With the heightened importance of sabermetrics and the revisionist history that post-Moneyball baseball allows, of late, I have been paying much consideration to the changing nature of Major League Baseball and its rules.
For a sport that abhors change and the modification of its rules for the influx of technological means, the last decade has given birth to new forms of statistical measure that have been proven to be more indicative of a player’s value than those that were once thought to be of great importance (RBI’s, AVG., etc.) With these new measures comes a heightened understanding of the sport itself and the consideration of elements of the game that were once thought to be of great use; more specifically, in this instance, the true worth of the bunt.
Bunting has long been an important element of baseball, where it can serve two purposes; to advance a runner on base, or, as less frequently used, as a means of taking advantage of third or first baseman protecting the base or playing deep, in hopes of advancing the hitter to first base.
The more thought I put towards bunting, the more I find it to be wasteful, especially in the first instance. With only three outs, admittedly wasting one only to advance a runner 90 feet seems rather moronic. Actively swallowing one of the three outs to advance a runner one base severely limits the batting teams ability to accumulate runs in that inning.
For a sacrifice bunt to be useful, it would have to be executed effectively 100% of the time, and without digging through stats at MLB.com, it is safe to say that it does not always work as planned. Furthermore, the fact that a ball bunted foul on two strikes is an out and the difficult nature of holding back a bunt once an attempt to execute it is made go to great lengths to minimize its effectiveness.
For Oakland GM Billy Beane and other small-ball enthusiasts, the bunt is an important element towards the goal of chipping-away at the opposition by scoring one run innings in hopes of wining 1-0 or 2-1. This may work in the offensively challenged AL West, but try implementing that in the AL East against the Red Sox for example; score an important run in the top half of the inning, only to have the middle of Boston’s lineup come up and rattle off successive two baggers. Long story truncated; you lose.
Let’s consider a specific situation. Man on first, none out. Batter at the plate is an efficient bunter, and the dire need for a run trumps all. The batter bunts in order to a) advance the runner to second and in scoring position and b) eliminate the chance of a crippling double play. By doing so, the team is essentially giving an out to the other team to advance the player 90 feet and to effectively eliminate the opportunity for a second out. The more I think of this, the more absurd it seems. Now it’s one thing if this is the NL and the batter is Wandy Rodriguez, but it’s a completely different story if the batter is a position player. I’m almost certain he has a lineup spot not because of his ability to bunt, but because he can hit; so, let the man hit. Donating an out to narrow the odds of a second out is ridiculous. Take a hack my man – we’ll deal with the results after the fact. It should be a matter of worst-case versus best-case scenario. With bunting, the comparison of scenarios is rather narrow; it is either an out with a man on second, or the bunter fails in his attempt, resulting in one out, man still on first. If you allow the player to bat, with consideration towards trying not to ground into a DP, the disparity between scenarios widens; it’s either a DP or a two-run homerun, or a single and a man on first and third, or a double that could have scored the runner and placed the batter in scoring position at second.
The point I’m trying to make is that by letting the player hit, it increases the odds of the occurrence of more beneficial acts for the team at bat. Bunting restricts a team’s ability to be an offensive power, which also caters to the starting pitcher by reducing the pitch count and limiting the potential of a big inning.
Without implementing statistical measures into this argument, I urge readers of the blog and baseball fans alike to watch the game from a different perspective. Become members of my campaign to eliminate the bunt and let’s allow the players to do what they’re paid to do; get a bloody hit.
Showing posts with label MLB. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MLB. Show all posts
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Debunking The Jose Bautista Phenomenon
Blue Jays everyman Jose Bautista has been ripping the cover off the ball for a little more than a year now. What was once a promising career of an early round Pittsburgh Pirates draft pick, fizzled until being traded to the Blue Jays prior to the 2008 season.
Initially, Bautista's play showed some promise and the potential to meet the expectations that baseball insiders and scouts alike shared when he was on the cusp of Major League Baseball.
Following two seasons with the Jays that typified the standard of a league average player, Bautista broke-out in 2010 to lead baseball in home runs with 54. Were it not for his .267 avg., he would have likely won the American League MVP award as well.
