OT: Gregg Zaun To Announce Retirement

Post #1 » by **LittleOzzy** » Mon Mar 7, 2011 2:44 pm

Padres catcher Gregg Zaun is set to announce his retirement, according to Sportsnet.

Zaun, 39, played 1,232 games in his Major League career, posting a career batting average of .252, with 88 home runs and 446 RBI.

http://baseball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_ ... etirement/

I'm guessing he'll be working full time for Sportsnet on TV/Radio.

torontoaces04 · Post #2 » by **torontoaces04** » Mon Mar 7, 2011 5:30 pm

Nice-guy, but a scrub. Could see him as a coach/manager.

mikero · Post #3 » by **mikero** » Mon Mar 7, 2011 6:37 pm

Frank Catalanotto is calling it quits too...

Over his four years in a Blue Jay uniform (2003-2006), Catalanotto posted a .299/.361/.445 slash line, along with 29 HR, 200 RBI, 141 walks, 222 runs, 118 doubles, and 14 triples.

DonYon · Post #4 » by **DonYon** » Mon Mar 7, 2011 7:50 pm

Zaun was one of my favorite Jays in the Ricciardi era. Savvy vet, one of the best at working with pitchers and put up some decent offensive numbers for a catcher. Don't like him so much as a TV personnel though.

The Cat had one of the nicest looking swings in my memory. Didn't realize he put up some very good number with the Jays.

torontoaces04 · Post #5 » by **torontoaces04** » Mon Mar 7, 2011 9:17 pm

Cat had his best years as a pro with the Blue Jays. Never a power guy, but a great hitter in his time here.

As for Zaun, I don't mind him in studio with Jamie Campbell, because 1 of the 2 has to know something about baseball! All joking aside, Jamie Campbell saved his career with his performance at the Olympics, specifically his call of Alex Bilodeau's gold medal run. He was by far my favourite announcer at the Olympics.

Post #6 » by **OldNo7** » Mon Mar 7, 2011 9:20 pm

Now we can officially enshrine him on the Level of Unexcellence.

Man I hated him.

torontoaces04 · Post #7 » by **torontoaces04** » Mon Mar 7, 2011 9:32 pm

OldNo7 wrote:Now we can officially enshrine him on the Level of Unexcellence.

Man I hated him.

Joining such illustrious company as Russ Adams and Josh Towers.

CapeCrusader · Post #8 » by **CapeCrusader** » Mon Mar 7, 2011 9:36 pm

torontoaces04 wrote:
OldNo7 wrote:Now we can officially enshrine him on the Level of Unexcellence.

Man I hated him.

Joining such illustrious company as Russ Adams and Josh Towers.

Wow you guys really don't like Zaun to put him in that cat of Adams and Towers.

To me Zaun wasn't great, but he wasn't terrible. BTW I would throw Chris Woodwards name in there if anything, thats a guy I didn't like.

Randle McMurphy · Post #9 » by **Randle McMurphy** » Mon Mar 7, 2011 10:58 pm

Some of you guys really don't have a clue.

Zaun was a very good catcher for this team. In fact, his 8 WAR between 2004-2008 rank as the 2nd best in club history (behind Ernie Whitt).

http://www.fangraphs.com/graphswd.aspx? ... 67&grid=25

Randle McMurphy · Post #10 » by **Randle McMurphy** » Mon Mar 7, 2011 11:00 pm

And as far as I'm concerned, I'd be happy if he took Tabler's job. Not that it's likely.

Lateral Quicks · Post #11 » by **Lateral Quicks** » Tue Mar 8, 2011 12:02 am

Congrats to Zaun on a very nice career. Considering how much he overcame with his alcoholism etc., he should be very proud of his achievements.

I concur, he was a good catcher for the Jays.

Catallonoto (sp) was another underrated player for the Jays IMO. Lifetime .290 hitter, good .OBP. I was sad to see him go.

tiger7 · Post #12 » by **tiger7** » Tue Mar 8, 2011 3:51 am

Zaun was terrible. I remember how he announced he was going to give $1000 to charity for each runner he threw out. LOL what a joke that was, whoever ran was pretty much guaranteed a steal. Though I'll give him credit he did know how to call good pitches.

Wo1verine · Post #13 » by **Wo1verine** » Tue Mar 8, 2011 7:56 am

Randle McMurphy wrote:And as far as I'm concerned, I'd be happy if he took Tabler's job. Not that it's likely.

Not me! I think i am one of the few that actually likes Tabler.

torontoaces04 · Post #14 » by **torontoaces04** » Tue Mar 8, 2011 4:11 pm

Randle McMurphy wrote:Some of you guys really don't have a clue.

Zaun was a very good catcher for this team. In fact, his 8 WAR between 2004-2008 rank as the 2nd best in club history (behind Ernie Whitt).

http://www.fangraphs.com/graphswd.aspx? ... 67&grid=25

I guess you're right, and everyone else who has posted in this thread knows absolutely nothing. DONKEY.

Modern_epic · Post #15 » by **Modern_epic** » Tue Mar 8, 2011 4:31 pm

He is, in fact, right. That may over value him a bit, because WAR is kind to poor defensive catchers, but Zaun provided us with 4 years of pretty average play behind the plate, which is mostly unheard of in Jays history.

torontoaces04 · Post #16 » by **torontoaces04** » Tue Mar 8, 2011 4:52 pm

Zaun's "pretty" averages over 5 seasons as a Blue Jay:

107 G, 9HR, 43.8 RBI's, .254 AVG.... and those are his offensive numbers!!! I don't even want to get started on Zaun's defensive (in)abilities, or noodle arm.

J-Roc · Post #17 » by **J-Roc** » Tue Mar 8, 2011 5:16 pm

Randle McMurphy wrote:Some of you guys really don't have a clue.

Zaun was a very good catcher for this team. In fact, his 8 WAR between 2004-2008 rank as the 2nd best in club history (behind Ernie Whitt).

http://www.fangraphs.com/graphswd.aspx? ... 67&grid=25

Doesn't this say more about our quality of catchers over the years, than about Zaun?

Also, maybe Ernie should get onto that level of excellence.

Hmm, looking thru those charts, Moseby was better than Vernon.

Modern_epic · Post #18 » by **Modern_epic** » Tue Mar 8, 2011 5:52 pm

torontoaces04 wrote:Zaun's "pretty" averages over 5 seasons as a Blue Jay:

107 G, 9HR, 43.8 RBI's, .254 AVG.... and those are his offensive numbers!!! I don't even want to get started on Zaun's defensive (in)abilities, or noodle arm.

107 Games is a starting catcher in MLB; which is why they don't put up big counting stats. You also conviniently left out OPB, which was consistently around 100 points high than his average and makes his numbers look much better.

He had an OPS of ~.750 in his 5 years with the Jays. The average catcher OPS over the 2000s (which would include the heavy hitting earlier part of the decade)? .722. He was decided above average for the position with his bat.

Randle McMurphy · Post #19 » by **Randle McMurphy** » Tue Mar 8, 2011 8:36 pm

J-Roc wrote:Doesn't this say more about our quality of catchers over the years, than about Zaun?

Yes, but it also indicates that Zaun was a good catcher for this team.
And Zaun's defense was fine outside of his arm.

Randle McMurphy · Post #20 » by **Randle McMurphy** » Tue Mar 8, 2011 8:53 pm

Zaun article: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.ph ... more-43885