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I’m with Zimmer. If anything stands between you and the base, you go through it. If the player didn’t want to get hurt because it’s a spring training game, then don’t stand there. You think they don’t finish checks in hockey exhibition games? The only time you hold back is when it’s your teammate.
And to top it all off, Girardi was a big league catcher. Shame on you.
Basically, for a $25 or $30 markup on the price of your ticket, you get all the free food and drinks you can consume (other than beer). I don’t understand the complaint of some, other than they get the chance to be quoted in a newspaper, like this guy:
Nothing new, just a recap of some things going on around the web.
(Hat tip: USSM)
There are more than six times as many pitching changes in a game now than there were two generations ago. That’s a huge change in the game. And it’s not a change for the better, in my view. Maybe it’s a change for the better in terms of trying to win. But in terms of its impact on the fans, how the fans enjoy the game, I don’t see that as a change for the better. So I’d probably try to organize some kind of move to see if we couldn’t get an agreement to limit the number of pitching changes in the late innings.
This is the rule that I would adopt. I’ve thought about this for a long time, and I don’t see why this doesn’t work. One time per game, you get a free pitching change without restriction. Otherwise, when you put a pitcher on the mound to start an inning, he has to stay in the game until he’s charged with a run allowed. In other words, you have a limit on how often you can put a pitcher out there, let him face one batter and “let’s bring in somebody else.”
Hat tip: Greg.
These guys asked those other guys some questions. Here’s my take:
Interview with Dave Lawson two years ago. Based on comments on Patriot’s blog, the stat that Lawson refers to it Total Average (for the hitter and the pitcher).
Tell ‘em “I heard it from Tango”:
Tell ‘em Tango sent me. I don’t know if it’ll help, but it can’t hurt. And you might want to brush up on your database skills by seeing some of my hacks.
Last year, Bob Dupuy said this in regards to testing of baseballs:
“We are satisfied that the ball comports with all major league specifications,” DuPuy said. “Beginning in 2000, we have had annual independent testing done by UMass at Lowell, baseball research center, under the direction of Dr. James Sherwood, and those tests have showed full compliance with standards.”
That very same Dr. James Sherwood said this:
That’s part of what frustrates Sherwood… “Their testing window is this big,” he says, his hands a foot apart. “I don’t know why it was ever set that wide.” A ball testing at the high end could travel as much as 50 feet farther than one falling on the low end, he says. That’s the difference between a lot of home runs and a whole lot of home runs. Sherwood would love to bring the testing procedures into the modern era. Upstairs, his computerized machines can control a baseball bat with the precision of Barry Bonds. He has air cannons that can fire a ball at 180 mph. But the league doesn’t like change. Sherwood estimates the MLB hasn’t altered ball design since Babe Ruth played. Sherwood says there’s some evidence that firing a baseball at 58 mph may not be fast enough to accurately determine its liveliness. “Has there actually been data on that?” Drane asks. “Yeah,” Sherwood says, “We’re just going to explore looking at the higher speeds and present that to the league. Maybe they’ll change their minds.”
So, if you re-read DuPuy’s comments, they make perfect legalese sense. He used terms like “specifications” and “standards” without telling us what they actually were, and instead name dropped the scientist’s name as the catchall stamp to his statement. And the reporter didn’t bother checking in with the scientist. Bob DuPuy, being quoted in terms of telling us something, in fact ended up telling us nothing at all.
According to this quote:
“Nick [Johnson], even when Soriano was here, was the most productive player we had because of his on-base percentage,” Acta said. “That prolongs innings, prolongs games. It wins games. It’s huge. He has so much value for us.”
Hat tip: Baseball Musings via Chris.
“I’ve been sat down and told they can give me a better way to do everything,” Tony La Russa… describing the statistics crowd. “They really are convinced that they can sit there and crunch out a formula that negates my power of observation. “It’s been a little irritating, because there’s a certain arrogance with that whole group.”
But he closes it off with:
“The ‘Moneyball’ kind of stuff has its place, but so does the human,” La Russa said by telephone from Pittsburgh. “Really, the combination is the answer.”
Which is exactly what I’ve been preaching when I say that the pinnacle of sabermetrics is the convergence of performance analysis and scouting observations. Theo Epstein described it best when he said he sees each side as the lenses of his glasses.
