I was zooming around the salary lists at ESPN and I noticed that Ausmus is only getting paid 7 grand. While checking other payrolls, I noticed that Sheffield is only making 11 grand. Are these mistakes by ESPN or are these guys on some kind of deffered payment plan?
http://www.bluemanc.demon.co.uk/baseball/mlb/mlbcona.htm Shows that Ausmus is making 5.5 million. http://www.bluemanc.demon.co.uk/baseball/mlb/mlbcons.htm Shows that Sheffield is making 11 million. In this case, seems like ESPN just forgot to add some zeros.
Everyone hear about Brad thinking about retiring after this season? I thought it was a joke when my friend mentioned it, but he said it was on Fox news on sunday night. Anyone?
What's more important, Ausmus hitting on a team that has plenty of hitters, or Ausmus holding together a staff that is missing good pitchers? Everybody in sports is overpaid, but Ausmus more than makes up for his crappy bat with what he does behind the plate. I heard that Ausmus was considering playing for the Padres for 1 or 2 years, then retire. Either way, I doubt he's an Astro next year. Buck is supposed to be Ausmus with a bat, but he's hitting in the .260's right now. Hopefully he finds his stroke for next year.
Man I actually like Ausmus. He calls a good game, and is one of the best at throwing out players that try and steal bases. I treasure him for his defense more then anything especially considering that we have such a complete lineup outside of his presence. Not every catcher can hit like Javy Lopez. Actually isn't Javy Lopez a below average catcher defense wise? Same way I thought for Piazza. A guy that swung a good bat, but not much else.
I cringe whenever Ausmus is at-bat, but the Astros would be below .500 without him. Most teams would gladly take an Ausmus behind the plate.
There's no evidence that there's anything such as catcher ERA. Even if there were, Ausmus' hitting has become so atrocious that he'd have to make a remarkable meaningful impact on ERA. We know, pretty much for a fact, that he doesn't. Sorry, Ausmus used to be decent, now he sucks.