Salon's Kaufman accuses Kindred of 'ignorance'

Good post, Michael. Thanks. And remember, next time you make it down this way, if you do, we need to have a good plate of jambalaya and a beer or two.

 

wow, doc. you're slipping. badly, in fact.

maybe you should see where DQ ranks in ERA+. he's walter johnson good.

 

Because good relievers almost always have lower ERAs than starters, Tom. What's your point?

 

It's not necessarily that Beane was finding undervalued players through newfangled statistical analysis, though I guess that's a way of looking at it. The premise was examining with some objectivity and precision what actually goes into scoring runs, and then finding which aspects were over- and undervalued in the market.

Basically treating baseball like the stock market. Investors are always using metrics to find under- and overvalued stocks. Beane just tries to sift through the data to do the same with baseball players.

Beane doesn't think stolen bases are irrelevant in baseball, for example, just overvalued.

 

And when other teams began valuing on-base percentage, it was no longer undervalued. Beane moved on to placing a higher value on defense, which he did not value much during the writing of "Moneyball."

 

are you kidding me?

 

No.

 

That's the problem with all innovations in sports. The market catches up quickly, more quickly than financial markets do, in fact (how long did it take the biggest brains on Wall Street to figure out the housing bubble, for instance). Were I Lewis, and I only wish I wrote a tenth as well, my theme on Beane would by the Sisyphean nature of his method. He ALWAYS has to look for the next trend, and eventually, the talent-profit margin of value will be too low for him to prosper. No matter how undervalued defense might be, it still cannot equal hitting in ABSOLUTE value towards winning.
In the end, a capitalistic system depends on capital. Beane can't cash big bets on his good ideas, because he can't make big bets.

 

for the love of god: "Yeah, it's insanely nerdy and complex. It measures how a pitcher performed against other pitchers in his era. Why in the world would a HOF voter want to know that?"

why in the hell would a HOF voter want to look at any SM stat that ranked DQ alongside rivera and walter johnson? do you really not see some small flaw when DQ becomes the man?

 

McFly... anyone home?

 

To wit: ERA Leaders, Major Leagues, 2008

Starters Relievers
Johan Santana, 2.53, 16-7 Joe Nathan, 1.33, 39 saves
Cliff Lee, 2.54, 22-3 Mariano Rivera, 1.40, 39 saves
Tim Lincecum, 2.62, 18-5 Joakim Soria, 1.60, 42 saves
CC Sabathia, 2.70, 17-10 Brad Lidge, 1.95, 41 saves
Roy Halladay, 2.78, 20-11 Francisco Rodriguez, 2.24, 62 saves