[Idea: Vazquez and Pods for Gordon and Abreu]

Not really.

 

Sabermetrics can be incredibly subjective in that they choose which player qualities are important and which are not. Unfortunately, everything that they cannot accurately quantify seems to be deemed as less important than that which they can.

 

It took the White Sox winning the World Series last season for them to realize how important elite defense can actually be, despite the fact that they cannot accurately measure what elite defense is.

 

Not true.

 

The qualities chosen are completely linear to run scoring and run prevention.

[Idea: Vazquez and Pods for Gordon and Abreu]

Well, good.

 

And, might I ask, do you have some sort of personal relation to the OJ Simpson murder, or were you so deeply bothered by his getting-away-with-murder as to use this as a way to protest in some way or another?

 

Haha, its nothing like that.

 

Back in the day I did a re-search project in school on the case, and my teacher actually wore a T-Shirt with my avatar on it. He was a huge anti-O.J. guy. it was pretty funny, becuase he got fined for wearing it.

 

But O.j. was my favorite running back too, whether he got away with it or not.

[Idea: Vazquez and Pods for Gordon and Abreu]

I wonder how Pete Rose would look judged purely on Sabermetrics.

 

Still a should be HOF'er.

[Idea: Vazquez and Pods for Gordon and Abreu]

Its when these new methods of player evaluation are presumed to be flawless or even fundamentally correct in the first place when I get argumentative.

 

Haha, nobody said thier flawless. Nothing in baseball, whether it be metrics or not, is perfect. NEVER has baseball itself been perfect or flawless.

 

But stats and Sabermetrics for that matter are certianly more Objective than Subjective over most player evaluation.

[Duaner Sanchez]

Why would you prefer the inferior talent? Risk of injury?

 

I watched Heilman pitch earlier and I can't say I was impressed. He had trouble finding the strike zone, not even including his HR allowed. I'm not judging on this appearance alone -- his numbers overall aren't bad -- but I'd prefer Sanchez.

 

If accepting Heilman meant a more advanced/talented prospect, then I'd be interested.

 

Heilman has put up some great K rates for an RP and can even start if needed. Sanchez isn't a control freak either, in fact his BB/9 rates are worse than Heilmans'

 

Sanchez BB/9: 4.10

Heilman BB/9: 3.0

 

Down the line, you'd like to have a guy like Heilman who's so icredubly verstile. Sanchez is good, but why trade for a RP when you can trade for a SP/RP?

 

And Heilman hasn't been as bad as advertised. He has had 2 really bad outings and his ERA has inflated becuase of it.

[Idea: Vazquez and Pods for Gordon and Abreu]

You are more than welcome to have your opinion, and believe whatever you want to believe.

 

What I take issue with is your insistance that everyone must adopt your opinion about him as a player when what evidence you bring to suggest he is a bad player is incomplete at best.

 

If you want to be disappointed in players on the current team, there are plenty of other targets who are more deserving, yet you bash our left-fielder at every possible juncture.

 

As for your comments on only myself and some high school coaches believing Scott has value because of what he does on the basepaths, I guess you include KW as an idiot as well because he obviously felt he was a valuable player.

 

But then again, Kenny doesn't know what VORP is, so you probably find him to be completely ignorant and incomptetent as well.

 

KW has really made some good moves.

 

I can't blame him for bringing Pods in at all, becuase hey, it did free up salary for I believe the acqusition of the Gooch, JD or El Duque (I can't remember which one) so it wasn't all that bad, especially since Carlos Lee isn't exactly a monster either.

 

And its not like KW can just trade for a producitve LF just like that. Even the statistically based teams, like the Yanks, BoSox, and A's have weak positions too.

 

Epstien knows Alex Gonzalez isn't a great SS, Cashman knows Bernie Williams and Melky Cabrera aren't anything special, Beane knows his entire offense is struggling. And many of them do Aknowledge it in newspapers and such, and just deal with it.

