One of the completely ridiculous statements leveled at perfromance analysts–or “statheads,” if you prefer–is the idea that they need to get their heads out of a stat book and watch a game once in a while. It’s silly, because the analysts I know not only watch a ton of baseball, they have a love for the game that’s not found in many places. Personally, I watch as much MLB as I can, and most of my column ideas come from watching games, both in person and on television.
I was reading the most recent issue of Sports Illustrated yesterday, which includes an article chastising Tiger Woods for not being more involved in the effort to get Augusta National Golf Club to admit a woman member.
Going over the article, I couldn’t help but think of the controversy surrounding the Hall of Fame’s decision to cancel festivities celebrating the 15th anniversary of the release of “Bull Durham.” Hall president Dale Petroskey called off the event, citing the anti-war views of stars Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, and the possibility that the two would turn the ceremonies into a platform for their opinions.
Adam Kennedy’s injury opens a roster debate in Anaheim, the Braves try to sprinkle Mazzone dust on Shane Reynolds, Geoff Jenkins mixes in his requisite five games played before his next injury, and the Devil Rays celebrate Greg Vaughn’s signing in Colorado by grabbing John Rocker.
Some time ago, I wrote a column on a few of the new ballparks, and using the available evidence on their dimensions, speculated on how they’d play. In response to that column, I got a particularly cool question from a number of different readers. That is: “What would the best pitchers’ park look like?”
I love the questions that stick in your craw. How far back do you push the fences before today’s home runs and many line drives become inside-the-park four-sackers, for instance?
In order to answer this question, I took the liberty of persuing our list of historical park factors, and did some sorting, some grouping, and some determining of thresholds.
The good word on Greg Maddux, precautionary MRIs, a clarification on pitcher abuse, and more developments in the Mysterious Case of C.C. Sabathia.
There are lots of ways to present numeric information. In addition to just handing someone a big stack of numbers, you can create charts or graphs until the cows come home or the Tigers score five runs in a game–whichever comes first. In many circumstances, there will be some sort of an industry standard, and if you choose to diverge from that standard, you can bet that some of your very valuable time is going to be spent justifying your deviation from the norm. That’s what’s been going on in the baseball media and front offices for nearly a quarter century now–trying to change the norms of what information is used to evaluate players.
There are 30 teams in MLB, 25 players per team, for 750 roster spots total. We put out a book with about 1,600 players in it. You’d think we’d be able to cover those 750 roster spots, but no, every year MLB teams manage to find players we didn’t cover and give them uniforms on Opening Day. Right rude of them, we think. So here’s what we’ve been able to dredge up on the 37 guys we’ve identified as being on an Opening Day roster but not in Baseball Prospectus 2003.
A box score’s value is greater than the sum of its roto points. Weather, crowd size, umpiring crew, pitcher abuse, baserunning blunders, ball/strike and groundball/flyball ratios, substitution patterns, clutch hitting, clutch pitching–with enough time and a high enough geek quotient, you could nearly recreate an entire game from a box score.
Last Thursday night Minnesota beat Detroit 3-0 in front of less than 9,000 customers, a quick, two-hour game that produced a nice line for Kyle Lohse but not much else for the highlight reels. It’s a box score you could scan in seconds if you were looking for roto events. But if you spent some time with it you could figure out nearly as much of what happened as if you had been there.
Keith Scherer kicks off the first in a weekly series looking at box scores from the past seven days. In his review of the boxes, he’ll scan for trends and tendencies, using the names and digits you see in agate type every day.
The Braves hit yet another setback on the mound, A.J. Burnett takes a step closer to returning, and the Angels experience the other side of “baseball luck.”
From Mark Prior to Greg Maddux to Rich Harden, Joe Sheehan discusses the
performances of stud starters–present, past and future.
I recently wrote an article on teams that have improved by 20 or more Equivalent Wins (EQW) in a single year, EQW being wins adjusted to a 162-game season. In modern non-strike seasons, EQW and wins are generally equivalent, but this simple measure allows us to compare shorter seasons more equitably. If you want to better understand the concept, just read the first few paragraphs of the
The Padres should be more worried about their young third baseman than the Angels should about theirs, Kevin Millwood’s comeback could give the Braves an even greater sense of longing, and the Royals eagerly await Carlos Beltran’s return, first place or not.
What’s the best pitcher in the world worth?
Let’s imagine for a moment that Pedro was right now putting his 2004 services up on the open market. Of course, that’s not what he’s doing–but indulge me for a moment.
The Snakes bury John Patterson, the Red Sox sort through a batch of soft tossers, the Marlins vie for a 25-catcher roster, and the Devil Rays solve all their problems by grabbing Al Martin and Damion Easley.
Mark Verstegen founded Athletes’ Performance in Tempe, Az. in 1999. Previously a coach at Washington State University, Verstegen also worked as Assistant Director of Player Development at Georgia Tech, where he built and implemented performance programs for football, men’s basketball and golf. He started the International Performance Institute in Bradenton, Fla. before moving to Arizona. Athletes’ Performance’s clients include numerous NFL players, professional golf, tennis, and basketball players, multiple amateur athletes, and an array of Major League Baseball players, including Nomar Garciaparra, Pat Burrell, and Adam Dunn. Verstegen recently chatted with BP about training methods for baseball players, the importance of injury prevention for athletes, and the challenges facing young athletes.