Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
MLB's Top 100 Players right now list is insane.
Each year MLB network airs a series of specials revealing their top 100 players coming in to the new season. Below is the complete list but before that, some initial thoughts:
Why is Ryan Howard here at all? I am just going to go ahead and say this, Ryan Howard is not a good baseball player. 9 years ago he was very good, he had one stellar year and then a few very good years. In the last three seasons he has been average at best and terrible at worst (his last three seasons WAR were -.1.0, 1.7 and 1.4). He strikes out constantly, can't hit lefties, doesn't get on base a lot and his power numbers are trending lower every year, yup that's your 100th best player in baseball.
Snubs : Obviously with a list of 100 guys you won't get too many flat out snubs but I see two glaring omissions here - Aaron Hill and Ben Zobrist. Hill posted a slash of .302/.360/.522 with 26 home runs while barely missing any games, I am guessing the knock against him is that he only had a great 2012 and the list is supposed to factor in three seasons but c'mon, Trout is # 1. The Zorilla remains a great player. He puts up above average offensive stats and continues to be the Shane Battier of baseball who kills it with stellar base running, defense and other hard to quantify stats.
They got #1 right: Mike Trout is the best player in baseball and should have been MVP this year. I am glad MLBN acknowledged this.
What will it take for R.A. Dickey to get some mother lovin' respect? Anybody who read this blog knows that it is largely devoted to trying to get people to respect how good Dickey is. R.A had quietly excellent seasons in 2010 and 2011 after which I felt he was one of the best pitchers in baseball, many people disagreed. The guy then comes out in 2012, wins a Cy Young, has one of the most dominant months of any pitcher ever, essentially invents a new kind of knuckleball, throws multiple one hitters and leads the leauge in IP and K's and comes in second for ERA and Wins. But how does MLBN rank him on their list...50. 50? 50! 50!!!
I mean this is honestly absurd. By any metric over the last three years R.A has been one of the best pitchers in baseball and was top 3 in 2012 and the best they can do is 50? For what it's worth, I think R.A. is the best pitcher in baseball, I can accept arguments that Verlander and King Felix are better but anyone else is not in the conversation. Even more so, in 2013, Dickey is going to be even better than last year.
Dickey rant over. The full list is below, shoot me tweets or comments with your thoughts.
____________________________________________________________________________
100. Ryan Howard – 1B – Philadelphia Phillies
99. Sergio Romo – CL – San Francisco Giants
98. Yu Darvish – SP – Texas Rangers
97. Elvis Andrus – SS – Texas Rangers
96. Chase Utley – 2B – Philadelphia Phillies
95. Adrian Gonzalez – 1B – Los Angeles Dodgers
94. Jacoby Ellsbury – OF – Boston Red Sox
93. Victor Martinez – C/DH – Detroit Tigers
92. Jordan Zimmermann – SP – Washington Nationals
91. Michael Bourn – CF – Cleveland Indians
90. Aroldis Chapman – P – Cincinnati Reds
89. Adam Wainwright – SP – St. Louis Cardinals
88. Jon Lester – SP – Boston Red Sox
87. Mike Moustakas – 3B – Kansas City Royals
86. Brett Lawrie – 3B – Toronto Blue Jays
85. Michael Morse – 1B/LF – Seattle Mariners
84. Allen Craig – 1B – St. Louis Cardinals
83. Torii Hunter – RF – Detroit Tigers
82. Carlos Beltran – RF – St. Louis Cardinals
81. Carlos Ruiz – C – Philadelphia Phillies
80. Brian McCann – C – Atlanta Braves
79. Miguel Montero – C- Arizona Diamondbacks
78. Curtis Granderson – CF – New York Yankees
77. Jim Johnson – CL – Baltimore Orioles
76. Jason Motte – CL – St. Louis Cardinals
75. Ian Desmond – SS – Washington Nationals
74. Chase Headley – 3B – San Diego Padres
73. Adam LaRoche – 1B – Washington Nationals
72. Yovani Gallardo - SP - Milwaukee Brewers
71. Madison Bumgarner – SP – San Francisco Giants
70. Alex Gordon – LF – Kansas City Royals
69. B.J. Upton – CF – Atlanta Braves
68. James Shields – SP – Kansas City Royals
67. David Freese – 3B – St. Louis Cardinals
66. J.J. Hardy – SS – Baltimore Orioles
65. Kyle Lohse – SP – St. Louis Cardinals
64. Wade Miley – SP – Arizona Diamondbacks
63. Johnny Cueto – SP – Cincinnati Reds
62. Jonathan Papelbon – CL – Philadelphia Phillies
61. Mariano Rivera – CL – New York Yankees
60. David Ortiz – DH – Boston Red Sox
59. Jason Heyward – RF – Atlanta Braves
58. Austin Jackson – CF – Detroit Tigers
57. Zack Greinke – SP – Los Angeles Dodgers
56. Chris Sale – SP – Chicago White Sox
55. Billy Butler – DH – Kansas City Royals
54. Bryce Harper – LF – Washington Nationals
53. Derek Jeter – SS – New York Yankees
52. Starlin Castro – SS – Chicago Cubs
51. Troy Tulowitzki – SS – Colorado Rockies
50. R.A. Dickey – SP – Toronto Blue Jays
49. Gio Gonzalez – SP – Washington Nationals
48. Matt Wieters – C – Baltimore Orioles
47. A.J. Pierzynski – C- Texas Rangers
46. Roy Halladay – SP – Philadelphia Phillies
45. Matt Cain – SP – San Francisco Giants
44. Pablo Sandoval – 3B – San Francisco Giants
43. Josh Willingham – LF – Minnesota Twins
42. Yoenis Cespedes – LF – Oakland Athletics
41. Matt Holliday – LF – St. Louis Cardinals
40. Ian Kinsler – 2B – Texas Rangers
39. Edwin Encarnacion – 1B – Toronto Blue Jays
38. Joe Mauer – C – Minnesota Twins
37. Jered Weaver – SP – Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
36. Jay Bruce – RF – Cincinnati Reds
35. Justin Upton – LF – Atlanta Braves
34. Dustin Pedroia – 2B – Boston Red Sox
33. Paul Konerko – 1B – Chicago White Sox
32. Aramis Ramirez - 3B Milwaukee Brewers
31. Brandon Phillips – 2B – Cincinnati Reds
30. Carlos Gonzalez – LF – Colorado Rockies
29. Ryan Zimmerman – 3B – Washington Nationals
28. Jose Bautista – RF – Toronto Blue Jays
27. Craig Kimbrel – CL – Atlanta Braves
26. Stephen Strasburg – SP – Washington Nationals
25. Jose Reyes – SS – Toronto Blue Jays
24. Yadier Molina – C – St. Louis Cardinals
23. Adam Jones – CF – Baltimore Orioles
22. David Wright – 3B – New York Mets
21. Buster Posey – C – San Francisco Giants
20. Cole Hamels – SP – Philadelphia Phillies
19. Cliff Lee – SP – Philadelphia Phillies
18. CC Sabathia – SP – New York Yankees
17. Andrew McCutchen – CF – Pittsburgh Pirates
16. Evan Longoria – 3B – Tampa Bay Rays
15. Giancarlo Stanton – RF – Miami Marlins
14. Albert Pujols – 1B – Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
13. Adrian Beltre – 3B – Texas Rangers
12. David Price – SP – Tampa Bay Rays
11. Prince Fielder – 1B – Detroit Tigers
10. Josh Hamilton – RF – Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
9. Joey Votto – 1B – Cincinnati Reds
8. Robinson Cano – 2B – New York Yankees
7. Felix Hernandez – SP – Seattle Mariners
6. Ryan Braun - LF - Milwaukee Brewers
5. Clayton Kershaw – SP – Los Angeles Dodgers
4. Matt Kemp – CF – Los Angeles Dodgers
3. Miguel Cabrera – 3B – Detroit Tigers
2. Justin Verlander – SP – Detroit Tigers
1. Mike Trout – LF – Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Why is Ryan Howard here at all? I am just going to go ahead and say this, Ryan Howard is not a good baseball player. 9 years ago he was very good, he had one stellar year and then a few very good years. In the last three seasons he has been average at best and terrible at worst (his last three seasons WAR were -.1.0, 1.7 and 1.4). He strikes out constantly, can't hit lefties, doesn't get on base a lot and his power numbers are trending lower every year, yup that's your 100th best player in baseball.