Thus far, Bautista has 16 home runs in 41 games played, 4 more than the nearest competitor and 2 less than the Minnesota Twins have as a club. Initial speculation that Bautista is simply the next in line of hundreds of players to tarnish the game with use of performance enhancing drugs was quickly put to rest through analysis of the numbers.
The following chart courtesy of Beyond The Boxscore and SB NATION analyses his last 3 seasons and the data from this year, to show that he is hitting the ball to left field more than ever, has a better b to strike and walks to strikeout ratio and ground ball to fly ball ratio.
His meteoric rise is due only to better patience at the plate and an understanding of what his skills are, and where his weaknesses exist.
Click on the graph below in the event you wish to actually read the size 2 font.
In the last few years, baseball has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance because of the influx of sabremetrics and the sports nerds that follow them. When Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane changed the face of the game by instituting the Moneyball scheme, he also changed the way statisticians put value on certain stats.
Beane's novel approach identified that there was more to constructing a winning team than great pitching and power hitters. You need speed, strong defense, a blend of ground ball and fly ball pitchers. Such skills could be found for cheap, and with that, scouting staffs began to multiply and many ex-player General Managers were replaced by MIT grads and the like such as Tampa Bay Rays GM Andrew Friedman.
Now, defensive measures and stats like VORP and Wins Over Replacement (WOR) have found a place alongside the like of the RBI and ERA. After all, just how indicative is the RBI statistic of the value of a player. It's easy for Yankees first bagger Mark Teixeira to bat in 100 runs when he's batting behind the likes of Alex Rodriguez, but what about the player that bats well but simply does not have anybody on base ever? See what I'm getting at?
Talk about running off on a tangent. The point was that Jose Bautista is this year's front runner for MVP, and regardless of which statistical measure you fancy, they'll all indicate the same thing.
Initially, Bautista's play showed some promise and the potential to meet the expectations that baseball insiders and scouts alike shared when he was on the cusp of Major League Baseball.
Following two seasons with the Jays that typified the standard of a league average player, Bautista broke-out in 2010 to lead baseball in home runs with 54. Were it not for his .267 avg., he would have likely won the American League MVP award as well.
Thus far, Bautista has 16 home runs in 41 games played, 4 more than the nearest competitor and 2 less than the Minnesota Twins have as a club. Initial speculation that Bautista is simply the next in line of hundreds of players to tarnish the game with use of performance enhancing drugs was quickly put to rest through analysis of the numbers.
The following chart courtesy of Beyond The Boxscore and SB NATION analyses his last 3 seasons and the data from this year, to show that he is hitting the ball to left field more than ever, has a better b to strike and walks to strikeout ratio and ground ball to fly ball ratio.
His meteoric rise is due only to better patience at the plate and an understanding of what his skills are, and where his weaknesses exist.
Click on the graph below in the event you wish to actually read the size 2 font.
In the last few years, baseball has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance because of the influx of sabremetrics and the sports nerds that follow them. When Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane changed the face of the game by instituting the Moneyball scheme, he also changed the way statisticians put value on certain stats.
Beane's novel approach identified that there was more to constructing a winning team than great pitching and power hitters. You need speed, strong defense, a blend of ground ball and fly ball pitchers. Such skills could be found for cheap, and with that, scouting staffs began to multiply and many ex-player General Managers were replaced by MIT grads and the like such as Tampa Bay Rays GM Andrew Friedman.
Now, defensive measures and stats like VORP and Wins Over Replacement (WOR) have found a place alongside the like of the RBI and ERA. After all, just how indicative is the RBI statistic of the value of a player. It's easy for Yankees first bagger Mark Teixeira to bat in 100 runs when he's batting behind the likes of Alex Rodriguez, but what about the player that bats well but simply does not have anybody on base ever? See what I'm getting at?
Talk about running off on a tangent. The point was that Jose Bautista is this year's front runner for MVP, and regardless of which statistical measure you fancy, they'll all indicate the same thing.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Suspend Nick Swisher
Let me preface this brief post by providing two key variable;
1) I hate the fuckin' New York Yankees.
