BRAA Pulse Check

8 Responses to “BRAA Pulse Check”

1. MJ on June 2nd, 2008 5:40 pm

   Cano’s still in the tank. His May splits more or less match May 2007 so I’m not yet convinced that he’s in the toilet for the whole season but, as someone pointed out on TV this weekend, all he does is swing at the first pitch and ground out. He’s not even giving himself a chance to see a mistake.

   The coaching staff is being paid for what, exactly? Would it be too much for someone to tell Cano that maybe taking a pitch wouldn’t be a bad idea?

2. Corey on June 2nd, 2008 6:37 pm

   hawkins sucks get him off the team! but farnsworth…now thats our solid 8th inning guy:P

   i don’t know…anyone else get the feeling that this team just isn’t that good?

3. Corey on June 2nd, 2008 6:40 pm

   also, i wonder what we could get for abreu since his value is pretty high right now

4. OnceIWasAYankeeFan on June 2nd, 2008 7:44 pm

   Considering he’ll be a free agent, I have to wonder what teams would give up for Abreu but there are certainly some contenders, like the White Sox and Indians, who are pretty desperate for a bat. Then again, for smaller market teams a rental has its appeal since there’s no long term big money commitment to a guy on the wrong side of 30 who has seemed older than he is for a couple of years at least. But wouldn’t the Yankees be throwing in the towel if they traded their number three hitter now?

5. Lee Sinins on June 2nd, 2008 10:38 pm

   This is an incredibly stupid statistic.

   As I previous wrote, at NDF–

   How is this any different from stats like RBI?

   Game circumstances such as score and inning are putting a lot of weight not on what the player himself did, but instead the efforts of everyone else on both teams to get to where the game was at that point.

   I see no difference between the following–

   1) Taking 2 relievers, both who performed the exact same, and giving different value to one because, as a result of the rest of his team giving him a 4 run lead as opposed to them giving him a 2 run lead.

   2) Taking 2 batters, both of which singled, but giving 1 an RBI because his teammate was standing on 3rd, but denying it to the other because either (1) his teammate wasn’t good enough to get to 3rd or (2) his teammate was better than the 1st guy’s teammate, since he got himself home by homering.

   ————

   And, to use an example from today’s game–

   It is absurd to give Delmon Young more credit for his 8th inning double than is given to Derek Jeter for his 5th inning double.

   What’s the difference between the two? The difference is, prior to Jeter’s double, the players on each team had combined to produce 2 runs for each team and they had combined to make 4 innings worth of outs. It is very signficant that it wasn’t Jeter that had produced 2 runs for each team and Jeter who had made 4 innings worth of outs. No, it was a combination of players, of which Jeter himself comprised only a small fraction thereof and, even more importantly than that, those other runs that made the score 2-2 and the outs that were made to bring us up to the 5th inning had absolutely nothing to do with Jeter’s double.

   As opposed to Jeter’s double, prior to Young’s double, the players on each team had combined to produce 5 runs for each team and they had combined to make 7 1/2 complete innings worth of outs and 1/3 of another half inning, along with another player who got to 3rd base. It is very signficant that it wasn’t Young that had produced 5 runs for each team and Young who had made those 7 4/6 innings worth of outs. No, it was a combination of players, of which Young himself comprised only a small fraction thereof and, even more importantly than that, those other runs that made the score 5-5 and the outs that were made to bring us up to the 8th inning had absolutely nothing to do with Young’s double.

   So, in order for this stat to have any meaning at all, explain why Young deserves more credit because other people did things prior to his double compared to what other people did prior to Jeter’s double.

   And explain how that is any better than declaring that Matt Guerrier was the one who “won” the game for the Twins because he was the one who recorded the final out of the half inning prior to when the Twins scored the final go ahead run.

6. hopbitters on June 2nd, 2008 11:55 pm

   This is an incredibly stupid statistic.

   -

   I agree, but for different reasons. Actually, I don’t necessarily disagree with Lee’s reasons, but at a more fundamental level, basing the stat on “expected” runs (or wins, for the equally useless corollary) is meaningless. It’s applying historical data predictively in specific situations based purely on very general game conditions. In other words, you’re making a bad guess at what might have happened if what did happen didn’t happen. Complete waste of time.

7. Don on June 3rd, 2008 3:02 am

   Abreu will be a type A FA, and will have more value if he signs elsewhere.

   When does the Fire Joe Girardi blogging start somewhere?

8. Raf on June 3rd, 2008 10:31 am

   When does the Fire Joe Girardi blogging start somewhere?
   —————
   With the way the last guy left, I don’t think they’ll cut “General Joe” loose just yet.

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