 

It's when those weak players are called strong I get argumentative.

[Duaner Sanchez]

I know he's been mentioned in some trade rumors with the Mets. I hadn't seen him until the last 3 outs of the Cubs rout tonight on ESPN. Did anyone catch his performance? He struck out the side in the 9th with some sick stuff. Granted it was the Flubs...but he still looked great. Hmmm....

 

He started off the season with I believe 20+ scoreless innings.

 

He has it, but I'd prefer Gordon, and maybe even Heilman.

[Idea: Vazquez and Pods for Gordon and Abreu]

Why do Saber guys get so offended when someone doesn't buy their nuevo-statistic bs?

Why do you give a f*** who I choose to support?

Why must half the posters on this forum get off by torching Scott Podsednik? The guy makes $2 million dollars. He tries to get on base just like everyother guy on our team does. He tries to catch the ball just like every other guy does.

 

No one ever said he was Ricky Henderson. No one ever said he was Vince Coleman even.

 

But he is our leadoff hitter, and he does a few things pretty well for a leadoff hitter.

 

I'm not going to get into this argument about what makes an effective leadoff hitter or not, but our offense pretty much clicks (with the exception of today) when he is getting on, and he has been doing his part as of late. He also has been driving in runs pretty well as of late.

 

I just don't understand why some feel the need to constantly trash the guy. Is it because his wife is hot or what?

 

Becuase you continue to bash me for well bashing him.

 

I actually have some statistically based info behind it. He is a below average fielder, a below average hitter, and absolute s*** production from a corner Of'er.

 

I actually have evidence, metrics that you feel is invalid.

 

No one said he was ever Rickey Henderson, you are correct. But people like you say he's good, andpeople like me believe he isn't. Deal with it, you don't like it, don't respond. And when you do respond, give me some evidence as to why he's even *good.* Becuase he has speed? Becuase his OBP is .350? Becuase SLG% isn't important from a #1 batter?

 

In my mind, you need **MORE PRODUCTION** from a guy who's going to see the most PA's in a lineup, pure and simple.

 

And I constantly trash the guy becuase in my mind, he is trash. I can trash trash can't I. Many people seem to do so a lot.

 

Do us all a favor. Don't respond to my post and I won't respond to yours. Were opposites. Your the guy who listens to high school baseball caoches and thinks Pods speed makes pitchers s*** thier pants, and becuase of it, he's a good leadoff hitter.

 

I'm the type of guy who sees a piece of crap, who can't field, can't hit, and should by no means be seeing the most PA's in our lineup. Argument settled.

[Idea: Vazquez and Pods for Gordon and Abreu]

Here we go again with the Pods bashing.

 

I know it makes you Saber guys excited to point out what a worthless player he is, but if you haven't noticed, he is doing a pretty decent job of getting on base lately.

 

I suppose it would be the ultimate coup d etat for the WS Saber community to replace worthless Pods with the god-like Abreu.

 

Why is it that you must support such a crappy ballplayer.

 

Now not everyone will agree with me that "crappy" is the correct term but why do you support him so much?

 

Do you think his speed makes pitchers poop thier pants? Do you think his slap and run style is better than just hitting the XBH's?

 

Why do you love him so much? Why is he so great?

 

 

Please I'm dying to hear this.

[Idea: Vazquez and Pods for Gordon and Abreu]

I forget the stat that Fox said yesterday. Something along the lines of Pods hitting .330 in sox wins and like .188 in sox losses.

 

The sox don't need Abreu. And Vazquez has as big a chance of any SP on the sox of improving in the 2nd half.

 

They don't need Abreu, but damn could they use him, especially if we can somehow rid Pods.

 

But I do agree with the Vazquez statement. I see better things coming.

[I'm finally off of the Podsednik bandwagon (long)]

According to whom is that a leadoff hitter's job? You? Why do sabre types believe that there is only one way to do things (theirs)?