Snubs : Obviously with a list of 100 guys you won't get too many flat out snubs but I see two glaring omissions here - Aaron Hill and Ben Zobrist. Hill posted a slash of .302/.360/.522 with 26 home runs while barely missing any games, I am guessing the knock against him is that he only had a great 2012 and the list is supposed to factor in three seasons but c'mon, Trout is # 1. The Zorilla remains a great player. He puts up above average offensive stats and continues to be the Shane Battier of baseball who kills it with stellar base running, defense and other hard to quantify stats.
They got #1 right: Mike Trout is the best player in baseball and should have been MVP this year. I am glad MLBN acknowledged this.
What will it take for R.A. Dickey to get some mother lovin' respect? Anybody who read this blog knows that it is largely devoted to trying to get people to respect how good Dickey is. R.A had quietly excellent seasons in 2010 and 2011 after which I felt he was one of the best pitchers in baseball, many people disagreed. The guy then comes out in 2012, wins a Cy Young, has one of the most dominant months of any pitcher ever, essentially invents a new kind of knuckleball, throws multiple one hitters and leads the leauge in IP and K's and comes in second for ERA and Wins. But how does MLBN rank him on their list...50. 50? 50! 50!!!
I mean this is honestly absurd. By any metric over the last three years R.A has been one of the best pitchers in baseball and was top 3 in 2012 and the best they can do is 50? For what it's worth, I think R.A. is the best pitcher in baseball, I can accept arguments that Verlander and King Felix are better but anyone else is not in the conversation. Even more so, in 2013, Dickey is going to be even better than last year.
Dickey rant over. The full list is below, shoot me tweets or comments with your thoughts.
____________________________________________________________________________
100. Ryan Howard – 1B – Philadelphia Phillies
99. Sergio Romo – CL – San Francisco Giants
98. Yu Darvish – SP – Texas Rangers
97. Elvis Andrus – SS – Texas Rangers
96. Chase Utley – 2B – Philadelphia Phillies
95. Adrian Gonzalez – 1B – Los Angeles Dodgers
94. Jacoby Ellsbury – OF – Boston Red Sox
93. Victor Martinez – C/DH – Detroit Tigers
92. Jordan Zimmermann – SP – Washington Nationals
91. Michael Bourn – CF – Cleveland Indians
90. Aroldis Chapman – P – Cincinnati Reds
89. Adam Wainwright – SP – St. Louis Cardinals
88. Jon Lester – SP – Boston Red Sox
87. Mike Moustakas – 3B – Kansas City Royals
86. Brett Lawrie – 3B – Toronto Blue Jays
85. Michael Morse – 1B/LF – Seattle Mariners
84. Allen Craig – 1B – St. Louis Cardinals
83. Torii Hunter – RF – Detroit Tigers
82. Carlos Beltran – RF – St. Louis Cardinals
81. Carlos Ruiz – C – Philadelphia Phillies
80. Brian McCann – C – Atlanta Braves
79. Miguel Montero – C- Arizona Diamondbacks
78. Curtis Granderson – CF – New York Yankees
77. Jim Johnson – CL – Baltimore Orioles
76. Jason Motte – CL – St. Louis Cardinals
75. Ian Desmond – SS – Washington Nationals
74. Chase Headley – 3B – San Diego Padres
73. Adam LaRoche – 1B – Washington Nationals
72. Yovani Gallardo - SP - Milwaukee Brewers
71. Madison Bumgarner – SP – San Francisco Giants
70. Alex Gordon – LF – Kansas City Royals
69. B.J. Upton – CF – Atlanta Braves
68. James Shields – SP – Kansas City Royals
67. David Freese – 3B – St. Louis Cardinals
66. J.J. Hardy – SS – Baltimore Orioles
65. Kyle Lohse – SP – St. Louis Cardinals
64. Wade Miley – SP – Arizona Diamondbacks
63. Johnny Cueto – SP – Cincinnati Reds
62. Jonathan Papelbon – CL – Philadelphia Phillies
61. Mariano Rivera – CL – New York Yankees
60. David Ortiz – DH – Boston Red Sox
59. Jason Heyward – RF – Atlanta Braves
58. Austin Jackson – CF – Detroit Tigers
57. Zack Greinke – SP – Los Angeles Dodgers
56. Chris Sale – SP – Chicago White Sox
55. Billy Butler – DH – Kansas City Royals
54. Bryce Harper – LF – Washington Nationals
53. Derek Jeter – SS – New York Yankees
52. Starlin Castro – SS – Chicago Cubs
51. Troy Tulowitzki – SS – Colorado Rockies
50. R.A. Dickey – SP – Toronto Blue Jays
49. Gio Gonzalez – SP – Washington Nationals
48. Matt Wieters – C – Baltimore Orioles
47. A.J. Pierzynski – C- Texas Rangers
46. Roy Halladay – SP – Philadelphia Phillies
45. Matt Cain – SP – San Francisco Giants
44. Pablo Sandoval – 3B – San Francisco Giants
43. Josh Willingham – LF – Minnesota Twins
42. Yoenis Cespedes – LF – Oakland Athletics
41. Matt Holliday – LF – St. Louis Cardinals
40. Ian Kinsler – 2B – Texas Rangers
39. Edwin Encarnacion – 1B – Toronto Blue Jays
38. Joe Mauer – C – Minnesota Twins
37. Jered Weaver – SP – Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
36. Jay Bruce – RF – Cincinnati Reds
35. Justin Upton – LF – Atlanta Braves
34. Dustin Pedroia – 2B – Boston Red Sox
33. Paul Konerko – 1B – Chicago White Sox
32. Aramis Ramirez - 3B Milwaukee Brewers
31. Brandon Phillips – 2B – Cincinnati Reds
30. Carlos Gonzalez – LF – Colorado Rockies
29. Ryan Zimmerman – 3B – Washington Nationals
28. Jose Bautista – RF – Toronto Blue Jays
27. Craig Kimbrel – CL – Atlanta Braves
26. Stephen Strasburg – SP – Washington Nationals
25. Jose Reyes – SS – Toronto Blue Jays
24. Yadier Molina – C – St. Louis Cardinals
23. Adam Jones – CF – Baltimore Orioles
22. David Wright – 3B – New York Mets
21. Buster Posey – C – San Francisco Giants
20. Cole Hamels – SP – Philadelphia Phillies
19. Cliff Lee – SP – Philadelphia Phillies
18. CC Sabathia – SP – New York Yankees
17. Andrew McCutchen – CF – Pittsburgh Pirates
16. Evan Longoria – 3B – Tampa Bay Rays
15. Giancarlo Stanton – RF – Miami Marlins
14. Albert Pujols – 1B – Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
13. Adrian Beltre – 3B – Texas Rangers
12. David Price – SP – Tampa Bay Rays
11. Prince Fielder – 1B – Detroit Tigers
10. Josh Hamilton – RF – Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
9. Joey Votto – 1B – Cincinnati Reds
