THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Introduction to the landscape of sabermetrics

Derek Carty gives us his take. 

The quickest explanation of sabermetrics was given by Theo Epstein early in his GM career, when he said that he sees statistics and scouting as two lenses of the glasses.  Unsaid by him is that the glasses is sabermetrics.  So, anyone who thinks of the choice as beer or nuts, ignores the reality that the choice is beer and nuts.

Also, the more performance statistics you have, the less value you can place in scouting, because at some point under certain conditions, the reality of what actually transpired is more important in determining what will happen than what the scout thinks that player will be doing.  And vice-versa of course, if the performance numbers was based on small samples.