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If Montero is the problem ... why was this not obvious LAST season, when he caught 55 games and had 1/3 of a season LESS MLB experience?
He wasn't the best guy for ERA, (3.80) ... that would be Jaso, (3.41)
But he was better than Olivo (3.91).
He only threw 6 Felix starts. But he was pretty much Iwakuma's personal backstop. No probs there.
I'm not saying he was great. The .720 OPS allowed was the worst of the 3 catchers - but then again, he caught Noesi more than he caught Felix.
So ... *IF* fingers are pointing in Montero's direction, you cannot simply pretend 2012 didn't happen. If he IS demonstrably worse than 2012 ... why?
Saunders and Maurer are newbies. Fine. But, if the problem is lack of time working with these guys - then GIVE HIM THE TIME.
For me, this comes back to the manager. Okay, Montero is a young catcher. Well, Bench, Posey, McCann, Piazza ... every catcher who ever was a catcher was a young catcher, who acquired experience.
Is there any rationale that explains why Montero would be "adequate" as a rookie, but would be two orders of magnitude worse the following season? I mean ... did he lose a finger?
If he's calling games differently ... is this based on *HIS* 2012 experience and now he's stopped listening to anybody else?
If so ... then by all means demote him. If MONTERO has put himself in charge of game planning, sure demote him. Somehow I doubt this is the case. I'm thinking there was not NEARLY enough work done in spring training to PREPARE the pitchers and catchers to work with each other. I suspect the manager was mostly just letting everyone play and watching. This is precisely why Saunders complained about not working with Montero after his first debacle.
Hey ... maybe my bias against Wedge is showing. But, everything I've seen supports a severe preference for veterans, and a ditantly hands-off approach to managing. I'm thinking when somebody like Barajas or Molina changes teams, THEY probably do take the lead in connecting with pitchers and trying to sync up. Montero does not seem to have that personality. If not, it is the manager's job to MAKE the catcher and pitchers sync up. He had a month to get that done, and up to this point, the results suggest NONE of that happened.
Me? I would lock Montero with 3 pitchers: Iwakuma (had good results with), Saunders (veteran can help take the lead, not afraid to shake off rook), and probably Beavan. I'd lock Shoppach in with Felix, (who didn't seem to like throwing to Montero) and Maurer.
Simplify the job - create actual batteries - give BOTH guys in the battery some instruction and support to try and make the pairings work.
Game planning is SUPPOSED to be a function of management (working WITH players). With a barely non-rookie catcher, two new guys in the rotation, (one a rook, one a second year guy), this is baseball management 101. If Wedge did NOT handle this during ST, then it displays utter incompetence on his part.
If you have Pudge Rodriguez stepping in ... sure, you let HIM take the reins and sit back. If you have a 2nd year catcher who the youngest guy in the lineup (and only a couple of pitchers are younger), then you cannot simply stand back and watch hoping a miracle occurs.
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That best explanation I can invent is --since Olivo was here last year, Olivo was actually taking the lead in working with Montero and Wedge was just taking the back seat. So, with a whole 55 games under his belt, Wedge assumed Montero was going to step up and do his job for him this year.