Platooning catchers Topic

mixtroy
Posts: 1057 (0)
Hall of Famer
120 3 1 2
Prospect

Contriarian, while I am well aware of your vast knowledge of this game, but I think it all depends on the amount of money you want to spend and the amount of offense you want from your catcher, I often use Ganzel, Peitz and Inge.  While Ganzel may not have been much of a hitter, but he normalizes as an "over" and you can't beat 500 PA and an A+ arm for only $2.4 mil, unless you're talking about a guy who will hit less than .200.  Peitz will hit .300 90% of the time, and you get a little of everything from Inge. Sandoval, Pavletich and Farmer Weaver are also good backup hitting catcher bargains with decent arms. Me, personally, I don't ask for much offense from my starting catchers because I tend to spend a lot  on starting pitching that doesn't give up many runs. As long as my catcher throws out his share of would be basestealers, whatever offense he gives me during the regular season is gravy.  And come time for the playoffs, I insert one of the aforementioned hitting backups in the lineup.

4/9/2011 10:11 AM
mixtroy
Posts: 1057 (0)
Hall of Famer
120 3 1 2
Prospect
Also, Contrarian, if you will note that in the division we're currently in together, I'm using Inge and Sandoval (apprx. 600 PA of .300+ avg (and arms) for less than $4mil) and not doing too bad at all. Only one game behind you. lol 
4/9/2011 10:23 AM
contrarian23
Posts: 19336 (3)
Hall of Famer
1763 1
Hall of Famer
mixtroy, I apologize if my comment came off as overly critical.  Not my intention at all.  I am definitely not criticizing your abilities, your teams, or your choice of catchers.  Inge is a very good value, as is 1916 Schang. 

My point, rather poorly made, was that under the criteria you originally posted (<$3M, 400+ PA, A+ arm) those are the only 2 guys who are good bets to give you any offense.

Peitz (I assume you mean the 1902 version) is certainly a good bat, but he costs $3.7M, so he doesn't qualify.  Sandoval (I assume you mean 2008) is another great bat, but he doesn't have an A+ arm, so he doesn't qualify.  Also, his D- fielding rating may be problematic.

Having never used Ganzel, I can't say much about him from direct experience.  Ganzel's performance history shows an average line of .252/.281/.311 with 37% CS.  His hitting stats are almost exactly what he did in real life, so I don't think normalization is helping you much with him.  Schang's performance history shows .278/.347/.446 with 33% CS.  I think those extra 200 points of OPS are easily worth the extra $400K.
4/9/2011 12:00 PM
mixtroy
Posts: 1057 (0)
Hall of Famer
120 3 1 2
Prospect
Don't worry, I didn't take any offense Contrarian.  The point I was trying to make was that there are some good bargains in the sim at the catching position, depending on what your'e looking for.  It was my fault because I should've been  a little more specific with my statement. And yes, I agree, Schang is a very good bargain.  I just never had the occasion to use him.
4/9/2011 1:12 PM
blackmink18
Posts: 1058 (0)
Hall of Famer
291 4 1 7 41 42 16
Rookie
In OL's I take a left handed, or switch hitting catcher with about 400-500 PA's and let the minor league player play a few left hand pitchers for the first part of the year.
4/9/2011 1:45 PM
blackmink18
Posts: 1058 (0)
Hall of Famer
291 4 1 7 41 42 16
Rookie
In OL's I take a left handed, or switch hitting catcher with about 400-500 PA's and let the minor league player play a few left hand pitchers for the first part of the year.
4/9/2011 1:45 PM
This post has a rating of , which is below the default threshold.
Show
zubinsum
Posts: 1731 (0)
Hall of Famer
72
Hall of Famer
Posted by blackmink18 on 4/9/2011 1:45:00 PM (view original):
In OL's I take a left handed, or switch hitting catcher with about 400-500 PA's and let the minor league player play a few left hand pitchers for the first part of the year.
All roads lead to Wally Schang.
4/10/2011 5:09 PM
pfattkatt
Posts: 2510 (0)
Hall of Famer
241 18 4 112 2 10
Hall of Famer
My son and I have a running trivia contest, in which we try and stump one another with sports trivia. I stumped him with a Wally Schang question. If I ask the question, you'll just look up the answer, So, can you guess the question? And, another great trivia question is: Which 3 baseball HOFers also played for the Harlem Globetrotters? I know you can look up the answer to the question, so I am not asking it to try and stump anyone. Rather, there is an article on Yahoo sports stating that Willie Mays also played for the Globetrotters, but I can find no other reports or confirmations of this. Does anyone know whether or not Mays ever played for the Globetrotters? He is not one of the 3 in the answer to the trivia question.
4/10/2011 5:53 PM
eastvanmungo
Posts: 4985 (5)
Hall of Famer
418 7
Hall of Famer
I often use a R/L platoon at catcher with the righty, lower PA guy having the A+ arm and the lefty high PA guy having the better bat. 

