THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

Monday, August 21, 2006

The 2006 Scouting Report, By The Fans, For The Fans

By Tangotiger, 08:29 PM

UPDATE (Sep 19)

This is your last chance to vote, before the Globe Gloves are awarded at the end of the season. Voting has already surpassed last year’s total, but the more hardcore fans who contribute, the better.

INITIAL (AUG 21)

It’s the fourth annual fielding survey. I’m hoping for another great turnout this year. Please take a few moments, and participate!
http://www.tangotiger.net/scouting/

You can also check out the results for 2005. And if you have a blog, please, spread the word.

UPDATE (Sep 5)

Panic mode now down to: Marlins, D’Rays, Nats. Loria-Samson has been involved with two of them. Coincidence?

UPDATE (Sep 3)

Feedback’s been great. I am now in panic mode only for these teams: Marlins, Royals, D’Rays, Rox, Nats. Total ballots is now at 1073 (median 22).

UPDATE (Sep 1)

I am looking for fans from these teams: Marlins, Royals, Reds, Rockies, D’Rays, Phillies, Nationals, Indians, all at 10 fans or less. If you have a blog, please, spread the word to those fans!

UPDATE (Aug 25)

In less than five days, I’ve already received close to 700 ballots, already surpassing the first year totals, and closing in on the second year totals. Last year, I received 1200 ballots, so we still have a ways to go. Seattle Mariner fans, mostly courtesy of the gang at USS Mariner have contributed an absurdly high 230 ballots, which is more than the next 5 highest (BOS, TOR, NYY, NYM, BAL) combined.

On the other end, and my plea for today, is for the fans of other teams to participate. I have yet to receive any Marlin ballots. Rangers, Brewers, Rockies, D’Rays, Phillies, Royals, Reds so far are bringing up the rear, with 5 ballots or less. Please, spread the word to those fans!

• Sabermetrics • Fielding • Scouting

#1 Tangotiger (see all posts) 2006/09/19 (Tue) @ 17:35

Bump.

#2 tangotiger (see all posts) 2006/09/20 (Wed) @ 07:35

One of the things I love about the Fans’, is the sim scores:

http://www.tangotiger.net/scouting/sim2005_408045.html

This is the list for Joe Mauer. Now, I understand that I put fans in a quasi-tough position by asking them to evaluate players irrespective of position. While this is fairly easy to do for non-catchers, it does become a chore for catchers. The list of comps for Mauer are littered with catchers, 3B, and RF, just what you’d expect for a guy with great throwing and average speed.

When the time comes, I think he’d be perfect at 3B or RF.

#3 tangotiger (see all posts) 2006/09/20 (Wed) @ 07:51

Here’s a little game. How many degrees of separation between the best fielder of 2005 (Ichiro) and the worst (Lecroy)?

http://www.tangotiger.net/scouting/sim2005_400085.html

http://www.tangotiger.net/scouting/sim2005_150220.html

I just tried it once, and I ended up with 15 guys in-between the two.

#4 David Gassko (see all posts) 2006/09/20 (Wed) @ 08:26

15 here too.

#5 tangotiger (see all posts) 2006/09/20 (Wed) @ 08:36

Just got 14.

#6 tangotiger (see all posts) 2006/09/20 (Wed) @ 08:52

Another baseball game:
http://baseball-identity.com/

I suggest setting the “years played” to something reasonable, otherwise you might get cup-of-coffee players.

#7 tangotiger (see all posts) 2006/09/21 (Thu) @ 08:16

Got some preliminary results.

This year’s new names: Brad Hawpe has a GREAT arm. John MacDonald is an excellent fielder. (Orlando Hudson took a huge plunge, meaning that the Jays came out pretty good here.)

The fans who evaluated their team as the worst fielders in the league: Nationals. (And, that’s by FAR). At the top is the A’s. This either shows bias, and great evaluation. Unknown yet.

#8 tangotiger (see all posts) 2006/09/21 (Thu) @ 08:22

While ARod was well ahead of Jeter last year, Jeter has maintained his level, while ARod’s has plummetted to a league average fielder, and therefore, the Yanks do, in opinion, have the better of the two guys at short.

#9 tangotiger (see all posts) 2006/09/21 (Thu) @ 09:46

The average by position, with all categories equally weighted (I’ll have one “weighted” eventually):

60 SS
59 CF
55 3B
51 2B
47 RF
45 C
42 1B
40 LF

3B is filled with alot of great fielders this year. Tons at CF too.

I think the fans still don’t take the non-position requirement strong enough, as you can see by the 1B/LF comparison.

#10 tangotiger (see all posts) 2006/09/21 (Thu) @ 15:00

Looking at players from multiple teams (meaning two different sets of fans would have evaluated these players), there’s about 20 of them, of which three fans had wildly differing views. The rest were pretty close.

They are:
Juan Castro: Twins fans think he’s a below average fielder, and Reds fans think he’s way above average.

Bobby Abreu: Phillies fans think he’s average, and Yanks fans think he’s very above average. Yanks fans probably have no good baseline, in this case.

Xavier Nady: Mets fans think he’s way below average, and Pirates fans think he’s a bit above average.

#11 tangotiger (see all posts) 2006/09/22 (Fri) @ 09:23

I’m trying to do some quick fielding evaluation for pitchers, and came up with something very quick. Here’s the list of top fielding pitchers. Let me know if there’s anyone you disagree with:
LAD G Maddux
CIN B Arroyo
NYM O Hernandez
CLE J Westbrook
FLA A Sanchez
MIN B Radke
COL A Cook
ARI L Hernandez
NYM T Glavine
PIT P Maholm
CWS J Garland

Also, if there’s anyone you think should definitely be in there.

I’ll explain my reasoning a bit later.

#12 tangotiger (see all posts) 2006/09/22 (Fri) @ 09:45

In light of the Ozzie Guillen - Ken Macha conspiracy for 3B, here is how the Fans’ see it:

http://www.stratfanforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32128&page=2

You can make a case for any of those top guys, Chavez, Inge, Beltre, Crede. The vote should certainly be taken away from the coaches. Hardcore baseball fans do a great job, I think.

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THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

Monday, August 21, 2006

The 2006 Scouting Report, By The Fans, For The Fans

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