Reputation Index: Catchers on the Outside Looking In

Occasionally, news interrupts the process and we have to stop and acknowledge it. Joe Mauer decided to call it quits after a brilliant 15 year career with the Minnesota Twins. He certainly could have caught on somewhere as a part-time DH and first baseman. If he cast his net out wide enough he could have even served as a regular player for another season or two. Yet, those seasons would have been marginal in nature in terms of replacement value. You have to admire someone that sees the writing on the wall.

Brian McCann is in a similar situation. He could continue as a part-time catcher for another season or two if he wants. He could return to Atlanta and share time with Tyler Flowers or catch on somewhere else and be a veteran caddie for a younger catcher. As of this writing, he has not made any announcements on his future. It is conceivable that he could retire as well. Since this is the case, it is high time we go back to the catchers outside of the Hall of Fame and look at their record with the reputation index.

In the interest of time, we will combine the modern catchers with those on the outside looking in. We are going to include all of the catchers we profiled in earlier posts and at least one more to pique everyone’s interest. Remember, we are only comparing catchers with catchers. Most of them tend to be negative in terms of the reputation index, but that might not always be the case.

MVP Points

I can’t stress this often enough. MVP points are not about how good a player really is. They are about how good the writers think a player is. That is largely about offensive numbers. Out of the group, it is possible that Molina may add a top 25 finish this season. He certainly put up some of the best offensive numbers of his career. However, the difference between how good these guys are and what people thought they were usually comes at the defensive end. While Molina won another Gold Glove (his ninth), the real numbers will likely reveal something different.

As for Mauer, what we can say is that MVP points are an excellent predictor of what the BBWAA is likely to do. After all, the same group votes for the Hall of Fame. We say Joe Torre is out of the Hall of Fame, but he does have a plaque there as a manager. So, the Veterans Committee has no reason to address his candidacy. We could call him there and leave it at that.

That leaves the tragic case of Thurman Munson. Unfortunately, you can never assume facts not in evidence. It is highly possible that he might have played another several productive seasons had he not perished in that plane crash. We will never know. The BBWAA thought highly of him, so if he had those seasons to his credit he would have likely been in as well. The rest clearly were lagging behind. Was that deserved?

BWAR Top Tens

Calling Gene Tenace the most underrated catcher of all-time is not that controversial. Bill James was making that point all the way back in the 1970s. In his case, it was more about them underestimating the value of walks. The same could be said for Russell Martin. The rest of the bunch fall well within the norm of what you would expect when you are looking at a group of catchers.

There are two big take aways when you look at this second table. First, I’m not quite certain how long Mauer will have to wait to get into the Hall of Fame, but barring anything catastrophic he will get in someday. Secondly, this test confirms our previous contention that Ted Simmons should have gotten in as well.

Author: sbarzilla

I have written three books about baseball including The Hall of Fame Index. I also write for thefantatasyfix.com. You can follow me on twitter @sbarzilla. View all posts by sbarzilla