8. Robinson Cano – 2B – New York Yankees
7. Felix Hernandez – SP – Seattle Mariners
6. Ryan Braun - LF - Milwaukee Brewers
5. Clayton Kershaw – SP – Los Angeles Dodgers
4. Matt Kemp – CF – Los Angeles Dodgers
3. Miguel Cabrera – 3B – Detroit Tigers
2. Justin Verlander – SP – Detroit Tigers
1. Mike Trout – LF – Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Over/unders are here!!!
My grand plan for the year is bet on all thirty team over/unders. Most of these will be small bets just to have some skin in the game because a lot of these lines are tough picks but their are a few locks I have my eyes on too that might get big wagers. Throughout the month I will post my picks and the research behind them. Some initial thoughts:
The AL east can't all be good: These are the lines for the AL East:
|
BAL
|
78.5
|
|
BOS
|
84
|
|
NYY
|
88.5
|
|
TAM
|
85.5
|
|
TOR
|
88.5
|
Logic would dictate the division cant all finish this high so some teams have to go under. Last year all but one division in baseball had a team finish with under 70 wins and the remainder (the four team Al West) had one at 75. It would seem that at least one of these teams is a sure under. For my money it's Boston. they didn't make big upgrades this off-season and I see no reason why they should be significantly better than their 69 win season last year.
I respect that the linemakers saw the luck the Orioles had last year and gave them a low line despite being a 90+ win team in 2012, it really shows some sophistication. That being said 78.5 is probably close to the mark for them, I like the under but it won't be much.
They got the Mets right: The line for our Mets is at 75, which seems just about perfect. Again I might bet the under here as we barely limped to 74 wins last year and we had the benefit of a lucky first half and a Cy Young winner. In the same vein I won't be at all shocked if we get to 76 or 77 (but not the 80 PECOTA has for us, that's just ridiculous).
Can you really do worse than 59? The two lowest lines come in at 59.5 for our class of '62 pledge brother Houston Atsros and 63.5 for the Marlins. I am always tempted to take the over when the lines get really low like this. I honestly believe it is difficult to win less than 60. Obviously this happens (the Atsros themselves did it with 55 last year) but I still think it is a somewhat reliable bet. Who know's with the Marlins? Like James Bond in Skyfall, the Marlins skill is resurrection. We have watched the owners of this squad gut the entire team on multiple occasions then come back and be successful a year later, so I just cant count them out.
I will be back as Spring training continues with detailed analysis and picks for each team.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
My Daytona 500 live blog part 2
1:09 - Fifty Cent just tried to kiss Erin Andrews on the lips and is now following her around as they both fail to locate Danica Patrick, this is truly riveting television.
1:10 - Wow the Daytona 500 features a televised, pre race invocation. I have literally never seen that before a sporting event. Now a guy from Zac Brown's band who isn't Zac Brown is signing the national anthem, seems like an odd choice.
1:16 - How come tv technology does not allow me to just watch four programs at once on a split screen? This seems so logical to me. As much as I am enjoying the 500 so far I am missing, golf, spring training baseball and La Liga.
1:18 - Watching these drivers get strapped into their games is pretty surreal. Danica had tubes coming into her helmet for a purpose that was unclear.
1:25 - These guys have giant neck brace car seats and black mesh on the windows. Do they have any peripheral vision, is that safe?
1:31 - OK this race is finally happening. How on earth does this work?! They are just riding along in two straight lines? How does anyone pass anyone else?
1:35 - That problem seems to have solved itself, the lines have broken and leads are changing already. This is kind of exciting.
1:36 - I have no idea what I am even supposed to watching for. Jeff Gordon is in the lead but I don't think that matters. This just feels so dangerous to watch.
1:38 - They keep the race on in a sidebar during commercials? This is he best sports idea ever.
1:43 - Their are commercials promoting NASCAR during NASCAR commercial breaks. IN fact pretty much of all these commercials reference the race in some way.
2:00 - Just saw my first crash. It was terrible, cars seem pretty wrecked and run off the track yet the announcers see pretty blase about it. I guess crashing isn't a big deal?
2:07 - So it appears that crashing does not out you out of the race, it looks like they are gonna try and patch up Cokey Cokeart and send him back out there.
2:08 - This in-car gyro cam really makes you understand how crazy the degrees on these turns on. It looks like they are driving sideways on some of them.
2:38 - The dynamic of how the crash reflects the outcome is incredible. A few drivers who appeared to be top 5 favorites are now out, easy to see how upsets happen in this sport.
2:39 - I am going to watch for a while and try to figure out what's happening. I will make sure to post some further reflections later.
1:10 - Wow the Daytona 500 features a televised, pre race invocation. I have literally never seen that before a sporting event. Now a guy from Zac Brown's band who isn't Zac Brown is signing the national anthem, seems like an odd choice.
1:16 - How come tv technology does not allow me to just watch four programs at once on a split screen? This seems so logical to me. As much as I am enjoying the 500 so far I am missing, golf, spring training baseball and La Liga.
1:18 - Watching these drivers get strapped into their games is pretty surreal. Danica had tubes coming into her helmet for a purpose that was unclear.
1:25 - These guys have giant neck brace car seats and black mesh on the windows. Do they have any peripheral vision, is that safe?
