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Where have you gone Tom Boswell? (January 7, 2004)

Posted 1:22 p.m., January 14, 2004 (#11) - mommy
  Tango: Boswell's article was terrible. But I'm not sure his premise is completely wrong. I think your Leveraged Index is a terrific tool. but i'm not sure that merely converting a reliever's stats to find a comparable starter is the best way to determine his qualifications for the hall of fame. unless you're of the opinion that NO relievers belong in the hall, because they're all basically failed starters. that is an argument i can understand, but don't agree with. because relievers have become so important over the past 10-20-30 years, i think they should have a spot in the HOF. in which case, you have to compare relievers to relievers, to decide which are the truly elite. comparing them to starters is always going to leave them short, if even gossage only compares to langston.

MLB Timeline - Best players by position (January 14, 2004)

Posted 2:05 p.m., January 15, 2004 (#10) - mommy
  Why the gaps between eras? i understand maybe there's transition periods between the great players at one position, but some of those blank spots are 3 or 4 years long. surely someone should be in there, even if he doesn't seem like a great player, but just happened to be better than anyone else at his position for those seasons.

Futility Infielder - 2003 DIPS (January 27, 2004)

Posted 4:18 p.m., January 30, 2004 (#36) - mommy
  Re Glendon Rusch: i've not seen him pitch much, if ever. #27 wrote that Mike Emeigh has found he gives up a ton of linedrives. i think people often overlook the fact that DIPS applies to major league quality pitchers. you and i could not step onto a mound and throw our half-assed pitches and have the ball successfully fielded 70% of the time. my understanding of DIPS is that the pitchers who have enough skill to prevent linedrives on every pitch will reach the majors, and then it is their differences in the K, BB, HR which will separate them. the pitchers who do consistently give up a higher rate of hits on BIP will be sent back to the minors. thus they do not accumulate enough innings to be noticed in any study of the issue. i do not think voros' theory states pitchers have little or no control over BIP. i think it is more accurate to say _major league caliber_ pitchers show little variation in their ability to prevent BIP.

i know i'm not breaking new ground here, just making it more explicit because it seems sometimes people oversimplify DIPS or give it too much power.

anyway, while rusch has lasted longer than a few innings, perhaps he is just at the very bottom of pitchers who are able to (sort of)survive in the majors.

The Scouting Report, By the Fans, For the Fans - Most Similar Fielders (March 18, 2004)

Posted 10:11 a.m., March 22, 2004 (#11) - mommy
  tango, i think it's almost impossible to completely divorce our evaluations of players from their positions. for instance, i think it can be hard to translate how an infield arm compares to an OF arm. i know furcal has a rifle, but i don't know how that rifle would look in the OF. i know it seems superior to other arms i see making throws from SS, but it's hard to accurately say how a furcal throw from RF to 3B would look. i can assume it would look like a great arm anywhere on the field, but for me it's hard to know for sure how to compare it to guerrerro's arm.

i think the same could hold true to some extent for other traits as well, except perhaps for Hands.

Mo and the HOF (March 25, 2004)

Posted 11:17 a.m., March 25, 2004 (#3) - mommy
  despite loyalty to his boss, i wish namee wouldn't keep bringing up win shares w/ regards to relief pitchers. i still like win shares, though tango and others have made clear some of the flaws they have. but they're just way too arbitrary when it comes to relief pitchers to mean a whole lot.

also, we all realize ERA for a reliever is not quite as informative for relievers as for starters (though still useful). it would be interesting if he also took a look at rivera's and others' WHIP. or maybe some of those reliever tools that prospectus uses. (though i'm not that familiar with them...do any of them measure a repeatable skill, or does one just rate well if he keeps coming into games with the bases loaded and 2 outs and strands the runners, or something like that?)