Or 5th, or 6th best.
So Ryan Howard won the NL MVP beating out Albert Pujols, and somehow Lance Berkman beat out Carlos Beltran for third.
Player A. BA .331 OBP .431 SLUG .671 OPS 1.102 49 HR 137 RBI
83 XBH VORP: 85.4
Player B. BA .313 OBP .425 SLUG .659 OPS 1.084 58 HR 149 RBI
84 XBH VORP: 81.5
Player A: 12.9 WARP3
Player B: 9.4 WARP3
You look at every statistic and something stands out. Player A is superior to Player B, ending up with 9 less HRs, 12 less RBIs, and dominating every other statistic. Hell, even 9 HR down, he ended up with only one less XBH.
He also did it in 70 less plate appearances.
Did I mention Player A's team barely made the playoffs, due to him carrying the team, where Player B's team batted the 14th best position player ahead of him(which led to significantly more RBI chances) but still didn't lead his team to the playoffs?
Did I mention Player A had 131 less strikeouts?
Did I mention Player A hit .397 with RISP, while Player B hit .256 with RISP.
Well now let's name our players. Player B, of course, is Ryan Howard, the winner *gag* of the NL MVP. Player A, is Albert Pujols, the superior player in just about every way, besides HRs and RBIs.
Showing posts with label baseball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baseball. Show all posts
Monday, November 20, 2006
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Metsgeek Post
A post I made on www.metsgeek.com
I too said wins and losses are overrated. I hear these talking heads like John F. Kruk saying “wins and losses are the most important stat for a pitcher.” WRONG. The most important stat for a TEAM is wins and losses.
But a pitcher can(especially in the AL) only contribute 50% of the win. All he can do is prevent runs as best as he can. If he gives 1 run and he loses, who does the fault go to? The offense. Who gets the negative mark statistically? Him, he gets an extra 1 in the loss column.
Wins and losses is a statistic that is no longer pertinent to the modern pitcher. As someone else pointed out, you pitch great for 6-7 innings and the next 2-3 guys have to get you the win, unlike before when pitchers threw CGs all the time.
Now wins and losses are taken out of the pitcher’s hand for almost 1/3 of the game. The offense might not show up, the defense might let you down(hey, if you give up 1 unearned run, you still get a L as the pitcher, not an UE-L), the relievers might blow the win.
So many other factors go into a pitcher’s wins and losses that today it is a statistic that talks more about luck than skill. It means you pitched well enough for 6-7 innings and you got some run support, the relievers held the lead, and the defense didn’t make too many errors, so that you were able to see a W go up next to your name after the game finishes.
Are wins and losses important as a pitching statistic? Sometimes. But more often than not, a pitcher’s luck, good or bad, makes his W-L record hard to quantify. A WHIP, an ERA, all these statistics aren’t perfect. If your defense has bad range, you give up more hits, leading to more “earned” runs and a higher WHIP.
No statistic, at least, the ones most people know about, looks at what the pitcher did, and quantifies it into his contribution to the game. Fielders make mistakes, or bail out pitchers with great plays, runners make boneheaded plays and get doubled off, etc etc. Even umpires miss calls.
But Wins and Losses, they’re out of the pitcher’s control for the most part, as soon as his team comes up to bat for the first time. The pitcher must depend on his team to score runs to win.
Some wins are earned by pitchers, carrying their teams moribund offenses, and some wins are gift-wrapped with 10 run explosions from the pitcher’s offenses. Some losses are earned when the pitcher gets lit up, but just as many as lost because the pitcher’s offense is on vacation, making sand angels.
I too said wins and losses are overrated. I hear these talking heads like John F. Kruk saying “wins and losses are the most important stat for a pitcher.” WRONG. The most important stat for a TEAM is wins and losses.
But a pitcher can(especially in the AL) only contribute 50% of the win. All he can do is prevent runs as best as he can. If he gives 1 run and he loses, who does the fault go to? The offense. Who gets the negative mark statistically? Him, he gets an extra 1 in the loss column.
Wins and losses is a statistic that is no longer pertinent to the modern pitcher. As someone else pointed out, you pitch great for 6-7 innings and the next 2-3 guys have to get you the win, unlike before when pitchers threw CGs all the time.
Now wins and losses are taken out of the pitcher’s hand for almost 1/3 of the game. The offense might not show up, the defense might let you down(hey, if you give up 1 unearned run, you still get a L as the pitcher, not an UE-L), the relievers might blow the win.
So many other factors go into a pitcher’s wins and losses that today it is a statistic that talks more about luck than skill. It means you pitched well enough for 6-7 innings and you got some run support, the relievers held the lead, and the defense didn’t make too many errors, so that you were able to see a W go up next to your name after the game finishes.
Are wins and losses important as a pitching statistic? Sometimes. But more often than not, a pitcher’s luck, good or bad, makes his W-L record hard to quantify. A WHIP, an ERA, all these statistics aren’t perfect. If your defense has bad range, you give up more hits, leading to more “earned” runs and a higher WHIP.
No statistic, at least, the ones most people know about, looks at what the pitcher did, and quantifies it into his contribution to the game. Fielders make mistakes, or bail out pitchers with great plays, runners make boneheaded plays and get doubled off, etc etc. Even umpires miss calls.
But Wins and Losses, they’re out of the pitcher’s control for the most part, as soon as his team comes up to bat for the first time. The pitcher must depend on his team to score runs to win.
Some wins are earned by pitchers, carrying their teams moribund offenses, and some wins are gift-wrapped with 10 run explosions from the pitcher’s offenses. Some losses are earned when the pitcher gets lit up, but just as many as lost because the pitcher’s offense is on vacation, making sand angels.
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