Yesterday Fangraphs came out with a new statistic called wRC+. I love Fangraphs and visit their site numerous times a day. They are good at what they do, which is mining the numbers for trends. wRC+ is weighted Runs Created based on weighted on base average. Really wRC+ is Fangraphs version of OPS+. Do we need another statistic to measure hitting, pitching and defense? Certainly not. Bill James, the godfather of sabermetrics, agrees. In 1981 (28 years ago!) he said, "The world needs another new baseball offense rating system like Custer needed more Indians." Perfectly said. We are now at the point where statistics are being created just so people can say they created a baseball statistic. Congratulations, you have invented a stat you and a handful of others on your block use and understand. If you think Joe Torre and Ron Gardenhire are plugging your stat into their decision making process, think again. Tom Tango wrote "The Book" which is subtitled playing baseball by the percentages. Granted I struggled in math growing up, but getting through that book made my brain ache and wonder how many college credits I would get for reading it. After reading it I was left with the question: Are managers using all this data? Some of the data they do use, but a lot of it is filler for books and articles. Baseball involves people who make wise and not so wise decisions. Nick Punto is ranked as one of the best baserunners in the American League, that didn't help him as he ran through the stop sign in Game 3 of the ALDS and was thrown out going back to third. Baseball is fun because of its unpredictability. Remember, the very worst team will win 25% of the time. That breeds unpredictability. Don't be confused, I love looking at statistics and not just the traditional ones, the advanced statistics as well, but the time has come. New statistics are clouding the game in a haze. Let's analyze baseball with what we have. Usually we come to the same conclusion anyway. Why take so many paths getting there ?
Without sounding too much like Pat Ruesse, I've gotta agree. When I saw that on fangraphs, I just rolled my eyes.
ReplyDelete"The Book" made your brain ache? Wow.
ReplyDeleteTango's The Book wasn't my kind of baseball book. It was too inner stats for me. Hard to get pumped up to read a whole book of hardcore statistical analysis.
ReplyDeleteNice site, and I agree about the statistics - sometimes I get caught up in them and you forget why you got involved in baseball in the first place - the game!
ReplyDelete