Edmonds is my choice too, year after year this guy hits a ton against us, the spectacular catches are a given since he does that everyday against any team.
How would you suggest he prove that to you? Never mind that his last year in NY was mediocre, he had his best season maybe 7 or 8 years last year, and he's having the best season in his entire career this year with Ausmus catching him.
By agreeing with him, naturally. If it was just Roger, you might have a point, gw, but this same sentiment has been voiced repeatedly by many members of the pitching staff, coaching staff, Hunsicker, Purpura, etc.... The Astros view catcher as a defensive position first and foremost, this philosophy is not unique to this organization though.
If it's regarding his personal experience in a baseball game, yes, I will trust what he says over someone who's never played professional baseball before. I know that it's a wacky position and all...
So, you would buy anything that Joe Morgan says? Hum. See, I might be inclined to believe Clemens if he can actually demonstrate it empirically. I will take things on faith when it comes to religion, but in baseball I need proof. I do agree with you that I can't actually hate any home team player, regardless of his suckiness.
If he can empirically disprove the following: For now, at least, the hypothesis most consistent with the available facts appears to be that catchers do not have a significant effect on pitcher performance. See - http://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/20020529aim.shtml
The problem with proving or disproving CERA is that it's almost impossible to find a significant sample size to compare results with. If you were trying to figure out if Ausmus was having a positive impact on a guy like Roger Clemens- how would you find the innings on both sides of the equation to make any data meaningful. Besides - Roger Clemens feels more comfortable throwing to Ausmus. Even if Ausmus doesn't handle a pitching staff a great deal better, the pitchers certainly feel that he does - and I would certainly argue that the confidence in Ausmus positively affects a pitcher's performance.
