy. I never met him when he was in Colorado; just exchanged comments on his blog a few times. And he’s also a great guy who does some very admirable charity work. Here’s a great article about him and the Pirates philosophy — kudos to the Pirates and our old friend Clint Hurdle for embracing change: http://triblive.com/sports/pirates/4661618-74/fox-baseball-computer#axzz2qfYylFVR “Fox does not fit the classic IT stereotype. He is visible. He’s often in the clubhouse.… Read more »
I don’t get it. So the worst direct result from a non-framed pitch is a ball. So indirectly thats 1 more pitch a guy will need to make. A game has 200 pitches a game. An average game might have 10 hits. So thats a hit 1 every 20 pitches. So if a guy mis-frames a pitch 5 times a game that is 1 extra hit every 4 games. Teams score an average of 1 run for every 4 or… Read more »
I agree with you that we are over-hyping framing. I look for game calling and controlling the base paths. Framing is just a bonus.
I’m pretty sure the better pitch framers are also the better defensive catchers in general. You can probably parse out the one metric, but you wouldn’t look for a catcher based on what is more or less a gamesmenship move. Thats like targeting a QB for his ability to draw another team offsides. Certainly a bonus, but hardly relevant in the grand scheme of it all.
The Rockies are simply keeping the backup catcher seat warm for Tom Murphy or Will Swanner. Think they will be ready for MLB in 2015?