from Amazon
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
UZR in MSM
This time, it’s the Star-Ledger in NJ:
UZR is broken into different components that account for errors and other factors. In Teixeira’s case, his dropoff is tied almost entirely to his decline in the portion of UZR that accounts specifically for range. In 2008, Teixeira saved 9.4 runs just on his range. This season, he’s cost his team runs, posting a -3.6.
That said, even advanced defensive statistics such as UZR have their blind spots. And when it comes to first basemen, and Teixeira specifically, the statistic doesn’t measure one of the most important areas of contribution: scooping balls and tracking wayward throws.
It bothers me to no end that Fangraphs and other sites report numbers to one decimal place. It implies a level of precision that simply does not exist. If a UZR of +4.6 really means +4.6 +/- 2.1 (or whatever), then I’d show it as +5 and be done with it.