1:31 - OK this race is finally happening. How on earth does this work?! They are just riding along in two straight lines? How does anyone pass anyone else?
1:35 - That problem seems to have solved itself, the lines have broken and leads are changing already. This is kind of exciting.
1:36 - I have no idea what I am even supposed to watching for. Jeff Gordon is in the lead but I don't think that matters. This just feels so dangerous to watch.
1:38 - They keep the race on in a sidebar during commercials? This is he best sports idea ever.
1:43 - Their are commercials promoting NASCAR during NASCAR commercial breaks. IN fact pretty much of all these commercials reference the race in some way.
2:00 - Just saw my first crash. It was terrible, cars seem pretty wrecked and run off the track yet the announcers see pretty blase about it. I guess crashing isn't a big deal?
2:07 - So it appears that crashing does not out you out of the race, it looks like they are gonna try and patch up Cokey Cokeart and send him back out there.
2:08 - This in-car gyro cam really makes you understand how crazy the degrees on these turns on. It looks like they are driving sideways on some of them.
2:38 - The dynamic of how the crash reflects the outcome is incredible. A few drivers who appeared to be top 5 favorites are now out, easy to see how upsets happen in this sport.
2:39 - I am going to watch for a while and try to figure out what's happening. I will make sure to post some further reflections later.
My Daytona 500 live blog.
Sabrmetrics teaches us to question what we traditionally consider to be true and find true value through data. In many ways my discovery of sabrmetrics and the adoption of this core mission into my everyday life has really changed me for the better. If Wins and OPS aren't what I thought they were, what else am I wrong about? As this is a sports blog I can share that how this idea has changed how I watch sports in many ways. Certainly it has led me to learn more about advanced metrics in other sports but it has also led me to simply watch new sports. I grew up thinking soccer was stupid but I never really watched any games, I gave it a chance and now it's one of my favorite sports. I hated hockey and decided to watch it a bunch to see how I really felt...data proves it still sucks.
This brings me today where for the first time in my life, I am watching NASCAR. I have never had even the slightest intrest in watching NASCAR but today I am going to actually give it a chance. I will be watching the Daytona 500 and live blogging as I go. Feel free to tweet or comment at me with any thoughts about the race.
12:12 - I am watching the pre game show and they are making a big deal about the new Generation six cars. Apparently they are debuting all new cars this year. I have a feeling these cars won't look as futuristic as I hope.
12:13 - So what do I know about NASCAR right now? I know probably four of five drivers. I am aware of Danica Patrick and Dale Earnhardt JR. I just learned about Juan Pablo Montoya and I already like him, he seems like some sort of international gentleman driver. I am also aware that drifting exists.
12:15 - I once went to the Daytona 500 track so see what it was all about. It was closed so I went next door to (no joke) the adjoining dog track. It was exactly as depressing as you would imagine. I was their with my buddy who is a veterinarian which I thought would give me a huge edge. He informed he had no ability to judge which dogs were faster, but if given some time he could determine which had worms. Attached to the dog track is an even more depressing poker room full of people trying to turn their last ten bucks into that precious twenty bucks so they could afford a single lap dance at one of Daytona's many fine gentlemans clubs.
12:20 - Watching a short doc about Clint Boyer. He is driving around in a huge camouflage car with bull horns mounted on the front. He is describing how he hates offices and can't read more than a page of a book without getting bored and needing "action". This is both incredibly stereotypical yet quite charming.
12:28 - Seeing some familiar faces here, Erin Andrews is interviewing some driver who is talking like a real world housemate. He keeps saying he likes to ruffle feathers and cause controversy to see who's "real". I love these personalities already.
12:29 - Are their NASCAR stats?
12:32 - Zac Brown is performing, this is can get behind. Although it's one of his island songs which I am not a fan of. Also what's up with Zac's wool hat? Is this a trademark or is his head just cold a lot.
12:44 - Driver introductions on now. They are playing poorly amplified apocalyptic music and the drivers are very casually walking out to minimal applause. The production value is really low in this section, they are walking onto a tiny stage with humorously small fireworks going off periodically They could learn a lesson from pro wrestling here... that sound's like Dave Blainey's music!
12:48 - Tony Stewart walks out boldly brandishing a bottle of coke and showing it directly to the camera then holding it up to the crowd. They should just announce him as Cokey Cokeart driving the Coke car.
12:50 - As Danica came out they announced her as the pole sitter. I know this has something to do with her starting position but the unintentional humor can't be denied.
This brings me today where for the first time in my life, I am watching NASCAR. I have never had even the slightest intrest in watching NASCAR but today I am going to actually give it a chance. I will be watching the Daytona 500 and live blogging as I go. Feel free to tweet or comment at me with any thoughts about the race.
12:12 - I am watching the pre game show and they are making a big deal about the new Generation six cars. Apparently they are debuting all new cars this year. I have a feeling these cars won't look as futuristic as I hope.
12:13 - So what do I know about NASCAR right now? I know probably four of five drivers. I am aware of Danica Patrick and Dale Earnhardt JR. I just learned about Juan Pablo Montoya and I already like him, he seems like some sort of international gentleman driver. I am also aware that drifting exists.
12:15 - I once went to the Daytona 500 track so see what it was all about. It was closed so I went next door to (no joke) the adjoining dog track. It was exactly as depressing as you would imagine. I was their with my buddy who is a veterinarian which I thought would give me a huge edge. He informed he had no ability to judge which dogs were faster, but if given some time he could determine which had worms. Attached to the dog track is an even more depressing poker room full of people trying to turn their last ten bucks into that precious twenty bucks so they could afford a single lap dance at one of Daytona's many fine gentlemans clubs.
12:20 - Watching a short doc about Clint Boyer. He is driving around in a huge camouflage car with bull horns mounted on the front. He is describing how he hates offices and can't read more than a page of a book without getting bored and needing "action". This is both incredibly stereotypical yet quite charming.
12:28 - Seeing some familiar faces here, Erin Andrews is interviewing some driver who is talking like a real world housemate. He keeps saying he likes to ruffle feathers and cause controversy to see who's "real". I love these personalities already.
12:29 - Are their NASCAR stats?
12:32 - Zac Brown is performing, this is can get behind. Although it's one of his island songs which I am not a fan of. Also what's up with Zac's wool hat? Is this a trademark or is his head just cold a lot.
12:44 - Driver introductions on now. They are playing poorly amplified apocalyptic music and the drivers are very casually walking out to minimal applause. The production value is really low in this section, they are walking onto a tiny stage with humorously small fireworks going off periodically They could learn a lesson from pro wrestling here... that sound's like Dave Blainey's music!
12:48 - Tony Stewart walks out boldly brandishing a bottle of coke and showing it directly to the camera then holding it up to the crowd. They should just announce him as Cokey Cokeart driving the Coke car.