 

I happen to believe that it is a leadoff hitter's job to steal bases. I happen to believe that guys who run alot cause trouble for opposing pitchers and defenses. I posted some limited evidence of that (of course you pulled out the classic sample size argument).

 

Once again, where has it ever been proven that this 75% figure is truly the line where stealing makes sense and where it doesn't? That's an arbitrary number that factors in nothing but a bs mathematical formula, but once again does not account for any of the distractions/effects caused by base stealers.

 

As for your final comment, what I was alluding to is that the trouble Podsednik causes on the basepaths may contribute to Iguchi's success when he is on first base, not that simply any runner being on first base adds to Iguchi's success (thus the difference between Iguchi's OPS with no one on as opposed to a runner at first base, as well as the difference with a runner on second as opposed to no one on).

 

Haha. This forum obviosuly isn't for me. I'll take my business elsewhere.

[I'm finally off of the Podsednik bandwagon (long)]

For all the strongly-worded opinions in this post, for a guy whose screen name is "SABR Sox," you sure don't back up your opinion with much more than pure speculation and conjecture.

 

First of all, there is absolutely no proof that OBP or even OPS is the be all, end all stat for what makes a winning team. There is not one spec of evidence that station-to-station offenses are most effective in ALL situations and lead to more long-term success than offenses which contain players like Podsednik. They may score more runs overall, but that proves absolutely nothing. Ask the Cleveland Indians.

 

Secondly, Podsednik has an OBP of .368 and an OPS of .798 when leading off an inning. And as mentioned earlier, with RISP, he has an OBP of .397 and an OPS of .897.

 

So as a leadoff hitter, he is doing his job. And with RISP, he is doing his job.

 

You don't take into effect anything you cannot quanitify, namely Podsednik's (or any other basestealer's) effect on the pitcher or the defense while he is on base.

 

A few things we can quantify:

1) Iguchi's OPS is .829 with a runner on first base (compared to an overall OPS of .775); however, it's only .778 with a runner on second base. Think Pods might have anything to do with that? I do.

 

Let's not confuse the issue here. No one is claiming that Pods is Ricky Henderson, or even the Greek God of Walks, Kevin Youkilis. But IMHO, he is a solid leadoff man.

 

Lol, I have opinions too.

 

It's obvious that OBP and OPS don't correlate to winning games, but OPS is almost linear to run scoring.

 

As a leadoff hitter, he isn't doing his job. A leadoff hitter's job isn't to steal or hit with runners on base as much as it is just to get on base, and get into scoring position. His OBP is middle of the pack, which isn't bad at all, but he needs to get more bases. SLG below .400 blows, plain and simple. He's not stealing at a 75% sucess rate either, his CS are hurting the team more than his SB are.

 

Iguchi has had a high OPS with a runner on first, but thats only a small sample size. Maybe Pods does have something to do with it, maybe he doesn't. With so few AB's you can't tell accuratley. And if he does, you'd certianly like a better leadoff hitter excersizing the ripple effect, becuase Pods is a below average leadoff man and below average ballplayer.

[I'm finally off of the Podsednik bandwagon (long)]

Just a few observations:

 

Well, for one thing, he is a solid leadoff hitter. I really don't know what it is, but we all know that when Scottie is hitting, the White Sox are scoring. No one player seems to impact our offense more so than him when he is hitting. The White Sox lead the league in runs scored in the first inning (79). The Mets are second (75), and after that it isn't particularly close. I don't find it a coincidence that also happens to be the inning that Scottie leads off every game in which he plays. Whether it is his offense, his baserunning, any distracting effect he may have on the basepaths, I am not sure. But, from my observations, he is a solid leadoff man. Statistically, in the first inning, he has a .378 OBP, which is very solid.

 

Additionally, for as much flack as he takes for his mid-7's OPS, with runners in scoring position, he has an .897 OPS. Not so bad afterall for a left fielder.

