Baseball things you're embarrassed to admit you don't know

[batmagadanleadoff]

This thread is a revelation because I thought that everybody here knew everything about everything.

Why can't options be based on statistcs? If not stats, then what?

[Frayed Knot]

What's good about the "slash" stats is not only do each of them individually tell you something but the relationship between the various numbers does also.

MLB as a whole hit .252/.320/.392 last season. That's down a bit from the high-flying years of the late '90s and early 21st century but still higher than what those who grew up watching in the '60s & 70s saw.
But what they also show is that a player who has 68 points of difference between his BA & OBA walks about the average amount of time as compared to everyone else. The only real exceptions that can skew that number are if someone gets a ton of intentional walks due to his surrounding lineup or gets plunked a lot as those would expand his 'walk rate' but at the same time exaggerate how good his "batting eye" is.

The difference between the BA & Slg is often called 'Isolated Power' (IsoP) and it's really a better number than just Slugging Avg itself for telling you about a batter's power. Since Slg Avg starts with BA as its base and then gives you extra credit so to speak for doubles & triples & HRs, a guy with a high BA will usually have at least a decent SlgA even with only occasional XBHs. Ichiro, for example, can "Slug" .450 but if that's with a BA of .360 the power isn't really that impressive, whereas a Mike Cameron type who usually bats in the mid-200s slugging .450 shows much more power. So rather than thinking that Ichiro & Cameron are equal sluggers due to their similar SlgA (very misleading) you look at Ichiro's .090 IsoP number and compare it to Cameron's .200 or so points and more clearly see the difference.

So when I look at "slash" stats I'll think about how 'walk rates' of around 65-70 points and IsoP rates of around 140-150 show average strike zone knowledge and power output and see if/how much a player is above or below those figures.
Guys whose walk rate gets over .100 or below .050 (with a decent sample size of course) show the extremes, the same for an IsoP of under .100 or over say .250 while the leagues top power hitters will have an IsoP that tops .300

[Frayed Knot]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Why can't options be based on statistcs? If not stats, then what?

Because of the idea that a player would then play strictly for his stats and not for the team; ex: trying to hit HRs in situations that didn't call for it only because he's got a contract bonus that'll pay him if he does.

[m.e.t.b.o.t.]

Frayed Knot wrote: Why can't options be based on statistcs? If not stats, then what? Because of the idea that a player would then play strictly for his stats and not for the team; ex: trying to hit HRs in situations that didn't call for it only because he's got a contract bonus that'll pay him if he does.

m.e.t.b.o.t. believes that contract options should be based on WPA, WAR, or schaeffer voting. m.e.t.b.o.t. believes that we now live in an age of sufficinetly advanced statistics that it is possible to evaluate players based on their contribution to the team instead of simply their own narrowly-defined counting statistics.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Edgy DC wrote: I've seen the Uptons a-plently, but I still don't know one from the other --- which team they're on, which one plays outfield and which one plays infield, who was the better prospect at the time of drafting. None of that. I sometimes forget which race they belong to. There's something about the occasional prospect that gets fantasy leaguers and draft followers and card-speculators drooling that totally turns me off and sometimes I never get over that and the player's career is half over or more before I bother paying attention to him. The Uptons were like that with me. I can tell you more about Khalil Greene than B.J. Upton, who I'll someday conflate with B.J. Surhoff.

Both of the Uptons play OF now, are black, were excellent prospects (Justin a little more so, due to perceived higher power/average potential, if a little less speed). Justin's a Snake, BJ's a Ray (but that might change later/after this season).

Edgy DC wrote: Four seams cutting through the air vs. two changes the air-resistance and therefore the movement and velocity, but I'll be damned if I can recognize the difference as they fly.

Two-seamer is held deeper in the hand (see Edgy's pic). The increased friction potentially leads to more direction change, usually via a "tailing" (toward the pitcher's-throwing-hand-side of home plate) and/or "sinking" action. Basically, if a guy's got a "movement" fastball-- Mariano's or Niese's cutter, Pelfrey's tailing fastball-- the two-seamer is probably it.(The "split-finger" is just a wider two-seam grip, held more loosely and a little further down the seam... hence, a fastball with change-up-type drop.)

Four-seamer is usually the straight gas. It's the one that, if thrown hard enough, looks like it might actually rise up in the zone (a la Lincecum, Kershaw, Strasburg or Maine). Unless someone's got funky arm motion, it usually doesn't move beyond that... but it can (Mejia's "cutter" is a four-seamer).

(Hooray for catching experience!)

[m.e.t.b.o.t.]

m.e.t.b.o.t. is unashamed to admit that m.e.t.b.o.t. does not know how to throw a baseball, or swing a baseball bat. m.e.t.b.o.t. has not been programmed with these abilities, and, more importantly, m.e.t.b.o.t. lacks sufficient articulation to grasp any sherical or cylindrical shapes regardless their size.

while m.e.t.b.o.t., when walking, does exhibit an arm swing, this is mechanically linkd to the walking motion. a small enough bat or ball could be placed in m.e.t.b.o.t.'s tiny hands, but the resulting actionwould most likely be termed "dropping" and not swinging or throwing.

m.e.t.b.o.t. is fortunate to not be programmed to generate the emotional response of embarrassment, lest the above admission bring about a selfimposed restriction in subsequent crane pool forum participation.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Huh! PhillieBot can throw a baseball!