12:50 - As Danica came out they announced her as the pole sitter. I know this has something to do with her starting position but the unintentional humor can't be denied.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Mets Outfield Projections
Grantland took a break from recapping episodes of Girls and writing oral histories of the tuck rule game to post a pretty solid article about how bad the Mets outfield will be this year. It's a premise I generally agree with but thought it would be fun to take a look at some Bill James predictions of the Mets outfield and see just how bad they might end up. Seriously is there anything better than it being almost Spring and spending all day looking at PECOTA and Bill James projections? There should be a Robert Frost poem about it....
|
|
AVG
|
OBP
|
SLG
|
|
Baxter
|
.276
|
.362
|
.405
|
|
Nieuwenhuis
|
.259
|
.329
|
.414
|
|
Duda
|
.268
|
.356
|
.454
|
As you can see these numbers are all pretty awful but certainly not as bad as Grantland made them out to be. You have two guys with above average OBP and one right at league average, SLG and BA numbers are low and below average but no embarrassingly so. Duda's .454 is not the worse and Baxter's .276 is totally serviceable. I think we could estimate that if these numbers play out and they play similar defense to what they did last year we are looking at each of these guys producing about one win above replacement each.
We shouldn't get the impression the Outfield is dragging down the team, they are just a bunch of average to below average players on a team of so so guys. They are no worse than our Catchers or bullpen and our occasionally inconsistent 1st and 2nd base options.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Michael Bourn Projections
|
Projection
|
BA
|
OPS
|
SLG
|
WAR
|
Bill
James
|
.273
|
.344
|
.363
|
no
projection
|
|
Fans
|
.277
|
.348
|
.369
|
4.7
|
These numbers are nothing shocking and generally in line with what Bourn has done most years. He is also projected to steal between 40-49 bags differing by system and have a K% of around 20, right in line with his average. Bourn's strikeouts are an interesting question. How much should we care about a guy who strikes a lot if he still gets on base at a rate of better than league average? His career OBP is a respectable .339, he overcomes his prodigious striking out with good hitting and speed. He has a career BABIP of .343 and outperforms league average almost every year. This is far too consistent to be luck, he is just legging out singles most guys can't make. I think at the end of the day his OBP makes his K% less of a worry but it makes me imagine how awesome he could be if cut down the strike outs.
Bourn's other big skill is stealing, which I think we should not factor in. Bourn has pretty reliably gotten caught stealing around 25% of the time which is a pretty bad rate. The value of a steal is much less than the detriment of being caught stealing and having a guy get caught one out of every four times is not something I am all that interested in.
At the end of the day I don't see this signing happening. If it does and it gets done for reasonable years and money Bourn can be a very useful player for the team as they slowly march towards relevance.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
What if we had a two year NFL season?
The Superbowl is over and once again I am left wondering the same thing, what exactly does winning the Superbowl mean? Were the Ravens the best team in football? Does winning the Superbowl make you the best team in the NFl or do we have to factor in the rest of the season as well? As a follower of statistics I tend to believe the latter. I think everyone would agree that the Broncos and the Patriots were the consensus best teams in football this year and that multiple other teams (Seahawks, Falcons, Niners and Texans to name a few) had better years than Baltimore. But yet here we sit with Baltimore as the World Champions and the rest of those teams as, well, nothing.
The goal of the NFL is not to establish who the best football team is, the goal of the NFL is to win the Superbowl. The season has two distinct halves, neither of which have much to do with the other. In the regular season the goal is to get into the playoffs, ideally you want enough wins to get either a bye or home field advantage but generally just getting in is the goal. Winning as many games as possible helps but after awhile, wins become kind of meaningless and we are treated to the annual absurdity of teams not trying to win in the final week (or occasional two weeks). After this the playoffs begin and as the Ravens showed us, nothing that came before mattered. Once you are in the playoffs you are essentially playing a new season and everyone is on the same ground. The playoffs are of course single elimination, which means that better teams routinely lose to lesser teams on freak plays, off days or bad luck. The NFL playoffs embrace chaos.
All American sports are the same but most not as egregious as football. In baseball lesser teams can combine skill and luck over the course of a season and make the playoffs over more talented squads but they usually get weeded out over the course of multiple long series (I'm looking at you every Oakland A's team of the last 12 years). While often times the best team in a given year does not the win World Series, the winner is usually a top club as the roughly 200 games they play tends to weed out a lot of luck. The long NBA season and crushingly long seven game series playoff model also serves a similar function of weeding out many elements of chance. The NFL has none of this, it's rare combination of a very short season and single elimination playoff model all but assures that luck is almost as important in skill when it comes to winning the Superbowl.
The most extreme example of this was in 2008. The Patriots finished the regular season with an all time best 16-0 record and went on to lose to the 10-6 Giants (who lost their division by three games) largely because of a play that was complete and utter dumb luck. The narrative of that season is now that the 2008 Giants were the best football team that year and the Patriots, who by all accounts had one of the best football seasons ever, were not. Now you may say this is part of the game. This is what makes football special and I can't disagree with that, it is part of the charm of the game. However I think it would be interesting to explore how we might create a system that would largely eliminate luck from the game and truly reward the best football team each year: So let's once again summon Uatu the Watcher and imagine... what if the NFL had a two year season!?
Outrageous! Blasphemy! Maybe, but hear me out. Instead of having a normal 16 week season followed by playoffs we adopt a new system that plays out over two years. Here is how I imagine it would work: The first year teams play a twenty game regular season that runs on the same September to February schedule we have now. This season then breaks for the Spring and Summer and begins again the next September and plays nine more regular season games for a total of a 29 game regular season.
After this we move into the playoffs. Their are no wildcards and only divisional winners advance. The Divisional and Conference championships consist of best of three games match up with each team getting a home game and the third game going to the team with the better record. The best part? The Superbowl is a five game series! You may have to wait two years for it but when it comes you get potentially five Superbowls in a row. No additional games have been played under this system, the Superbowl teams will play a maximum of 40 games over two years, exactly the same as now.
Obviously this system still allows for luck and chance but the odds of less talented teams advancing are shrunk considerably. The longer 29 game season will ensure that only the best teams who can sustain long periods of success will make the playoffs. In addition the mid year break gives teams a chance to overcome injuries or other mitigating circumstances that might prevent them from playing as well as possible.The playoff system is still imperfect teams can easily luck their way through three and five game series but the odds of it happening are much lower with each game we add. In short, this system promotes better teams making the playoffs. It gives you better football.