 

Ichiro, on the other hand, has a .658 OPS with RISP.

 

One more thing- I understand that RBI's are now thought of by some as independent of individual performance and thus an antiquated statistic, but I think Scottie is due a little credit for his 33 RBI thus far- he is on pace for about 60, which is a heck of a lot better than the 25 he had last season.

 

By no means is Scottie the best left fielder in the world. But he isn't the piece of s*** some make him out to be. And remember people, not everyone on the field can be a $5 or 6 million dollar player.

 

For one thing, he isn't a solid leadoff hitter, not even a solid baseball player.

 

They lead the league in RS in the first inning, NOT ALL DUE to Podsednik. Your going to score with just about any ML leadoff hitter when you have a guy like Iguchi batting in the 2-spot along with the fact the White Sox have the best 3-4-5 trio in the majors leagues. Put Crede at the top, A.J., he'll even Uribe, and they're going to score runs simply becuase the men in front of Pods are hitting so damn well.

 

Hitting with RISP isn't a trait thats justifies a player as a good leadoff hitter, unless your David Ortiz and your doinf it EVERY season consistently. Too many players, and teams for that matter, can hit real well with RISP one year, and then hit like crap in situational spots the next.

 

And as you said RBI's are flawed, so lets not even bring them up.

 

It's nice to see him OBP is .370+ in the first inning, but he's putrid the rest of the game.

 

Sorry guys, slap and run leadoff hitters suck.

[Yankees/Reds discussing "huge" deal]

Dunn already gets a hard time from the Cincy fans. There is no way in hell that he doesn't get it 10x as bad from the NY fans and media.

 

And that would mean what? Decrease in production? Doubtful. We'll just have to see if anything happens.

[Yankees/Reds discussing "huge" deal]

First of all, Jason Giambi himself could probably play LF just as well as Adam Dunn.

 

And the point I'm making about him having a tough time in NY is this. If A-Rod gets as much s*** as he does, can you imagine how much a guy with as many K's as Dunn will get?

 

NY won't kill you for K'ing. Hell the team does enough of it. Thy give the Yankees s*** all the time, yet they still score a s***load of runs and Dunn would only help that cause. He'd get crap like everyone, but who doesn't get crap as a Yankee? Anyone slmps, Stein is riding thier ass. It's part of the job, but in the end, same result: Total power and total patience in that lineup.

[I'm finally off of the Podsednik bandwagon (long)]

I always thought that one of the big reasons to like a player like PODs offensivly is that not only can he steal a base, but also because the players batting get better pitches to hit because of the pressure a base stealer adds. Doesnt Iguchi, Thome, Konerko, Dye see more fastballs if PODs is on base?

 

You can make the argument.

 

The Sox are certianly a good situational hitting/clutch hitting team this season.

 

But the problem is clutch/situational hitting is kind of widespread and somes in spurts, unless every hitter in your lineup is David Ortiz.

 

But without Pods the hitters performances probably wouldn't change all that much. If you add Cristian Guzman to the top of the lineup, we'd see an RBI decrease, but thats about it. Replacing him probably won't change much at all.

[Carl Crawford]

It's Tampa Bay, they'd probably ask for Contreras.

 

Naw. He's too old and too expensive for thier likings, and even if we'd pick up the salary, they'd prefer B-Mac over him. They're young, and looking for young pitching.

[I'm finally off of the Podsednik bandwagon (long)]

Literally the ONLY thing that Scott Podsednik arguably provides us with over any other major league replacement is steals and runs, and as it turns out, the value of those two numbers seems to be inflated.

 

His defense is atrocious. He is 18th out of 21 in Qualified Fielding Percentage for Left Fielders. He is a mediocre 10th out of 21 in Range Factor despite his tremendous footspeed, and 11th out of 21 in Zone Rating.

