Defensive or hitting catcher?

[yjacket13]

I wanted to get some thoughts on this. I have noticed most managers prefer defensive. I have always drafted that way as well but I got to thinking.....500 at bats vs. number of stolen base success/ attempts. Most teams seem to fall between a .600 and .800 in stolen bases against them. Two to three more stolen bases out of 10 chances between the best and worst catchers drafted. Most of the time there are only several stolen base attempts per game. Also, there are only usually a couple of running teams in the league. Does it really matter that much? Would it be better to draft a hitting catcher? Do stolen bases impact the game more than a bat? On a side note I wonder how many people really consider pickoff moves and holding runners when drafting pitchers.

Personally I hate to drop big money on a catcher that has both. Especially since a good number of the catchers don't have the best injury rating.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts?

Buzz

[LMBombers]

I do pay attention to pitchers hold rating, WP, balk and e rate. I usually refer to these stats when I can't decide between this pitcher or that pitcher.

Sometimes people will give up on a high priced player at a certain position and just go for defense. In the 70's game for instance many people are happy with Roger Metzger who is a 1 at SS but can't hit a lick. His salary is 1.82M. With this strategy they will load up elsewhere and just go for defense at SS.

Sometimes people will go for a cheap strong armed C and get their offense elsewhere. This is the same type strategy. Some catcher's offense overcomes their defense. Ted Simmons in the 80's game and Mike Piazza in the 1999 game both have a +2 throwing arm but their bats offset this IMO.

Different strategies for different folks or sometimes just for different styles of teams from the same owner just to change things up.

[MARCPELLETIER]

Actually, the most important defensive feature of a catcher in strat is perhaps not the ability to prevent stolen bases, but the ability to block the plate. 10% of all throws coming at home are decided by the rating of your catcher. Plus of course, a good rated catcher will prevent wild pitches, saving a few runs there as well.

If you expect opponent teams to run over the centerfielder's arm, then I would suggest that you lean towards a very good rated catcher.

In one team, I have Suzuki (-5) at cf and Markakis (-3) at rf, so I feel safe to start with a 4-rated catcher.

[LMBombers]

Interesting Luckyman. I still value the preventing SB more as if you don't have a good C arm and T rating you will encourage more SB attempts which leads to more runners at 3B as the ball goes into CF.

Those walks or singles turn into doubles and triples.

[keyzick]

I've always concentrated on the low T and e ratings....disregarded the 1 through 4 ratings...and have sacrificed throwing arm for offense.

All this to save salary that I could better spend elsewhere, IMO...I favor the cheap platoons, but try to get the better defensive catcher to platoon against righties, since that's the majority of pitching matchups.

[GARYREININGER]

[quote:9fe2c21975]I've always concentrated on the low T and e ratings....disregarded the 1 through 4 ratings...and have sacrificed throwing arm for offense. [/quote:9fe2c21975]

Ditto

[SGTD]

I have to concur with the T-rating thought as I always target Y. Molina and forget that his T-rating sucks. I had a team that made 60 errors and he made 12 of them! SGT D http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/stratomatic/team/team_other.html?user_id=204606

[AeroDave10]

[quote:00d863441d="BED"]I have to concur with the T-rating thought as I always target Y. Molina and forget that his T-rating sucks. I had a team that made 60 errors and he made 12 of them! SGT D http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/stratomatic/team/team_other.html?user_id=204606[/quote:00d863441d]

That's peculiar because your team's pitchers also had pretty decent hold ratings (except Lohse, Bruney, and Madson), so I would think teams would be much less likely to steal. I see he only allowed 33 steals, throwing out 39% of runners. Guess the dice just didn't go your way those T-rating rolls.

It looks like the teams in your league stole a lot more bases than the average league, too, so some teams were able to stop them and some weren't.