2) I participate in an extremely hardcore and labour intensive online Fantasy Baseball league with 11 other gentlemen from all over the U.S.
My first round pick Evan Longoria had been shelved for 15 days, and Twins 2nd Baseman Tsuyoshi Nishioka was performing adequately in his place.
This league does not a designated slot for disabled lists, so you can see the problem I face especially considering I own Rockies hurler Ubaldo Jimenez who is also on the 15 day DL.
With those variables considered, I must also preface the following video by saying I played baseball for years. I understand the existence of an unwritten rule stating that a baserunner should do everything within the rules to disrupt an opposing player at a base.
Yankees troglodyte Nick Swisher does more than this, sliding well off the base path, sweeping, rather kicking his leg, striking the Twins player in the patella and shattering his fibula.
Fucking prick.
Also, Nishioka was playing in only his 5th game as a Twinkie since signing from Japan where he was a perennial All-Star and all-around nice guy.
Post-game, Swisher met with Nishioka following a positive X-Ray result. The Twins 2nd baseman said he had no hard feelings against Swisher, a sentiment that was echoed by other Twins players and longtime manager Rod Gardenhire.
Regardless, this was a scrappy play taken a little to far.
Nonetheless, Nick Swisher is a prick and the Yankess suck.
1) I hate the fuckin' New York Yankees.
2) I participate in an extremely hardcore and labour intensive online Fantasy Baseball league with 11 other gentlemen from all over the U.S.
My first round pick Evan Longoria had been shelved for 15 days, and Twins 2nd Baseman Tsuyoshi Nishioka was performing adequately in his place.
This league does not a designated slot for disabled lists, so you can see the problem I face especially considering I own Rockies hurler Ubaldo Jimenez who is also on the 15 day DL.
With those variables considered, I must also preface the following video by saying I played baseball for years. I understand the existence of an unwritten rule stating that a baserunner should do everything within the rules to disrupt an opposing player at a base.
Yankees troglodyte Nick Swisher does more than this, sliding well off the base path, sweeping, rather kicking his leg, striking the Twins player in the patella and shattering his fibula.
Fucking prick.
Also, Nishioka was playing in only his 5th game as a Twinkie since signing from Japan where he was a perennial All-Star and all-around nice guy.
Post-game, Swisher met with Nishioka following a positive X-Ray result. The Twins 2nd baseman said he had no hard feelings against Swisher, a sentiment that was echoed by other Twins players and longtime manager Rod Gardenhire.
Regardless, this was a scrappy play taken a little to far.
Nonetheless, Nick Swisher is a prick and the Yankess suck.
Friday, April 1, 2011
The King of Walks - Barry Bonds
Those who know me well - beyond the semi-anonymous veil of the internet that protects my true identity - will acknowledge that I am a baseball junkie.
Last night, I took part in my second online fantasy draft of the week, this time with some of my fellow Deadspin commenteriat, and I was so enveloped in the enjoyment of sifting through middle relievers and their stats that I hardly noticed 3hours of my life had just passed me by.
The season started yesterday, and despite the difficult weather conditions for baseball, I soaked it all in as if it were opening day 1985 and I sat with my mother at Exhibition stadium fawning over my favorite Blue Jays.
Being a baseball fanatic these last few years has been a challenge. For some reason, the U.S. Supreme Court has stepped in with their Mitchell Report and started imposing their will on Major League Baseball, having not just athletes, but the stars that carried the game speak under oath concerning performance enhancing drugs that WEREN'T EVEN ILLEGAL when they were allegedly used.
This situation has forced many of this generation's stars to swallow their pride and admit to the usage of drugs that despite being completely legal at the time, are considered an ethical injustice with regards to the puritanical traditions of baseball.
Forget the fact that following the lockout in the 90's, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa's efforts to smash Roger Maris' home-run record of 61 completely revitalized the game and brought-back the interest of the national audience.
Forget the fact that the allure of the 'Home-Run' generation of Major League Baseball spiked both attendance and viewership numbers. All of this is irrelevant when considering the archaic means MLB and its owners use when governing the game.
