Bob Ryan: I don't think the "average" fan cares about advanced metrics in MLB

A column that was tailor made for a classic SJ slugfest.

Release the arguments!

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2014/05/17/baseball-fans-care-about-new-breed-stats/5C3wVETWOubtGjE78Og2RP/story.html

 

What's Ryan's Wins Over Replacement Pontificator?

 

Fossils like Ryan are peeved they have to work harder to make a point, instead of falling back on CHEMISTRY and INTANGIBLES and LEADERSHIP.

 

Is this self-plagiarism from 2007?

 

WAR isn't a stat, it's an opinion reduced to a number, like "she's a 6".

 

You shouldn't be commenting or covering baseball if you don't understand them and are able to convey how clubs use them to evaluate players.
I don't think Joe Blow has a OPS of "X" is a story. But being able to show how and why teams care is essential. And just saying "people don't care" is like writing about a new city budget and just copying the press release, mentioning the cuts or increases, but not putting your eyeballs to the numbers and seeing the year-to-year adjustments.

 

You can't ignore data in baseball anymore unless you're willing to say the third baseman caught a line drive while stationed in right field because the manager played a hunch.

 

Just more grouchy-old-mannism.

Change comes slowly to baseball. Fifteen years ago there were fans who loudly scoffed at the very idea of keeping pitch counts.

Now, any manager who keeps a starter who isn't working on a shutout in to throw 120+ pitches gets uniformly barbecued on all the talk shows.

I think WHIP is pretty universally understood by almost everybody. It ain't that hard to figure out. OPS isn't quite as simple, but it's close.

I remember in the Seventies hearing broadcasters huff and puff about guys who drew a lot of walks, claiming they bogged down the offense. That shit is pretty much gone.

 

The Phillies are a team that has almost openly scoffed at metrics and analytics.
Look at the shape of that organization. Enough said.
I would think veteran newspapermen would be less resistant to change, given the seismic shift we've witnessed in the industry.

 

Kind of funny given that The Red Sox are one of teams that have
benefited the most from using advanced stats.

 

All true. But is being barbecued on all the talk shows a legitimate reason to do anything?

Winning percentage the past 12 seasons:

.450 (current)
.451
.500
.630
.599
.574
.568
.549
.525
.543
.531
.531

Now, assuming that "metrics and analytics" became a part of the game long before 2013, how have the Phillies done vis a vis the rest of baseball over this 12-year span?