[Houston Chronicle] Astros re-sign Brad Ausmus to one-year deal

Before some people get bent out of shape, Brad said that if he came back, he wanted to be a backup. Expect Towles to get the majority of playing time with Ausmus being Oswalt's personal catcher.

 

Doesn't matter. People will still get their panties in a wad over this. It's a good, cheap deal to give Towles the mentor he needs.

 

OH FRICKING NO NOT BRAD ASSMUNCH!!!!!1!!1!!!111

...just kidding. I like the deal for all the reasons already cited.

That, and the old fart is *still* better defensively than half the catchers in the NL (spoken casually, not as a specific percentage, so put your slide rule back down!).

 

who would get mad at this? he is backup for JR.

i think JR should catch some of Roy's games though. roy is the ace and should be able to call his own game plus he would get more run support.

 

Brad is still a solid backup catcher. Add clubhouse leadership and such (esp. with Bidge leaving), and it's a plus deal.

And in a large emergency situation, he can catch full-time as necessary..

 

No problem with this deal, he'll only be a backup. Towles is supposed to be very good defensively already, so Ausmus can focus on helping him learn how to call games.

 

Good move given the reasons above...Now, we just need some quality pitching behind O...

 

Fair enough, if he's catching for RO. But they better get going with making some moves, even if it's just moves to resurrect our desolate farm system.

Evan

 

What a waste of money!

 

talk about a team headed in the right direction!

words cant describe how disgusting this.

 

You really think that signing Ausmus as the backup catcher for one year and minimal dollars (relatively speaking) is disgusting?

 

If this is something he finds "disgusting", he must led a pretty charmed life.

 

I've been waiting for this. Ausmus tutoring Towles for a year is a good thing. Rocketfat, I thought the retirement of Bidge would have quieted your vitriol towards the 'stros.

 

Here are some sample averages and OBP of backup catchers in the NL:

Reds - .203 .271
Cards - .252 .286
Brewers - .237 .296
D'backs - .224 .292
Rockies - .218 .330
Giants - .231 .276
Padres - .242 .281
Dodgers - .234 .280

I suspect there may be some with some gaudy stats, but backup catchers generally don't provide much offense (at least in the NL).

 

Cloud some good trolling with senseless facts. Jeeeeeeez.

The last thing one needs, when trolling a bulletin board, is clarity.

 

sweet stats dude. now show me the salaries of all the "backup" catchers around the league, then show me how many STARTERS ausmus will be getting paid more then.

i am willing to take any and all bets that the loser starts more games than every other proclaimed "backup" catcher in the league.

$2million+ just to provide advice to jr towles? are you guys really that naive and dense? and if that was truly the case, that is a good move? lolol. we are an organization who has completely lost their way, and it's looking like we aint gonna be finding it anytime soon.

thanks again mom and dad, for not dropping me on my head as a baby!

 

hi i am msn. every move my favorite teams' management and front office makes is correct. anybody who thinks differently is wrong and stupid and i will call them a cool internet message board name like "troll" or "newbie".

we get it already, kiddo. now do us all a favor and never post again.

 

Here are the backup salaries from the stats I quoted (incidentally, the Giants backup should be about .250 and .284):

Reds - 1.6 million
Cards - 850,000
Brewers - 2.25 million
D'backs - 380,000
Rockies - 381,000
Giants - 382,000
Padres - 4.5 million
Dodgers - 1.1 million

Are you really quibbling over 2 million? Essentially the Astros top two catchers will combine for about 2.3 million which is probably far less then the majority of the teams.

I'll make you a tipjar bet right now that as long as Towles remains healthy (no more than 1 trip to the DL), Ausmus will start less than 50 games.