re young catchers mss netcom com mark singer said in article blue cis pitt edu genetic pitt edu david m tate writes well perhaps if the braves had no one else worth playing this year it would be lopez in there but they do have others worth playing at least in their opinion catcher is their weakest position with the possible exception of second base they have a chance to simultaneously replace their biggest offensive problem spot with a well above average offensive player and acclimate a highly promising potential star with no pressure on him to carry the team and they want to play olson and berryhill instead i disagree in that i don t think it is a tangible skill any more than leadership is i don t deny that it is a real skill and that some catchers may be much better than others at it but i really don t see any way that we could ever know who they are nichols s law of catcher defense is eerily accurate far too often for me to take defensive assessments of catchers very seriously sorry new don t know nichols law a catcher s defensive reputation will be inversely proportional to his recent offensive level of performance thus mickey tettleton goes in the media from being a no hit defensive whiz to a slugging thumb finger in two short years the rule doesn t apply to perceived superstars who get the gold glove offensive transfer effect instead greg olson is probably considered to be a good defensive catcher precisely because he can t hit don t believe in catchers era but i am interested in pitchers eras with different catchers aren t they the same thing in other words we know more than they do so the only logic behind a different decision than we would make must be financial either that or just stupidity i presume we feel this way about other franchises than atlanta no of course is it fair to the young players no does it make organizational sense i think it does well if it does make organizational sense one can hardly fault them for their decisions i mean please don t tell me how to run my business especially when i m being successful one could make the same sort of argument in other cases pete rose in pursuing ty cobb s record was a huge gate attraction and national media magnet the reds made a lot of money off that they also wasted the prime of eric davis that may be good business but that doesn t mean i don t loathe them for it david m tate i do not know what it is about you that closes posing as and opens only something in me understands e e can the pocket of your glove is deeper than pete rose s dy cummings nobody not even tim raines has such soft hands
