I definitely agree with contrarian on both points - some of the low-PA catchers seem to have unreasonably high prices per PA. You could argue that this actually makes sense since some owners would bring such catchers in for 3 defensive innings a game with 1 PA. I certainly wouldn't buy that...

But there are definitely some very good arms out there for what I would consider to be reasonable prices. '74 Tenace and '75 Carter are both under $4 million for full seasons of what are I believe to be 45% and 49% CS rates, respectively. Tenace hit .211 but with a lot of walks and some power; Carter is a solid all-around hitter with a few fewer PAs. Do they cost more than many other hitters with their offensive stats? Of course. But the catcher's arm is by far the most important defensive stat on a team. Some teams' offenses are almost totally shut down by a catcher with a great arm. You should have to pay for that arm.

it probably cut down how many owners drafted an average arm catcher with a A+ backup catcher solely to match up with speed teams. now i can see sb's being more of a factor than they were before the update.

Quote: Originally Posted By grizzly_one on 10/26/2009
It pains me that 71 Munson jumped so much. But 74 Tenace looks like an extreme cookie to me.

WHAMMMY

With the recent salary update, we adjusted many pieces of the formula. One piece included addressing players that excelled in one category but were lousy in others. Think pinch runners, strong defensive catchers, excellent pinch-hitters, etc. These were the types of players being used over and over again because of their obvious "cookie" strength.

That's why you're seeing some of the best armed, weak hitting catchers increase in price. Their new salary is more inline with their value in the sim.

While their $/PA is higher then some other players, their salary remains much lower.

Sounds to me like A+ arm might be adding to price at a flat rate regardless of PAs...

and yet how do we explain that the 1975 Gary Carter is at $3,936,483 with his A+ arm and .49 RL CS%? He weighs in at $6672 per PA and can stroke it on the offense. Maybe the A+ arm is worth a set flat amount. Never thought of that before.

Quote: Originally Posted By grizzly_one on 10/26/2009
It pains me that 71 Munson jumped so much. But 74 Tenace looks like an extreme cookie to me.

I think he has been. I've used him many times in HR friendly parks where he can keep the go go teams at bay.

all i know is i've already found wooten to be very useful, and a bargain. i guess i'll enjoy him before the next update takes his cookie status away.

Guys like the '75 Carter, the '73 Fosse, the '82 Boone, '64 Rodgers, '79 Newman, '74 Tenace, and '67 Casanova would all seem to be very attractive values at their under $7000 $/PA coupled with thie 45% or better CS%. Carter, Newman, Tenace, and to a degree Casanova have good power. Carter and Casanova have decent normalized AVGs and plugged deep in a line up won't tire all too much.

another guy I'd like to try out is the '69 Bench at $10k per plate appearance. he has a 117 AVG+, .277 AVG # (vs. a .270 RLAVG), 26 taters, and throws out 57% of attempted base stealers.

In the case of Wooten and Carter mentioned above, the catcher position for those 2 guys are secondary (Carter primarily OF, Wooten DH). That could be why they may be still viewed as relative bargains. I think I read somewhere that players who are good at secondary positions (think '93 Tony Phillips) got a raise in the last update, but some went up more than others of course.

You are correct that there is a flat rate applied to the catcher arm price.

We'll review to see if this can be improved.

I wonder whether this flat rate increase has also been applied to A+ range fielders too. some of my favorite low ab, great fielding 200k guys like Ferraro went up over 50%. anyone else seen that? or is it just a bell curve skewed a bit weird

Quote: Originally Posted By tzentmeyer on 10/27/2009You are correct that there is a flat rate applied to the catcher arm price.

We'll review to see if this can be improved

Is the catcher arm price the only attribute that is a flat rate?

How can you use the same "flat rate" for a catcher with 55 PA as for a catcher with 550 PA? That seems out of whack to me. Shouldn't it be tied in to how often you're going to actually use the catcher?