Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

This is a question I've been wondering about for a long time ... is it really worth it to surrender offense to use a catcher with a -1 arm rather than a 0? In my experience, the -1 guys (and even -2s) still give up a lot of stolen bases.

I ask because I notice that Simmons's 2.55 card gets used a lot in Dunn. I was thinking a Simba/Nicosia platoon would provide pretty nice offense in the lower part of my lineup.

But maybe I should forego temptation and stick with the defensive specialists!

The best I can say is, 0 to -1 is only a 5% difference. I prefer to have a good arm behind the dish, but I like a -3 or better. If the offensive upside is a lot better, I'd take a 0 over a -1.

I did an evaluation of catchers arm strength over a decade ago and, using actuals, came up with these figures:

-4 arm = -7.7 700 defensive runs created (700DRC)
-1 arm = 3.64 700DRC
0 arm = 10.3 700DRC
1 arm = 18.3 700DRC

The biggest factor in arm strength value was not the just the % CS (-4 = 37.6%, 0 = 30.2%) but the attempted steals (-4 = 92.2, 0 = 205, ave = 145.4). That keeps a lot of runners at first out of scoring position and the double play a possibility.

I used the average pitchers arm value of the 50 or so most used pitchers at that time (-.5 I think was the figure) to arrive at these catchers numbers.

Maxie
Disclaimer: The use of Maxie's data may cause chills, sleeplessness, diarrhea, headaches, and occasional vomiting. Consult your doctor before using.

You forgot to mention the rash.

thanks! great work, Maxie, rash or not.