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The club did add a piece on Monday when it acquired veteran catcher Carlos Ruiz, 37, from the Dodgers in exchange for left-handed pitcher Vidal Nuno. Ruiz will serve as the backup to Mike Zunino.
"We feel very confident that Carlos Ruiz both provides a good backup and provides someone that in the instance that someone goes down for a period of time, he can step in," Dipoto said. "We feel like between Mike and Carlos, we have two start-worthy type of guys, which is uncommon in today's game."
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This has long been a point of fascination with Dr. D, the late-30's catcher who can still play 50 quality games as a backup. Ruiz OPS'ed 95 last year and has a 100 OPS for his career, which is not exactly the case with Jesus Sucre. Notable OPS+ scores from recent Mariner desperation grabs down to Cheney:
The aforementioned Sucre, 17 last year
- 20 from Sucre the year before (.157/.191/.228, well below the Felix IL line)
- 49 from Zunino the year before (scratch that, Zuumball was the starter)
- -100 from Humberto Quintero in 2014 (oh yeah baby)
- 31 from Henry Blanco in 2013 (.125/.215/.240, which is 12-for-96 in singles terms)
In other words, it's cool to upgrade 110 OPS+ to 130 OPS+, but it can be just as cool to upgrade -100 to +100. WAR figures for backups ... relativistic physics ... attorneys general ... they're all about your reference point in a spatial domain.
:- )
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VIDAL NUNO
Dipoto gave up a whale of a lot for a backup catcher; doesn't Nuno have 50 decent starts in the big leagues. Which makes the deal all the more interesting. He also helped clarify Dr. D's befuddlement as to Nuno's non-usage:
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"We do feel like that is an area of the free-agent market that's more robust than others," Dipoto said. "In losing Vidal Nuno, we felt we lost a situational arm for us, but more of a 12th guy. A multi-inning reliever and a backup starter, we didn't really use Nuno as a situational lefty for a reason. We thought his strengths were in other areas."
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James had a comment about this many years ago ... that soft-tossers need to get out there, go through a lineup a couple times, "let the odds work for them." Dipoto and Servais just didn't see Nuno as a "me against you, one time" kinda guy.
Fair 'nuff,
Dr D
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