What is really out of place are guys who crunch numbers, but don’t know how to (like giving me the ingredients to making my mother’s sauce… unless you tell me exactly how to mix them, for how long, and what else I need to do, it will only be passable at best). Or the yappers who cook a sauce without even being given the list of ingredients; they just know in their guts how it should come out. This is your Steve Phillips and Bill O’Reilly.
Interview with Mike Jakob, whose role is as the guy with lots of initials that start with C, of Sportvision. (Jul, 2006)
Someone actually admits this as a good thing:
It’s almost a shame when you call a kid that you think you’re interested in and he refers you to his advisor—some 16- or 17-year-old kid and he has an advisor.
Change “a shame” to “impressive”, and I’m with this guy. I’m not sure how old you need to be where your interests need protection. If some college program or some MLB team can make money off your a$$, that is the time you need someone to protect your interests.
Some wide-eyed guy wants to have his pure baseball game, free from all the world’s vices. That game only exists in your backyard. Otherwise, stop trying to make the players play for love, while you reap the monetary rewards for his providing the entertainment.
The 34-year-old Boone gives the Nationals an experienced backup at first, second and third base and a clubhouse leader who could help mentor the team’s young players. “That’s very important for the leadership of our club,” manager Manny Acta said
Here’s my question: of all players over 30 for which the “leadership” attribute has ever been trumpetted, how many MLB years does he have left until retirement? It’s the equivalent of “I love you… as a friend”.
I place a lot of value in numbers, but there are some things that can’t be quantified, and there are times scouting reports are needed to understand the elements behind the numbers. For instance, you could be looking at a pitcher in A-ball with high strikeouts and low walks. This pitcher features an 82 mph fastball which leads to frequent contact (low walks) but also has a decent changeup and a big-breaking curveball that he uses as a chase pitch to get a lot of strikeouts in A-ball. A scout is likely to recognize that while Low-A hitters will chase the breaking pitch out of the zone, hitters at the higher levels--especially in the major leagues--won’t chase and will make him throw his soft fastball over the plate where it is likely to get hit hard. The scout’s observations will confirm that the strikeout numbers at the lower levels are an exploitation of immature hitters and likely will not translate as the player progresses toward the big leagues. When scouting amateur players, there are key statistical indicators that have to be weighed more subjectively because of the level of competition. We want the data, because it will tell us something, but we also want the scouting reports to augment that data.
It seems to me, he just quantified it. I agree totally with his perspective. It’s simply a matter of taking subjective evaluations and objective evaluations, and quantifying it. You note the guy’s fastball speed, how much movement it is, location, how he mixes up his pitches, he sweats profusely on hitter’s counts, whatever. Quantify anything. Once you do that, the world is your oyster. Scouts would have a big part in my world.
We have a lot of work to do, but we have an outstanding statistical consultant on board, and we’re creating a computer system to help us not only store, track and access data but to also analyze the data that has been collected.
Name names please. Many teams do so (like Redsox, Cardinals, Indians). Why not here?
Good interview with Chris Antonetti. He gives as straight answers as you can expect from a team’s front office. Jeff Luhnow of the Cards is another open and honest interview subject.
The Indians are probably MLB’s leading sabermetric-friendly organization. Redsox likely close behind.
Tell ‘em “Tango sent me”. Don’t know if that’ll help, but it probably can’t hurt:
May 16 23:35
Now you frame it, now you don’t
May 16 22:50
Dodgers’ win reversed because Mattingly did not attest to proper score!
May 16 20:44
How to beat the shift
May 16 20:02
Sponsoring MLB jerseys
May 16 16:56
Did Manny Pacquaio actually quote Leviticus?
May 16 16:06
Does changing your pitch frequency lead to substantial change in results?
May 16 14:18
Extra Innings: One-minute review
May 16 14:16
This particular criticism of UZR is unfounded
May 16 13:21
Psst… wanna intern for the Astros?
May 16 12:23
Arena wars
THREADS
May 16, 2012
Now you frame it, now you don’t
May 16, 2012
Dodgers’ win reversed because Mattingly did not attest to proper score!
May 16, 2012
Does changing your pitch frequency lead to substantial change in results?
May 16, 2012
Sponsoring MLB jerseys
May 15, 2012
Andre The Hawk Dawson speaks
May 15, 2012
Euro 2012 Preview
May 15, 2012
How to beat the shift
May 15, 2012
Will Pujols end the season with at least 30 HR and .500 SLG?
May 15, 2012
Kershaw v Strasburg, part 2
May 15, 2012
Did Manny Pacquaio actually quote Leviticus?
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