While you can't look at CERA and infer too much from it about game-calling skill in any given season (because the samples are too small, and too biased), what the annual spread in CERA tells you is that the catcher himself is a significant factor in pitching (just as the home plate umpire is, as I've shown rather graphically with my attribution matrix). When, year after year, your CERAs range +/- 1 or 1.5 runs above league average...that means the catchers are doing SOMEthing...even if we have not yet quantified exactly how much they're doing individually.
The problem with CERA is that it's not Strength-of-Pitcher and Strength-of-Opponent adjusted. If someone bothered to calculate a CERA that accounted for which pitches Rob Johnson caught (and how many pitches from them he caught) and which hitters Rob Johnson was trying to get out (and how many times for each)...you would find a much more accurate evaluation. And I'm fairly certain he'd still be rated as one of the best pitch-calling catchers in baseball.
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