Quote Originally Posted by softailrider View Post
In addition, my thought is this team has so much talent it should be able to almost manage itself.
Three words of caution, Softrailrider: New York Yankees. Stacked with stars year after year. Doesn't always gel into winning. 2006 they had a better roster than we did, but we kicked their butts. Two other words of caution: Barry Sanders. You can't have a prima donna for whom individual achievements supercedes team cohesion. Ausmus will have to be tough to put these great parts into winning order, and keep them there.

Additionally, about catchers. Catchers, at least at the professional level, are actually sort of an onfield coach. They call pitches, see the plays going on [[it's the only position that sees the whole field). They interact with umps and opposing batters. It is no surprise that they can go on to be good coaches and managers.