[batmagadanleadoff]

Frayed Knot wrote: Why can't options be based on statistcs? If not stats, then what? Because of the idea that a player would then play strictly for his stats and not for the team; ex: trying to hit HRs in situations that didn't call for it only because he's got a contract bonus that'll pay him if he does.

Well then there's something that I'm not embarrassed to admit I didn't know. But I thought that so long as the contract guaranteed the minimum amount that the player was entitled to, per the CBA, than any additional amounts could be based on options, which in turn could be based on stats. If the team is worried that the option might induce the player to play selfishly to the team's detriment, then the team doesn't have to offer the particular option.

I'll look this one up later on. Not that I doubt you, but just to read the controlling language.

[soupcan]

Edgy DC wrote: I'm embarassed to admit that I don't understand how thrusting a bat through a circle in your fingers created by your thumb and index finger distinguishes filthy, perverted, gay sex from healthy, within-the-confines-of-marriage, heteronormative sex.

Because only gay men use bats for sex. Duh.

MFS62 wrote: I'd like to make the transition from thinking of a player in terms of average/HR/RBI to BA/OBP/SLG, but I still am not sure what is a good number to look for.

Sort of this for me too. I know what a .250 batting average is as opposed to .300 and .320, but I have difficulty discerning what a good OBP is for a leadoff hitter, a cleanup hitter, etc.

Also - I tend to lose myself in just observing the game as opposed to strategizing along with the manger. I wish it was second nature to me to know when to bunt, when to 'take two and hit to left', etc. The really obvious stuff I get, but it's the more intricate crap that befuddles me sometimes. My 14 year-old plays 2B on a travel team and I get a kick out of hearing him yell out different satrategic positions at the other infielders as the situations warrant. 'Pinch the middle!' is my favorite although I never know when he is going to scream it.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Frayed Knot wrote: Why can't options be based on statistcs? If not stats, then what? Because of the idea that a player would then play strictly for his stats and not for the team; ex: trying to hit HRs in situations that didn't call for it only because he's got a contract bonus that'll pay him if he does.

I figured the union would want a player's salary as unrelated to his actual performance as possible.

[dgwphotography]

Edgy DC wrote: I'm embarassed to admit that I don't understand how thrusting a bat through a circle in your fingers created by your thumb and index finger distinguishes filthy, perverted, gay sex from healthy, within-the-confines-of-marriage, heteronormative sex.

This way, the [sarcasm]esteemed[/sarcasm] Gloria Allred can make more money from the upcoming lawsuit with allegations of gay slurs included.

[Guest attgig]

Edgy DC wrote: I'm embarassed to admit that I don't understand how thrusting a bat through a circle in your fingers created by your thumb and index finger distinguishes filthy, perverted, gay sex from healthy, within-the-confines-of-marriage, heteronormative sex.

PUHAHAHAHA made me laugh so much. gloria allred.... *sigh*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKTSiH4bDtY

[m.e.t.b.o.t.]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Huh! PhillieBot can throw a baseball!

philliebot got booed.

m.e.t.b.o.t. doesn't get booed.

were m.e.t.b.o.t. ever subjected to such a rude display of human disrespect and ignorance, the human population would find itself suddenly decremented by sufficient numbers as to assure the incident neither continues nor repeats. about this, m.e.t.b.o.t. will say nothing else.

while m.e.t.b.o.t. is small and unarmed, and is no more difficult to kick down a road than a used and discarded hollow aluminum right circular cylinder designd to contain, protect, and facilitate the distribution of harvested and processed cream-style kernels of maize, m.e.t.b.o.t. has allies.

you have been warned.

[Guest attgig]

here's another one.....
who decided that today is a good day for day games? why can't every game on a weekday be a night game? do teams have to have a certain number of day games?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Travel days they try to schedule earlier games. Some of this dictated by CBA.

[Ceetar]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Travel days they try to schedule earlier games. Some of this dictated by CBA.

Giants are going home, playing tomorrow. a normal start ends at 7pm, by the time they could get changed and to the airport and take off, maybe 10. 6 hour flight, 4am and then they still have to get home from the airport and sleep and get to the park at 7.

I believe the CBA dictates that you can't play a night game on the west coast and a game on the east coast the next day. Although I think ESPN screws this up all the time.

[Gwreck]

There are exceptions for TV, plus exceptions for the fact that the Cubs mostly play during the day, or that it's hot in Miami and Arlington in the summer, etc.

Basic agreement is a fascinating read. PDF here.

[HahnSolo]

HOme opener in 2009 to christen Citi Field was a night game due to the fact that the Padres played a day game on the west coast the day before.