 

He is 8/9 in qualified AL leadoff hitters in OBP and OPS. He is 7/9 in RBIs. 8/9 in home runs. This means he doesn't walk enough and he doesn't have nearly enough pop. Pretty much all of his OPS is generated by his ability to stretch a double into a triple.

 

Now he IS third in runs, and he IS second in steals. However, the runs are more of a product of the success behind him than the runs he is generating with his legs this season. I'm going to argue in this thread that probably less than half of his steals have been truly meaningful in terms of determining the outcome of the game.

 

Additionally, a lot of his offensive numbers in terms of hits and RBIs are occuring in blowout games. In fact, six of the first seven games in which he had an RBI were lopsided victories for the White Sox: 10-4 Sox over Cle April 1st (1 RBI), 9-0 over KC April 17th (1 RBI), 7-1 over MIN April 21st (1 RBI), and 9-1 and 12-5 over LAA two consecutive days May 9th and 10th (1 RBI each). The lone game he contributed to that was close in that stretch was @ LAA, where he had two RBIS in a game where we still won by a larger margin than that (3). Additionally, 7 other RBIs out of his 32 total occurred in lopsided games in which the White Sox won, and a handful of other RBIs occurred in losses for the White Sox. Aside from the Grand Slam against Houston, less than 10 of Podsednik's RBIs this season have been at all meaningful in terms of determining the outcome in a White Sox victory over 6 total games. And all of those games he had 1 RBI.

 

Now, Podsednik's stolen base log for 2006:

 

1) April 16th vs. Toronto. 1 Steal. Podsednik steals second with 1 out in the bottom of the 2nd in after the Sox score 3 in the first against Toronto and have a 3-0 lead. He takes thrid on an Iguchi groundout, allowing Thome to swing away for a sac fly, which he ends up hitting out for a 2-run job. The Sox go up 5-0 and hang on 6-4 in a game that was closer than expected. Net Result: stolen base generated arguably 2 runs, the difference in this game.

 

2) April 18th vs. Kansas City. 2 Steals. Pods steals second in the 5th inning with the sox up 3-1, takes third on an errant throw and is stranded on third after an Iguchi K, a Thome walk and a PK strikeout. Pods steals second in the 7th inning with the Sox up 3-1, and scores an insurance run on a 2-out single by Thome. Net Result: stolen base generates 1 insurance run, but Kansas City had virtually nothing going against Jon Garland all game and was never really a threat.

 

3) April 25th at Seattle. 1 Steal. Pods is part of a double steal with Anderson as the lead runner in the third inning, and both end up scoring the first runs of an eventual 13-3 blowout which featured dominant pitching from Javier Vazquez. Net Result: Hard to argue that his steal as a trail runner in a blowout really contributed much to the success of the evening.

 

4) May 1st at Cleveland. 4 Steals Scott is the centerpiece of an 8-6 win by stealing 4 bases in 5 chances on Victor Martinez and scoring three runs. Net Result: Podsednik probably won us this game with his legs, but Vic Martinez is pretty easily to steal off of

 

5) May 9th at LAA. 1 Steal. Steals a base in a 9-1 whitewashing of a struggling Kevin Gregg. Yawn. Net Result: Nada.

 

6) May 14th at Min. 1 Steal. Steals a base and scores a couple of runs, also has a couple of RBIs and hits against Minnesota in a close game. Net Result: Podsednik was crucial to the Sox winning this game

 

7) May 15th at Min. 1 Steal. Pods' home run probably had more to do with the victory here than his stolen base. He stole second in the 4th but was stranded. Net Result: Nada.

 

8) May 16th at Tampa. 3 Steals. Steals 3 bases in a 10-7 loss. Net Result: Hard to argue that three stolen bases in a losing effort really provided much for the team.

 

9) May 19th vs Cubs. 1 Steal. Steals second base with the Sox up 6-1 in the 6th inning of the first game at the Cell. Net Result: Totally meaningless steal.

