Barstoolsports shared a video (on their IG) of a guy banging a trashcan during an Astros BP. LOL! It's gonna be a longggg season for those guys.
MLB Pseudo-Season 2020: Roger, Dodgers
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Long season? The Patriots are still seeing fan backlash from Spygate. That was in 2007. The Astros organization is stained in a way that will follow it for a very long time.
As will the players, even if they go to another organization.
As it should be, as it should be.
I've decided what it is that I like least about SABRmetricians and the "new" analytics geeks. It's not the arrogance -the we're smarter than you syndrome. In that respect, they should be reminded that there is not one man in the baseball Hall Of Fame who was not discovered and signed and coached and managed by "old school" baseball men. What I dislike most is that they don't actually watch baseball games - they don't think they have to. They think their precious numbers are all they need.
I was a paying member of SABR until my financial situation took an ugly hit last year, and I guarantee you I watched at least 200 games in their entirety last year, and footage of hundreds more.
Don't paint analysts with a broad brush.
I don't paint anybody with a broad brush. There are always exceptions, so broad brushes are stupid. I also watched over 200 games in 2019 and I have never been a member of SABR. I will just say that most analytics seem to belittle what they call "immeasurables" or "intangibles" - everything must be assigned a number. You and I watch the intangibles like how an infielder moves his feet when he's fielding a ground ball; or the crossover step of a baserunner taking off to steal second; or whether a pitcher is throwing from the first or third base side of the rubber. Those are the kinds of things where statistics are silent. And what in the world does "weighted" mean? Weighted runs created + is my favorite name for an analytic. The "weighted" and the "+" look like "pixie dust" to me. In the steel industry, pixie dust is an element (Vanadium, columbium, nickel) that when added to the mix changes the steel properties from what you have to what you want.
Look up the concept of weighted functions in mathematics. A statistic like OPS+ will take into account external factors such as park effects, and then establishes a completely league-average performance at 100.
And how is "park effect" calculated? Seems awfully subjective. So does the defensive metric "pitch framing." Seems odd that the analytics folks use the old eye test to "calculate" a statistic.
I'm not a big analytics guy, mainly because I am lazy, but there is a ton of material out there that explains it all.
https://library.fangraphs.com/principles/park-factors/
Pitch framing seems to be how well a catcher can fool a bad umpire. Skynet™ strike zones should take care of that.
From the article you cited - Instead, we have to settle for approximations.
Okay? I'm still not seeing the issue.
Exactly. The umpire has at least as much effect as the catcher in pitch framing. To me, that means it can't be quantified.
If these statistics are the result of approximations and eye tests or the combination of catcher/umpire, how can they be called "statistics" or "metrics." I come from an engineering background and a statistic is an objectively known, finite number whose precise effect on a calculation is predictable - they are not approximations.
This also isn't something that people's lives depend on to be accurate to .000001 tolerance for safety purposes. This is people trying to translate the game into a numeric form as much as possible. It isn't perfect.
That's my entire point - baseball is a game played by people, managed by people, and officiated by people. It ought to be obvious to even the most ardent mathematician/analytics maven that human activities cannot be reduced to or explained by numbers. I love watching baseball and as a lifelong fan and participant (up through junior college) I know a good player when I see one. So do most "old school" fans. I'm not saying "analytics" don't have a use - they do. But pretending baseball is better today just because of analytics is ludicrous. Men are stronger and faster and more athletic the "old school" way - hard work and practice. All these metrics like WRC+ and spin rate and launch angle and exit velocity have been around forever in baseball. They just didn't have names. Does a single turn into a double in a certain park because of the park or because the home team has a shitty pitching staff? Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium used to be called the Launching Pad until Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz showed up. I never heard that name used after the Braves had a great staff.
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But the numbers can give us a baseline expectation. I think any front office that relies purely on numbers to the exclusion of everything else, isn't going to be around. I also think that a front office that ignores the analytic tools they have at their disposal, also isn't going to be around very long.
They are a piece of the puzzle, not the entirety of it.
Try telling that to those that worship at the alter of WAR, because they're out there.
Every group has its out of touch with reality fanatics.
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