Ideally, if I set my settings right, good A+ arm guy will come in as a defensive replacement if the game is close, and the good bat guy will come in as a PH for my weak hitting guy if I need some runs.

Oh yeah to partially answer pfattkatt... not looking it up, IIRC, Bob Gibson (of all people) was a Globetrotter.
4/10/2011 10:21 PM
zubinsum
Posts: 1731 (0)
Hall of Famer
72
Hall of Famer
Posted by pfattkatt on 4/10/2011 5:53:00 PM (view original):
My son and I have a running trivia contest, in which we try and stump one another with sports trivia. I stumped him with a Wally Schang question. If I ask the question, you'll just look up the answer, So, can you guess the question? And, another great trivia question is: Which 3 baseball HOFers also played for the Harlem Globetrotters? I know you can look up the answer to the question, so I am not asking it to try and stump anyone. Rather, there is an article on Yahoo sports stating that Willie Mays also played for the Globetrotters, but I can find no other reports or confirmations of this. Does anyone know whether or not Mays ever played for the Globetrotters? He is not one of the 3 in the answer to the trivia question.
Bob Gibson is another.  I had to look up the other three (yes, there are four total).

I believe there was a Harlem Gobetrotters baseball team that Mays may have played for.
4/10/2011 10:51 PM
thunder1008
Posts: 1746 (0)
Hall of Famer
1675
Hall of Famer
I love Wally Schang (including the `15 version with the A arm who steals), Inge not quite as much although he has some pop.  No love for Charlie Dexter? 
4/11/2011 1:40 AM
bjschumacher
Posts: 4573 (0)
Hall of Famer
49 2 80 449 171
All Star
I just played Ganzel on a spring training team. Hitting 8th, he ended up hitting .405 with 7 ribbies. He obviously wouldn't do that over a full season. But that's good enough for me to give him a starting spot on my next OL team.
4/13/2011 8:06 AM
cwillis802
Posts: 1591 (0)
Hall of Famer
475
Prospect
This might be a dumb question, but it's along this topic. I haven't found a way in the draft to search for fielding attributes, such as catcher's arm.  Is there something I'm missing?  Basically I look for the offensive attributes I want and at the price tag I want to pay and hope some A+ arms show up on the list.

I'm going to try a platoon in the next league I join.  Probably a Johnny Oates/Pinky Hargrave combo.  Oates has an A+ arm and a .280-ish average while Hargrave is an A arm and .330.  Oates a lefty and Hargrave a switch hitter.  Thus far, I haven't liked using platoons but one thing about this game I like is experimenting to find good combinations.
4/13/2011 4:07 PM
thunder1008
Posts: 1746 (0)
Hall of Famer
1675
Hall of Famer
Click on any of the search categories and you will get a dropdown of dozens of different categories in which you can search.  Scroll all the way down to the last category, CSPCT (caught stealing percentage) and that will give you their arms.  The very top of the list is Johnny Roseboro, Ivan Rodriguez, Thurman Munson, etc., who have seasons with a CSPCT of .60 -- those are the so-called A++++ arms -- but I believe that A+ arms extend all the way down to a CSPCT around .40.
4/13/2011 6:17 PM
◂ Prev 123 Next ▸
Platooning catchers Topic
△Top△Bottom

Search Criteria

Terms of Use Customer Support Privacy Statement

© 1999-2024 WhatIfSports.com, Inc. All rights reserved. WhatIfSports is a trademark of WhatIfSports.com, Inc. SimLeague, SimMatchup and iSimNow are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts, Inc. Used under license. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.