 

10) May 23rd vs Oakland. 2 Steals. Steals third and scores the first run of the game on a wild throw by Kendall. The Sox go on to touch up Saarloos in a game that is never close and ultimately resulted in a 9-3 win for the palehose. On the other steal Pods was stranded. Net Result: Podsednik was a catalyst in the game, but the game wasn't close. Still, his steal contributes to the victory.

 

11) June 1st at Cleveland. 2 Steals. The first steal did score a run, but only after Iguchi walked (which would've sent Pods to second anyway) and Thome doubled (which would've scored him from first anyway. The second steal was a meaningless down-4 steal in the top of the ninth inning that could've probably been ruled Defensive Indifference. Net Result: None, he did not contribute to a win nor did his speed put us in a position to win the game

 

12) June 3rd vs Texas. 1 Steal. Podsednik steals third after doubling in a couple of runs and later scores. His steal partially provides the difference in this 8-6 win. Net Result: Scott was a big part of this game, and it's hard to argue that his stolen base wasn't part of it.

 

13) June 18 at Cincinnati. 1 Steal. Podsednik steals but is stranded in an 8-1 drubbing of the Reds. Net Result: Nada.

 

14) June 24th vs. Houston. 1 Steal. Pods stole second, went to third on a groundout and scored on a manufactured run via a Thome sac fly to allow the Sox to go up 1-0 in the first inning. Although the Crede slam was primarily responsible for paving the way to an eventual Sox win, Pods run in the first is just as important and was the difference. Net Result: Podsednik's run generated by the stolen base was the difference in this game

 

15) June 27th at Pittsburgh 1 Steal. Pods stole second and scored in the first, and although the White Sox never trailed in a close game, the run was crucial. Net Result: Pods' SB was key to the Sox maintaining a slim margin over the Bucks.

 

16) July 1st at Cubs 1 Steal Pods stole a base and was stranded in an 8-6 win. Net Result: Nada

 

17) July 4th vs Baltimore 1 Steal Pods stole a base in the second inning with the Sox already up 4-0 and on their way to a 13-0 drubbing. He was later stranded. Net Result: Nada

 

18) July 5th vs Baltimore 1 Steal Pods stole second and scored the first run in a tight 4-2 Sox winner. Net Result: Scotty contributed to this win with his legs.

 

19) July 8th vs Boston 1 Steal Pods stole a base and got us within a run at 5-4, but ultimately the Sox lose 9-6 to the Red Sox. Net Result: Pods stolen base didn't contribute to a win.

 

20) July 9th vs Boston 1 Steal Scotty steals second in the 12th but is stranded. Net Result: Nada.

 

What's the bottom line?

 

Out of 20 games in which Podsednik steals a base,

11 times (55%) the stolen base(s) didn't effect the outcome whatsoever.

2 times (10%) the stolen base(s) generated a run and contributed to a win, but the game was not really close

7 times (35%) the stolen base(s) directly led to runs that help to insure a win.

 

So out of all the games Podsednik is stealing bases for us, almost 2/3rds of the time the stolen bases don't really affect the outcome. This is a very telling statistic, and I think one in which maybe emphasizes that the Stolen Base is overvalued when there isn't a whole lot else accompanying it. Sure, it's a vital part of a good leadoff hitter's repertoire, but relying on this alone is not enough to keep a guy around in my opinion.

 

I'm not really advocating to get RID of Podsednik this season, but I would like to see a full-time platoon with Ozuna. If we're really resigned to giving up that much defensively in left, we might as well get OBA, OBP, OPS and other things out of it rather than just steals. Ozuna has got something like 200 points of OPS on Scotty. I realize that Ozuna is not going to hit .413 for a season, but even if he just hit .290 he'd STILL have 70 points on Scotty in OPS. Ozuna strikes out far less too, only 8 times in 92 ABs.

 

So why not platoon them? Sorry for the long-winded rant, I just felt this stuff was interesting.

 

Or we can just make it simple.