Forget the fact that the use of drugs are not the only means of bettering a player, and that Tommy John surgery repairs a pticher's elbow by taking a tendon from the leg and inserting it in the arm. Sure, Human Growth Hormone, which is used to allow the body to rehabilitate quicker is taboo, but taking a piece of your leg and putting in your fucking arm is perfectly okay.
And finally, please forget the fact that these men care about their legacies and image, and sometimes have too much pride to admit their fault. We canonize the likes of former Yankees starter Andy Pettitte for admitting his errors when cornered, but burn others at the stake for hiding the truth - something I believe most of us would identify with if put in a similar position.
It's baseball.
Motherfucking baseball folks - take a step back and realize the athletes are only trying to better themselves both for their personal gain, and OUR ENJOYMENT. They are the ones selling tickets, not the pasty fat cats in the press boxes whose parents left them the team or bought it themselves following the Dot Com boom of the late 90's.
FUCK.
I just wanted to let off a little steam, but I can't help but be a little sad, that the best pitcher of our generation, Roger Clemens, has perjured himself in court by lying about his HGH use, and the greatest hitter I've ever seen is currently embroiled in a courtroom drama similar to that of Mr. Clemens.
I could go on and on about the Bonds trial, but Ben McGrath at the New Yorker has done an impeccable job of it so why not click on the link below ad enjoy a brilliant article that covers the entire thing in-depth.
King Of Walks - New Yorker
Enjoy and thanks for reading.
Last night, I took part in my second online fantasy draft of the week, this time with some of my fellow Deadspin commenteriat, and I was so enveloped in the enjoyment of sifting through middle relievers and their stats that I hardly noticed 3hours of my life had just passed me by.
The season started yesterday, and despite the difficult weather conditions for baseball, I soaked it all in as if it were opening day 1985 and I sat with my mother at Exhibition stadium fawning over my favorite Blue Jays.
Being a baseball fanatic these last few years has been a challenge. For some reason, the U.S. Supreme Court has stepped in with their Mitchell Report and started imposing their will on Major League Baseball, having not just athletes, but the stars that carried the game speak under oath concerning performance enhancing drugs that WEREN'T EVEN ILLEGAL when they were allegedly used.
This situation has forced many of this generation's stars to swallow their pride and admit to the usage of drugs that despite being completely legal at the time, are considered an ethical injustice with regards to the puritanical traditions of baseball.
Forget the fact that following the lockout in the 90's, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa's efforts to smash Roger Maris' home-run record of 61 completely revitalized the game and brought-back the interest of the national audience.
Forget the fact that the allure of the 'Home-Run' generation of Major League Baseball spiked both attendance and viewership numbers. All of this is irrelevant when considering the archaic means MLB and its owners use when governing the game.
Forget the fact that the use of drugs are not the only means of bettering a player, and that Tommy John surgery repairs a pticher's elbow by taking a tendon from the leg and inserting it in the arm. Sure, Human Growth Hormone, which is used to allow the body to rehabilitate quicker is taboo, but taking a piece of your leg and putting in your fucking arm is perfectly okay.
And finally, please forget the fact that these men care about their legacies and image, and sometimes have too much pride to admit their fault. We canonize the likes of former Yankees starter Andy Pettitte for admitting his errors when cornered, but burn others at the stake for hiding the truth - something I believe most of us would identify with if put in a similar position.
It's baseball.
Motherfucking baseball folks - take a step back and realize the athletes are only trying to better themselves both for their personal gain, and OUR ENJOYMENT. They are the ones selling tickets, not the pasty fat cats in the press boxes whose parents left them the team or bought it themselves following the Dot Com boom of the late 90's.
FUCK.
I just wanted to let off a little steam, but I can't help but be a little sad, that the best pitcher of our generation, Roger Clemens, has perjured himself in court by lying about his HGH use, and the greatest hitter I've ever seen is currently embroiled in a courtroom drama similar to that of Mr. Clemens.
I could go on and on about the Bonds trial, but Ben McGrath at the New Yorker has done an impeccable job of it so why not click on the link below ad enjoy a brilliant article that covers the entire thing in-depth.
King Of Walks - New Yorker
Enjoy and thanks for reading.
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