One problem with this system is how it affects the bad teams. Jacksonville Jaguars fans will be stuck watching 29 weeks of meaningless football and waiting two year intervals for any chance of their team to make the playoffs again. I think we can solve this by also solving one of footballs other big problems, it's draft system. Currently football teams are rewarded for finishing last with the top draft picks the following year. This leads to a system where after it becomes clear you can't make the post season you essentially have no incentive to win games. In fact, winning games after you are eliminated from post season contention actually hurts your overall chances of winning in future years. Under my new system we will invert this process. The teams that make the playoffs will be immediately get the bottom draft picks in order to encourage parity. After that the #1 draft pick will go to the team with the best regular season record and on down the line. This will ensure that every team will be playing hard to win every single game regardless of whether they can make the playoffs or not. You will still have something to root for in week 29 even if it's not a shot at the Superbowl.
I think the best proof a system like this could work can be seen in European soccer leagues The English Premier League is often derided for it's lack of parity. Since it's modern reorganization in 1992 only five teams have the championship. One of those teams, Manchester United, has won it twelve times. This is because the EPL has a system that rewards the best clubs. Teams play a 38 game season, at the end of the season the team with the best record wins it at all. Their are no playoffs and the season is long enough to make sure only the best teams can compete. The only reason the league lacks parity is because the best teams always win, which in the NFL is not the case.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Hockey stats, Czech dominance and Howie Rose.
The first exposure I had to Hockey was the classic NES game "Ice Hockey". Ice Hockey taught me a few things about the game, some of which later turned out to be false.
1) Hockey is played with five guys. Seriously I found out this was wrong last week.
2) Hockey teams need to have a strong mix of small, medium and super fat players in order to be successful. The fat guys are the best at scoring goals while the small ones are good at face-offs. It turns out none of that is at all accurate.
3) Czechoslovakia is a dominant hockey nation, this turned out to be true.
Being a stats guy I have started delving into the world of Hockey stats. Frankly I don't like what I am seeing so far. Why is points a thing? Maybe it's my lack of familiarity with the sport but this seems like a wholly unnecessary statistic. Why can't I just look at Goals and Assists separately? This statistic seems to give them equal value but from what I can tell, Goals have more value than Assists. If two players each have 20 points and one has 15 goals and 5 assists and the other guy has the opposite, wouldn't the guy with 10 more goals be the more productive player? This seems like making a baseball statistic that is just the sum of hits and runs. Maybe someone who knows more about Hockey can explain this to me.
I realized last night that Howie Rose, the voice of the Mets on the radio, is also the Islanders TV announcer. This makes me instantly like the Islanders more and ensures I will be watching more of their games. I also saw that the Washington Capitals just won their first game yesterday, mirroring their city mates The Wizards who took the longest time to win an NBA game this year. I have yet to see the defending champion Kings play a game yet so I will give them a watch tonight. After about a week of watching I remain as clueless as ever and still don't understand icing.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Thoughts on the Marcum signing.
| Sweet cap bro. |
The Mets signed Shaun Marcum to a one year deal today. Marcum is one of those guys that Fantasy players know all too well, a just good enough pitcher to get drafted late in deeper leagues or pick up for spot starts in shallow ones. Also file under this category: Bruce Chen and Tim Wakefield. Marcum has been up and down in his career and could really go either way in 2013. I would not be surprised to see him pitch a full season, win over ten games and have a mid three's ERA just as I wouldn't be surprised to see him pitch 100 innings and have an ERA over four. You just can't be sure with Marcum.
Marcum looks like an OK pitcher with standard stats. He has had two seasons of more than ten wins and a career ERA of 3.76. His career xFIP was higher at 4.21 indicating his ERA might be a bit inflated by good defense and luck. His peripheral stats are also not that amazing. His career k/9 is 7.32 which is good but not great and his career walks per 9 is also a just OK 2.77, again not awful but nothing to be excited about. His hr/9 is a frightening 1.22 which is amongst the worst in baseball.
In many ways Marcum strikes me as a guy whose good seasons may have been a combination of luck, circumstance and minimal skill. When you give up a homer a game and don't strike too many guys out, it's going to be a tough year. Fortunately circumstances are with him in 2013, he will be playing in the NL and at a pitchers park, so their is no reason his past successes cant be repeated.
This is sort of the kind of signing I was advocating the Mets should make it. In a year when we have no chance of being competitive the Mets should be seeking out players who need to have come back years and will take one year deals to prove themselves. It gives the Mets a few more wins in a meaningless 2013 while not tying them to any bad contracts in future more competitive years. Frankly I was hoping they would sign some guys like this that would also be name players that would make it a little more exciting to watch Mets baseball, someone like Melky Cabrera. While Marcum fills a gap usefully on the rotation he is hardly the kind of guy anyone is clamoring for.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Gettin' to know Landon Powell
Last week the Mets signed free agent Catcher Landon Powell to a minor league contract. Powell came out of the awesomely named Apex High School (Go Cougars!) in Apex, NC where he left early but failed to be drafted after Scott Boras apparently failed to inform MLB clubs that he was eligible to be drafted. Powell ended up at USC where he played in the College World Series.
Powell went on the A's where he has been less than stellar. In 403 major league at-bats he put a meager .207/.284/.328. His minor league numbers are better but generally inconsistent. His best AAA season was in 2008 when he hit 15 homers and put a respectable .360 OBP. Unfortunately I dont think Powell has much of a future. He is 30 and he hasn't broken through yet. His stats show a guy who has consistently done or two things good enough to keep around but not someone who will have long term success in the show. Signing with the Mets is probably a solid career move for him. The Mets have questionable catching and will probably be in an experimental mode while they bide their team for a competitive 2014, so maybe he gets some AB's and can produce something.
Powell went on the A's where he has been less than stellar. In 403 major league at-bats he put a meager .207/.284/.328. His minor league numbers are better but generally inconsistent. His best AAA season was in 2008 when he hit 15 homers and put a respectable .360 OBP. Unfortunately I dont think Powell has much of a future. He is 30 and he hasn't broken through yet. His stats show a guy who has consistently done or two things good enough to keep around but not someone who will have long term success in the show. Signing with the Mets is probably a solid career move for him. The Mets have questionable catching and will probably be in an experimental mode while they bide their team for a competitive 2014, so maybe he gets some AB's and can produce something.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Hockey is confusing and long.
I watch a lot of sports. I only blog about the Mets and baseball but I am a regular viewer and follower of most other US sports at the college and pro level and a few international sports as well. Pretty much the only sports I don't follow are auto racing and Hockey. This is the story of my attempt to fix that, at least on the hockey end.
Growing up I didn't really know anything about Hockey and no one I knew seemed to follow it. I know that Rangers won the Stanley Cup while I was living in NY and remember not only not caring but actively thinking that it was weird how little people seemed to care about the fact that a local sports team won a championship. Later in life I lived in places where hockey was popular and once a year I would say I was getting into hockey, watch it for twenty minutes, then give up. Well this year I am trying again and blogging about it, largely because the baseball off season is so slow right now and I need something to write about.
