lferenti123 wrote:Speaking of catching platoons- I like to use Sandy Leon v RH and Jesus Sucre v LH. When I use this particular platoon I also carry an additional 500,000 catcher that has a fairly neutral split. The offensive production in minimal but, at 1,280,000 for the trio, I have more cap space to boost production at other positions. I tend to be more defensive minded than most and this inexpensive trio does a nice job limiting base stealers. Nothing drives me crazier than allowing my opponent to run wild on the bases. When walks/singles turn into doubles, the double play is basically eliminated and the number of hits needed to score a run greatly decreases. I may be wrong in my thinking, but I feel that this low budget trio benefits my pitching staff enough to justify their lack of offense. Any offense they happen to provide is a bonus. Also- with 3 catchers on the roster it's less risky to pinch hit for them in the later innings. I'd love to hear any contrarian thoughts on my reasoning. Be well...
Some contrarian thoughts
I like the idea of spending almost 100% on defense for your last spot---in recent teams, I have had Galvis (1.04M at ss) or Sogard (0.54M at 2nd) hit in the last offensive slot---with the logic you describe of getting cheap good defense and spending big dough on other players. But I don't consider catching as important as ss or 2b.
First, negative hold can come from your pitchers' hold, rather than from your catcher. As you may know, by rule, the combination of hold ratings cannot be below -5. If Sale is pitching, then your catcher's arm is "effectively" only -1, not -3. And having a combo of -5 will prevent stolen bases, true, but it will also prevent caught stealings. So personnally, as long I keep a 2:1 ratio of allowed SB:CS, I feel at ease with having a catcher arm that is just average or worse. And Hal is not particularly clever with the stolen base strategy. It's far from automatic that a single will turn into a double because of a base runner. And besides, if there is not two outs, there is no double play to be saved. Overall, I would be surprised if you can get more than 20 double plays over a full year because you have a stellar defensive catcher. Maybe in ATG, but certainly not in 2015.