There is an internal replacement even though you don't want to acknowledge such. We'll see what happens. Just stop trying to BS me with threats that the pitching staff won't be as good if Perez is gone and Hedges replaces him. Perez didn't start this season until August 18th and Leon was calling the pitches up to that point. I think Bieber and company were doing just fine, how 'bout you?
Here's a few tidbits about our boy Hedges:
- Baseball Prospectus’ Fielding Runs Above Average number (FRAA) judges that he has essentially saved 24.7 runs more than an average catcher (1st in MLB among catchers)
- Fangraphs places a 23.4 Defensive WAR indicator on his 2019 work (2nd in MLB among catchers)
- Hedges has logged a 18.7 RAA according to Statcorner (1st in MLB among catchers); the site also finds that he has been +141 on framing strike calls (1st among catchers)
Sorry, but these facts don't align with your feelings. Perez will soon be 32 and Hedges recently turned 28. Perez battled a shoulder injury that delayed the start of his season and benched him for a couple of games after his season started. Outside of 2019(an outlier in his career) Perez could not hit a damn thing, but he is fantastic defensively. Hedges is also top of the league defensively. Perez is due to make $5.5M while Hedges is due to make $3.5M. They are not paying 2 catchers that cannot hit a damn thing $9M. One is likely to go IMO.
Where is Roberto Perez in that ranking?
Also i know this isn't 100% a stat people measure, but Perez as a catcher has kept his pitchers ERA under 4 (3.51) and the Average is 4.17.
He has been in the top 5 in putouts, assists, double plays, caught stealing (he is actually #1 actively in that stat), total zone runs, fielding %, He hasn't had a pass ball in over 1000 innings plus in that same time period, he has only allowed 33 SBs and 30 CS.
Hedges on other hand (about the same time frame) last 1000 innings has allowed for 6 pass balls, 33 SBs to 18 CS, He has allowed pitchers to have a 4.29 ERA, to the 4.25 average
Yes that Stat does come with the pitchers throwing, so we may be able to throw something like that out the Window..
Now onto another stat...
Perez has a career WAR of 7.4 in 446 games (3529 innings) to Hedges 0.4 in 412 games (3094 innings) Using baseball references WAR values, Hedges has a career dWAR of 3.5 while Perez has a career dWAR of 7.5.
He has accumulated 7.5 dWAR in 446 games, Ranks him 104th all time. Next best player with less than 500 games is at 6.0 dWAR. Go by theory and say he had a full career (didnt start as a backup and gets lets ya 1300 area in games, he would be ranked 6th all time with a career dWAR of like 22 something).