The most important stat in baseball...

[Frank_Thomas]

I was just talking with some buddies over a few beers while watching the NFL playoffs about which player we would like to see the Sox add out of the remaining FAs and those rumored to be available via trade. We are basically all under 35 years old and most of us debated the value of players over the normal stats (atleast in our day; Avg/HR/RBI/SB/OBP). But as we continued to debate the discussion evolved into a discussion of saber metrics. And I'd be the first to admit I'm a mental midget when it comes to saber metrics. I'm not hawk and believe TWIW is the most important stat (but an important trait none the less)but I feel looking at a players history of "normal stats" you can get a good gauge of a players output but the majority of baseball minds break down trades or players value in terms of saber metrics a lot more often.

 

Anyways I can one learn some things from the "stat heads" on the board and thought this would start a good discussion of what is the most important stat or stats in baseball. But could also double as a soxipedia for people to learn and discuss what the new terminology in baseball means, why its is important and why it's a upward trend in most MLB Fos.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

1 singular stat?

 

fWAR.

 

But you should always consider far more than 1 metric. fWAR just happens to be the best start point and I consider all other numbers after that one.

[ChiSoxFanMike]

I personally like WAR as a way of evaluating a player. The only flaws with it is that it's not a concrete number like the traditional stats (for example, Baseball Reference had Chris Sale at a 3.3 WAR last year while Fangraphs had him at 6.2), and secondly, there is no real way to define a "replacement level player", even though the entire stat itself is based off of it.

Edited January 10, 2016 by ChiSoxFanMike

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

I personally like WAR as a way of evaluating a player. The only flaws with it is that it's not a concrete number like the traditional stats (for example, Baseball Reference had Chris Sale at a 3.3 WAR last year while Fangraphs had him at 6.2), and secondly, there is no real way to define a "replacement level player", even though the entire stat itself is based off of it.

 

Well not only are we not discussing the merits of a "perfect metric", I also referenced fWAR specifically. I choose not to acknowledge bWAR in almost any instance.

[Frank_Thomas]

Well not only are we not discussing the merits of a "perfect metric", I also referenced fWAR specifically. I choose not to acknowledge bWAR in almost any instance.

 

 

The title is misleading, within my first post I said stat or stats. What is fWAR? And out of all stats why it is the best singular stat?

[ChiSoxFanMike]

Well not only are we not discussing the merits of a "perfect metric", I also referenced fWAR specifically. I choose not to acknowledge bWAR in almost any instance.

Is there any specific reason why you like fWAR more bWAR or is it just personal preference?

[Eminor3rd]

I think the BEST stat in baseball is, by far, wRC+.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

I think the BEST stat in baseball is, by far, wRC+.

 

I give the wRC+ the most weight (no pun intended) when I am comparing the offensive merits of a player. The pitching equivalent being B/R's ERA+, for me.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

The title is misleading, within my first post I said stat or stats. What is fWAR? And out of all stats why it is the best singular stat?

 

Wins Above Replacement is WAR, the "f" refers to Fangraphs. Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference calculate that same statistic two different ways.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/library/misc/war/

 

"Wins Above Replacement (WAR) is an attempt by the sabermetric baseball community to summarize a player’s total contributions to their team in one statistic. You should always use more than one metric at a time when evaluating players, but WAR is all-inclusive and provides a useful reference point for comparing players. WAR offers an estimate to answer the question, “If this player got injured and their team had to replace them with a freely available minor leaguer or a AAAA player from their bench, how much value would the team be losing?” This value is expressed in a wins format, so we could say that Player X is worth +6.3 wins to their team while Player Y is only worth +3.5 wins, which means it is highly likely that Player X has been more valuable than Player Y."

 

The calculation is...

 

"WAR = (Batting Runs + Base Running Runs +Fielding Runs + Positional Adjustment + League Adjustment +Replacement Runs) / (Runs Per Win)"

 

Basically how much value they add with their bat, running the bases, and with their glove, also considering adjustments for position (A SS or CF with the same offensive statistics as a 1B will always yield a higher WAR, due to the boost in difficulty of position. They are more valuable because they can play premium positions, regardless of other abilities) and the league (aka, era) they play in. That last bit allows describes how a player's WAR is relative to the rest of the league. A Mike Trout season in 2015 would not yield the same WAR as that same season placed in the year 1930, is the idea.

[Frank_Thomas]

Wins Above Replacement is WAR, the "f" refers to Fangraphs. Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference calculate that same statistic two different ways.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/library/misc/war/

 

"Wins Above Replacement (WAR) is an attempt by the sabermetric baseball community to summarize a player’s total contributions to their team in one statistic. You should always use more than one metric at a time when evaluating players, but WAR is all-inclusive and provides a useful reference point for comparing players. WAR offers an estimate to answer the question, “If this player got injured and their team had to replace them with a freely available minor leaguer or a AAAA player from their bench, how much value would the team be losing?” This value is expressed in a wins format, so we could say that Player X is worth +6.3 wins to their team while Player Y is only worth +3.5 wins, which means it is highly likely that Player X has been more valuable than Player Y."

 

The calculation is...

 

"WAR = (Batting Runs + Base Running Runs +Fielding Runs + Positional Adjustment + League Adjustment +Replacement Runs) / (Runs Per Win)"

 

Basically how much value they add with their bat, running the bases, and with their glove, also considering adjustments for position (A SS or CF with the same offensive statistics as a 1B will always yield a higher WAR, due to the boost in difficulty of position. They are more valuable because they can play premium positions, regardless of other abilities) and the league (aka, era) they play in. That last bit allows describes how a player's WAR is relative to the rest of the league. A Mike Trout season in 2015 would not yield the same WAR as that same season placed in the year 1930, is the idea.

 

Damn. Thanks man. I always knew what WAR stood for but for the first time learned how it is calculated. What about for pitchers?

Edited January 10, 2016 by Frank_Thomas35

[ptatc]

I give the wRC+ the most weight (no pun intended) when I am comparing the offensive merits of a player. The pitching equivalent being B/R's ERA+, for me.

For pitching SIERA is the best.

 

For overall I'm going with team wins.

[daa84]

TWTW

[Boopa1219]

TWTW

[Lemon_44]

Wins and losses