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More on the 00T2 backup catcher situation

Posted By Jon

Mike asked me to reply here on the discussion board about the backup catcher situation in 00T2:

I didn't notice that Kreuter was missing until game 2 when I faced Zito and was missing him. Like I said, I checked my roster and made my final roster movements for the postseason last Tuesday when they became available and did not check my roster at all until the games were activated (didn't feel there was any reason to, this was a home series to start and I my roster was in place since Tuesday, I didn't anticipate the robot making a change for me). After I noticed him missing when I loaded my vs LHP lineup against Zito in game 2, I didn't bother emailing Mike and asking for a switch, thinking there's no way that would get done after the rosters were locked and my series had already started (also wanted Benes active to start, not Neagle or Radke, but again I figured that switch wasn't going to happen after my series had already begun.

Tim said he checked rosters Saturday night and that you had replied that I had both catchers. Sunday morning when games were activated is when the oddity must have happened where my roster was moved w/o my direction. The only thing I can think of is a glitch in the wornout auto-drop feature (both player that were dropped were wornout at season's end).

I've played with Kreuter as my platoon catcher all season, obviously I wouldn't purposefully put him on the farm and willingly not want to use him against Zito, Leiter, Hammond and Wagner, that would be completely foolish.... especially when the extra player on my roster (instead of my backup catcher) is Alomar or Shumpert (neither of which start games for me and rarely get pinch hits).

I've abided by the 2 catcher rule all season and 00T2 is obviously has a platoon situation with Kreuter having 1.303 LOPS and my other two catchers having LOPS splits in the .600's. The only time one of my other catchers faced LHP all season was the 3 weeks that Kreuter was down with injury and during blowouts when I didn't want to waste his usage, but all season I've had 2 catchers active and setup my playoff roster accordingly. What happened to my active roster after I did that was out of my control, and when I noticed it I figured it was too late. Plus, I figured there was no way a switch would be made since adding my missing platoon catcher at that point would have been hugely in my favor (unlike a typical situation where a manager is trying to avoid a 2nd active catcher).

Something in the system made an error and I've been penalized for it. I'm already missing one of my better SP on the farm (Benes), and I know that this can not be corrected because I've already used the guy (Radke) that was brought up in his place (by the system). On the other hand, I think the situation should be corrected by making Kreuter active (instead of LaRue) since it's obvious who the real platoon catcher is (LaRue won't see a pitch all series if he stays active). I'm going to get hammered by LHP this series w/o Kreuter and I'd hate to lose a series due to a glitch in the PB system that made roster movements out of my control.

Thanks for listening.

Jon