2012 MLB Regular Season Running Thread

I'm not complaining about a lack of context with WAR. I'm saying it is too subjective and it doesn't do what it claims to do.

Home runs, RBI, wins, losses and batting average are not subjective. There are better statistics to use in evaluating players without getting into subjective adjustments, such as OPS and ERA.

 

Oh, same. He was a slightly above-average high school pitcher.

 

I don't know if he's still in the majors. He's only pitched in two innings this season, so maybe they optioned him down.

 

WAR is only supposed to do one thing and one thing only: gauge the value a player has over a replacement player. And it does it as well as it possibly can with the information we have right now. When things have come up, like the shift issue, the creators have quickly changed or altered the metric. Of course or information is limited, which is why WAR is always an estimation. If anybody uses it solely to rank or evaluate a player or to determine a player's skill or "greatness", they are using it incorrectly.

If you want to say that no metric is better than one that estimates but can't nail down what is really happening, that is fine.

 

BABIP takes home runs out of the equation, as well, as they do not land in the field of play.

Hiroki Kuroda has a .278 BABIP, which is comparable to how he did in the NL West. He has a home run problem in 2012 (although he pitches home games in a joke park). The home run rate is up and the flyball rate is down.

 

Also, for hitters, AL teams can give more irresponsible long term contracts knowing that they can hide him as the DH into his 40s. For an NL team to have given Pujols a 10 year contract (even if he's only as old as he says he is) would have been nuts.

 

Can someone explain what BABIP is?

 

Batting average for balls put into play.

 

The sidearm slider Eppley has is sick. The last guy I can remember with that pitch was one of the dudes on Boston in Bases Loaded on Nintendo early 90s.