The Hockey season began today and so far I have watched two games. A Pennsylvania Derby between the Penguins and the Flyers and a Rangers - Bruins game, which I assume is a rivalry since it between Boston and New York but I really don't know. As I type this I am catching the end of a Montreal Canadiens and Toronto (no idea) game, it features charming plugs for CBC police procedurals airing after it ends. So far I would describe my first experience of all day hockey watching as confusing and I hate to say it.. boring.
Hockey is a really, really long game. Interminably long. I mean, it has two half times and the clock seems to stop constantly. After watching Hockey for eight hours my first recommendation is that they should get rid of one of the periods, three seems excessive. It is also really hard to follow, half the time it seems the camera operators have trouble finding the puck, what luck do I have? I know that at one point they made the puck colored on TV so people could see it. Apparently this was unpopular because they don't do it anymore, but I am not sure why.
In general I have no idea what is happening on the ice half the time. Let's begin with I do know about hockey.
- I understand the essential basics. I know the puck goes in the net and what not.
- I know that their is icing and off-sides and that one of them involves the blue line, I have no idea what either means, what the penalty is or how you commit these offenses. I used to turn it off in NHL 94 so I never learned.
- I know their is fighting and from what I can tell it is against the rules but also seems allowed. This is very confusing.
- I know the LA Kings won the Stanley Cup but aren't expected to repeat. I don't understand why the Canadian teams don't just dominate this sport.
- Unlike NHL 94 the real sport dosen't appear to have the "one timer" or the ability to do the thing where you skate from behind the goal and score easily.
That's about it.
As the season moves forward I will continue to watch and try to understand this mysterious and confusing sport. Maybe by the end I will be able to understand icing...
Friday, January 18, 2013
Rafael Soriano is worth more than Dickey.
Which one of these statements is true? R.A. Dickey is underpaid or Rafael Soriano is overpaid? Probably both, but I don't even know how to properly value contracts anymore. Their doesn't appear to be any normal baseline for what players should be making to judge contracts against. This was the off-season in which Angel Pagan got a forty million dollar contract after a sub par season and Anibal Sanchez signed with the Tigers for EIGHTY MILLION DOLLARS. By this logic we would have to assume that R.A. Dickey (2 years,25 mil) is marginally worse than Soriano (2 years, 28 mil) and that Sanchez is over three times better than R.A.
A simple WAR analysis shows Dickey as the clearly better pitcher:
|
Player
|
WAR
|
|
Dickey
|
4.6
|
|
Soriano
|
1.2
|
|
Sanchez
|
3.8
|
I know many people don't like WAR but I think Dickey blows these two out of the water in any statistical category you can find, he would even win the much maligned "eye test". Frankly Dickey is better than about 99% of all players right now including every single NL pitcher is the Cy Young Award means anything. What's the point of all this? Baseball players get screwy contracts all the time, A-Rod is the current beneficiary of the wackiest contract of all time. I just felt it should be pointed out that Raf Soriano just got a better deal to go be the third closer in Washington than a twenty game winner did. I hope if he we hear this stuff often enough we might start to see how ludicrous it is and start giving Dickey the respect (and money) he deserves.
Friday, January 11, 2013
First thoughts on World Series Odds
I took my first look at World Series futures bets today and to no ones surprise the Angels and Blue Jays are the favorites to win. Both teams I would be happy to see go all the way, especially my (recently) beloved Blue Jays. The Angels have a slight advantage going at +700 and the Blue Jays at +725. Defending champion San Francisco Giants are actually in 8th place with +1300 odds.
Some of these are truly confusing. The Ray are 12th most likely at +1900 that's five spots behind the Yankees at +1100. I cant tell if this is crazy or pragmatic By any metric the Rays are a better team than the Yankees but none the less the Yankees almost always make the playoffs and despite what it looks like now they will somehow probably end up making it next year. The A's and Orioles are both listed with worse odds than the Red Sox who finished 2012 with less than 70 wins and the Phillies who did nothing this off season but get a year older. I don't really oppose the idea that the A's and O's aren't going anywhere. Both of them played a very lucky, unsustainable style last season and are sure to regress back to their actual talent levels I just think the Sox and Sillies are just as bad.
As for the Mets they are listed as more likely to win than eight other teams: Marlins, Indians, Padres, Mariners, Cubs, Twins, Rockies and Astros. On this list I thought the Mariners were a better team than us last year and have not gotten any worse in the off season while the Mets suffered a serious downgrade in starting pitching. The odds for the Mets to win are +6000 the exact same odds as the Pirates. Frankly I would be insulted if I was a Pirates fan. The Bucco's led their division for a while, narrowly missed the playoffs and played pretty good baseball all year. They are without a doubt more likely to succeed than the Mets this year. As for my money, my initial bet goes as always, with Dickey. Let's go Jays...
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Deacon White, Hall of Famer.
 |
| Bare handed era, you think Barry Bonds could have played bare handed? |
What can I say about the Hall Of Fame vote today? Nothing. I can say nothing at all. The HOF has no legitimacy whatsoever with me and the BBWAA are all haughty dicks who operate beyond the rules of logic and common sense. So what should we talk about instead? How about our old friend Deacon White, the only baseball player who will be inducted into the Hall of Inconsistent Nonsense that Rewards an Idealized but Ultimately False Past that Never Existed in the First Place and is Populated with the Same Types of Guys we Turned Away Today but whom we have Fetishized into Pure Heroes who did nothing but Drink Milk, Fight Nazis and hit Dingers (the HOINRUUFPNEFPPSTGTATFPHDMFND) this year. Deacon was elected by the Veterans Committee of said body in December.
Deacon White was born in 1847 and had a storied career with such notable clubs as The Cleveland Forest City's, The Detroit Wolverines and The Reds. He played Catcher and Third Base during the lesser known "bare hand" era which probably wasn't as bad it sounds considering the pitchers of the era probably didn't throw very hard and judging by Deacon's stats, the ball didn't seem to make it to the mitt very often.
Deacon was a prolific contact hitter apparently, with a career K% of 3.2 including his epic 1874 season in which he struck out ZERO times. Don't you just love old timey baseball records? They have no relation whatsoever to the game we understand today. In 1874 this dude had 374 plate appearances and never struck out. Yet he only batted .300 (his BABIP was actually unlucky by modern standards at .294 but not knowing the baseline of 1870's baseball it's kind of meaningless). He also didn't even walk a lot that season, drawing only four walks. Let's review, he had zero strike outs and four walks in an entire season. And it wasn't even that great of a season for him. He fared better in 1877 when he put up .387/.405/.545 with eight walks, three k's and two home runs.
Upon retirement he had accrued 2066 hits, a .312 batting average and a career WAR of 42 which is the exact same Placido Polanco currently holds. This seems unfair at best as Polanco regularly strikes out more than two times in a season and as far as I can tell never batted .387. Deacon White did this all the right way, without indoor plumbing, processed foods or electricity, unlike the glory boys of today.
