Just laughing at my own typo.

I see no reason why stats and scouting should not be used in tandem, rather than at the exclusion of the other.

Just because something is not easily calculated nor numberically quantified, does not mean it does not exist nor that it is not valuable.

Sometimes, it seems both sides lose track of the value of both.

It would seem to me, that when teams offer these veteran catchers/players some type of contract that does not make sense in regards to the “on field stats”, that rather than just assume all GMs are dumb or neanderthals, that maybe there is some value to these players that is not obvioius with the statistics. It just seems crazy to me that the default position (in all area of critics really) is that “those in charge do not know anything”, rather than giving them the benefit of the doubt. It’s a false dichotomy that is set up so the “critic always wins”.

I don;t get it. I am NOT at all suggesting sites stop evaluating such things with statistics and player value calculations, just that perhaps the tone of such rigid conclusions should change or perhaps be open to other possibilities, variables, etc.

Whether or not it was worth 3 million dollars not isn’t up to me, but I don’t think that you can just quantify the baseball game like this. Doesn’t fangraphs still hold the position that saber stats are only PART of the equation? Turning each player into a figure like that is scarily similar to the structure of our globalized capitalist system..it is dehumanizing and fails to consider the personal aspects behind the numbers.

And what about the bellcow effect? Already Matt Capps and Jason Marquis have stated that they are now considering signing with the Nats specifically because they signed Rodriguez. If they choose Washington for the same money (or less) than what they would have taken to sign with other teams, how much is that worth? Neither guy is really a huge impact player but if that causes a domino effect of other quality players looking at the Nats as a possible destination whereas before they had no interest, how much was Rodriguez worth then? Do Jason Kendall or Greg Zaun have that kind of cache?

It seems you have some formula that derives the total value of a person and his potential value enabling you to sum up Rodriguez’ in a tidy little number and state unequivocally $3 million is too much. We have a good idea what he’s worth on the field but I would love to see what the other aspects are worth. Please share.

We saw an extreme example of this in the WS.

I think people look at it incorrectly. It’s not as if some catchers have the mystical ability to call a pitch that the batter was totally not expecting. That’s just foolish … and well, an easy Strawman to destroy.

It is extremelly comfortable being able to just pitch and call what the catcher is calling because he’s perceptive at what you are doing that is working, what hitter’s are having a difficult time with, the scoutring reports, etc.

Sometimes we get too damn dumb about this stuff as if Glavine’s “out pitch” is a slider with one catcher and a “change-up” with another. It’s the same for all pitchers, you throw what’s working best at the time. Like I said, the most important thing is to be “in synch” with your catcher, preferably also congruent with scouting reports and what was decided at team meetings, etc.

The last thing you want is you catcher to be a “time out” that intterupts your pace and focus. Frustrating.

Pitchers throw what THEY want to throw most of the time. You just ask for your catcher to be on the same page as to NOT interrupt what you’re doing. We go too far with assuming that catcher have lots of variance in how they call a game. I will say that catchers can have some variance in how they RECEIVE a game, namely in how they set up (timing, target, etc) and frame pitches, that can get you some advantages here and there.

If they need someone just to teach.. hire a coach. That’s a lot cheaper. It’s certainly less than they’re overpaying Pudge.

As for catcher’s era or “handling the staff…” Keith Woolner’s classic studies found no measurable evidence for this.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=1489

I’m going to need to post this a lot

I’m losing it.