Is it ironic that the new St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny is a former big league catcher, and that at this very moment the St. Louis Cardinals are in negotiations with four time Gold Glove Award winner and catcher Yadier Molina? It’s safe to say that maybe Matheny understands the value to a solid catcher, who on most teams is a leader in more ways than one. A good catcher not only blocks balls in the dirt, aligns the defense, settles the pitcher down, visits the mound to break tension, tells the hurler to step out throw over, throws runners out, communicates with the manager and more importantly, calls the game. Insert Yadi who does all of these things extremely well and swings the bat a little. Well, swinging the bat a “little” is no longer a fair assessment. (more…)