 

His production from LF blows. He can't get on base or slug at a great rate, and his OPS is pitiful from a corner OF'er. Oh yea, and he can't field at one of the easiest positions.

[Yankees/Reds discussing "huge" deal]

First off, I was joking about Arroyo.

 

Second, Dunn would get torn apart in NY.

 

Yea that short porch in right field would just kill his production?!

 

He's basically another Jason Giambi but can play LF. They'd love to add another Giambi to the lineup.

[Miguel Tejada]

Ken Rosenthal just said on the Fox pregame show that the Sox might be interested in Miguel Tejada.

 

Personally: no thanks. He's a great player, but do we really need him?

 

Personally, I have no problem adding baseball's best SS.

 

They'll want a pitcher of course, but if we can swing Vazquez, or Garland over along with an upper tier prospect, I'll jump all over it.

 

Especially if we can add B-Mac to the rotation.

[Sox 2006 VORP ratings]

The sad thing is that even with the huge discrepancy in VORP, Anderson is still the better choice in CF when defense is considered. On the season thus far:

 

Anderson's VORP (-8.3) + FRAA* (+10) = +1.7

 

Mackowiak's VORP (+4.4) + FRAA* (-3) = +1.4

 

That means Anderson's defense is so much better than Mackowiak's that the defensive difference more than makes up for Anderson's sub mendoza line bat at a time when Mackowiak has an average that's 100+ points higher and an OPS that's 200+ points higher. That says a lot about Mackowiak's awful defense, but also says a lot about Anderson's defense, which is definitely Gold Glove caliber.

 

*FRAA = Fielding Runs Above Average

 

Only problem is that difficulty is not included in FRAA or FRAR for that matter. RATE2 is such has that, but you can't compare RATE2 and VORP, becuase they aren't equally scaled.

[Podsednik's Poor Defense]

Then what exactly is the point of even watching the games?

 

Lol, I love to watch them. I watch games for fun, not to neciassarily evaluate ballplayers.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I ignore what I watch, but the human eye is the most inefficent tool f player evaluation in this game. I need to data to back up why I believe ballplayers are worth what they really are.

 

No offense but this is one of the reasons some people can't stand sabermetrics. If you're basing players soley on stats, you're missing a lot of the story.

 

Naw. I can see that Pods isn't a gifted defensive ballplayer, but at his certian position he fits finely. Stats say so, and I believe so, from watching games.

 

BTW, peole who continuously watch games and don't really look at the numbers miss out. Once again, watching games isn't very efficent. Not that stats are the most efficent, but to me theyre much more.

 

I've had plenty of Saber vs. Non-saber arguments in my life and I'd REALLY like to avoid one here, but stats tell you things your eyes don't.

[Sox 2006 VORP ratings]

Biggest upgrade at DH in all of baseball.

 

Carl Everett ended the year with a 6.3 VORP. From the DH position: Abolsutley PATHETIC.

 

Good to see a power bat at a power position.

[Podsednik's Poor Defense]

Sabermetrics are not needed when anyone can simply watch the guy and see that he sucks.

 

Thats exaclty why I love Sabermetrics.

 

That's not a valid argument.

 

I don't watch players and evaluate them solely from what I see.

 

Whether its hitting, fielding or pitching I always turn to stats.

[Podsednik's Poor Defense]

Sometimes watching a player is more than enough. Sabermetrics are not needed when evaluating Podsednik's defense, he was/is horrid.

 

Sometimes it isn't.

 

Torri Hunter's FRAA was -4 last season and he won a good glove over Rowand (who was +10)

 

Why?? Because every now and then he made a great catch last season, but it didn't make up for other mishaps.

 

It's fine if you don't like the stat, becuase other stats also dictate he was FAR FROM a great offensive fielder (when difficulty is invloved with a stat like RATE2, it shows he wasn't so special), but a horrible OF isn't the correct assesment. LF is good for him, but he's nothing great with the glove.