Anthony -

Using Sweeney as a catcher, when he was rated as such, it completely different than using Barry Bonds behind the plate.

The primary bug in the programming has to do with non-rated catchers.

Sweeney was my primary catcher for those seasons, as I'm sure he was in most leagues for people that owned him. He was rated as a catcher and I make no excuses (shouldn't have to) for using him behind the plate. It's no different than using a RP to start (who had starts in real life), or using a 3B as a SS (who had time at SS), etc etc... I play the game as it's written as I think most everyone else does too.

Here are his defensive stats as a catcher for the 3 seasons I used him back there. BTW, in '97 and '98 he ONLY played catcher in real life....'99 was when he switched to 1B but still had time at both positions:

1997: 5.7 ODR, 6.6 ARM, 7.0 FPCT, 6.4PB, 3.5 Csubj

1998: 3.4 ODR, 4.0 ARM, 1.0 FPCT, 2.8PB, 4.0 Csubj

1999: 3.8 ODR, 5.5 ARM, 2.0 FPCT, 5.5PB, 1.5 Csubj

1997 and 1998, he had around 300 PA's, so I used him part time. 1999 he was a full time player, and I used all of his PA's as a catcher (and never carried a backup until rosters went to 35).

My point is that I don't understand why you would say, "If his defense had been appropriately penalized". He was a catcher-only in '97/'98 and did catch some in '99. Where's the problem here? He played to his defensive ratings.

Jon