As you can probably tell I assembled this article with no original research aided only by Fangraphs and Wikipedia. I am a pretty prolific Wikipedia reader and I must say this little section from Deacon White's page is an absolute gem:
"According to Lee Allen in The National League Story (1961), White was one of the last people to believe that the earth is flat. He tried and failed to convince his teammates that they were living on a flat plane and not a globe; they ridiculed him. Then one asked to be convinced, and the Deacon gave him an argument suited to the hypothesis that the earth is not really turning. He convinced the teammate but the argument would not prove that the earth is not a sphere.
Welcome to the Hall Deacon.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
The Carl Pavano Problem
Recent reports indicate that the Mets are interested in signing Carl Pavano and that shockingly Pavano is in talks with five other teams. Seriously? C'mon. At this point the only explanation is that I have somehow traveled to the bizzaro world in which being bad at pitching is a coveted trait.
Pavano is so old he pitched for the Expos. He has a career hr/9 of over 1.00 and has posted an ERA over 5.00 six times in his fourteen season career. That is just awful. You may remember last year we examined The Joe Blanton Paradox that explored why Joe Blanton, a sub par pitcher, remained a valued commodity. Pavano shares some of the same traits Blanton does:
1) He won a World Series: Any pitcher that is a part of a World Series winning team, especially if they have a good start in said World Series get an exemption from being valued properly. It's kind of like how winning a Major gives you a guaranteed ten years on the PGA tour.
2) He had some good years: In Pavano's case he had three years spread over his 14 in which he posted sub 4.00 ERA's and lots of innings pitched.
3) Subject of Media Speculation: For the second year running Pavano remains one of the last available "name" starters and therefore gets an inordinate amount of time devoted by the 24 hour baseball press to covering where he might go. This lead to an inflated idea of Pavano's actual worth.
4) He accrues Wins: Pavano has over 100 career wins including 18 and 17 win seasons. People love pitcher Wins despite the logical case against them, kind of like how people enjoy CBS sitcoms.
Blanton's other point was that he was an A which Pavano does not have going for him. I have identified two other aspects that lead to Pavano's over hype.
5) He was an All Star: Pavano made one All Star team in 2004. At best this indicates his skill in the 2003-2004 season which was, ya know, 8 years ago. Mostly this just allows announcers to say "here comes former all star Carl Pavano" whenever he comes in further making us believe the myth of the good Carl.
6) He has a clear identifiable skill: Pavano does not walk many people. It is a perfect skill for sports talk shows because someone can throw this out there in a quick conversation and it makes him sound great. The problem is Pavano also does not strike anyone out (career k/9 of 5.49) having once pitched a whole season with a k/9 of 3.18. Also he doesn't walk a lot of batters because he gives up a lot of hits.
Wouldn't it just be the height of absurdity if we sent away our brilliant 37 year old pitcher with several years ahead of him and replaced with a broken down 37 year old pitcher who has almost never been good. It would be the Metsian thing to do in this situation.
Monday, January 7, 2013
The unluckiest man in baseball
BABIP is without a doubt one of my favorite statistics. Whenever someone is having an unprecedented hot or cold streak you can almost always find a spike or dip in BABIP to accompany it and help explain the bad or good luck that player is experiencing. Today I thought it would be fun to explore some of the unluckier players in baseball this year. First off the man with lowest batting average on balls in play and therefore our unluckiest player of the year is... Cleveland Indian Justin Smoak.
The Smoak monster had a paltry .242 BABIP and an accompanying batting average of .217. His career BABIP over three seasons is actually quite low at .255 so one has to wonder if Smoak is super unlucky or is actually batting in a way that causes a greater percent of his balls in play to be successfully fielded. He doesn't hit many line drives (18% career) favoring grounders and fly balls (82% career) which probably has a lot to do with his low BABIP.
The second unluckiest man in baseball was our old favorite, the hard partying, Ike Davis. Ike had a .246 BABIP that led to a .227 BA. In his other full season Ike went the opposite direction and had a lucky bat (.321 BABIP) and a higher but not great BA of .264. Frankly we haven't seen what Ike will do when he his BABIP averages out closer to the baseline but logic would dictate he would be somewhere between .230 and .260. Ike is young however and his swing can change. It will have to frankly, he will either need to become a better average hitter to couple with his decent power numbers or become a better power hitter to go with his low average.
Number three on the list is Adam Dunn, who just fascinates me. Dunn just kind of looks like a high school bully, if someone were to make a movie of his life, he would almost certainly be played by 80's character actor Donald Gibb (he of Ray Jackson and Ogre fame). Dunn was regarded by many to have had a comeback year this year posting a .204 batting average (he has a BABIP of .246 and a K% of 34.2, the highest in baseball) which was in fact a huge improvement of his 2011 average of .159. Pretty much all Dunn did this year was hit 41 home runs. Now I would never sneeze at 41 home runs, that is an elite power hitting season by any standard but you have to question how valuable those 41 homers are when you pretty much only hit a homer or don't reach base at all. The real question is how Dunn even got this second chance after 2011 when batted .159 and shockingly hit just 11 homers.
| This is perfect casting. |
| Conversely Dunn could play Ogre in a Revenge of the Nerds remake. |
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Gettin' to know Andrew Brown
You should really be watching more French Ligue 1 soccer. I know what your saying, even the French don't watch french soccer but it none the less is pretty much the only exciting ligue right now. The Prem is pretty much locked up at this point (and was kind of locked up pre season), Barca has a 9 point lead in La Liga, Juventus has an 8 point lead and is cruising towards another Scudetto and in the always coldly efficient Bundelisga, Bayern Munchen has a 9 point lead. Ligue 1? Three way tie for first! PSG (the Yankees of Ligue 1), Olympique Lyon (the A's/Rays) and Marseille (I got nothing) each have 38 points going in to the winter break. We still have a lot to cheer for in other leagues but as far as winning a title, Ligue 1 is where it's at. Oh and the Mets signed some guy named Andrew Brown.
Brown needs to get some better PR people because his wikipedia page is sorely lacking. He was drafted by the Cardinals in 2007, played in the Rockies organization and has generally been subpar. in 148 pro plate appearances he has put up .224/.284/.396. His numbers in the minors have shown some quality though. He played 100 games for the Rockies AAA squad in 2012 an put a very impressive: .308/.364/.597. Andy is entering his age 28 season at which point his talent level is likely entering it's peak so tin 2013 we will see if he is someone to watch or a career AAA guy.
Brown needs to get some better PR people because his wikipedia page is sorely lacking. He was drafted by the Cardinals in 2007, played in the Rockies organization and has generally been subpar. in 148 pro plate appearances he has put up .224/.284/.396. His numbers in the minors have shown some quality though. He played 100 games for the Rockies AAA squad in 2012 an put a very impressive: .308/.364/.597. Andy is entering his age 28 season at which point his talent level is likely entering it's peak so tin 2013 we will see if he is someone to watch or a career AAA guy.
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