Most Insignificat/Overrated stat in baseball

[texans]

Re: Most Insignificat/Overrated stat in baseball

By whom?

Agents trying to get their clients $$$. Stats do play a role in that process.

[Hammerhunker]

Re: Most Insignificat/Overrated stat in baseball

This is all sorts of wrong, a prime example of why you can not use something like strikeouts and RBI to compare players. They provide none of the context required to arrive at an accurate conclusion.

Reynolds doesn't have Howard's RBI total not because of his strikeouts, but primarily due to a fluke-ishly low BABIP w/RISP (.259 compared to his typical .350-ish mark) and secondarily because of fewer opportunities. Howard has 36 more PA's with runners on base, 11 of those with RISP, while Howard's BABIP is basically in line with his career marks.

Give Reynolds those 36 more PA's with runners on and his typical BABIP and the RBI gap closes significantly.

You just don't get what I am trying to say, I am not at all comparing in the context in which you refer, at least I don't think I am. My comparing was for hypothetical purposes, that's it.

Your last sentence kind of gets at what I am saying. Yeah, give Reynolds the 36 more PA and you will probably get 12 more strikeouts. Howard will get the rbi, Reynolds will get the strikeout. Plain and simple, if Reynolds cuts his stikeouts, his rbi total could go up.

It really isn't that important.

[CMH]

Re: Most Insignificat/Overrated stat in baseball

Agents trying to get their clients $$$. Stats do play a role in that process.

I have never heard of an agent trying to sell their reliever with holds but I might have never paid attention.

If I were a GM, I'd laugh my way out of the meeting.

[snepp]

Re: Most Insignificat/Overrated stat in baseball

Your last sentence kind of gets at what I am saying. Yeah, give Reynolds the 36 more PA and you will probably get 12 more strikeouts. Howard will get the rbi, Reynolds will get the strikeout. Plain and simple, if Reynolds cuts his stikeouts, his rbi total could go up.

No, you're missing what I'm saying. Reynolds wouldn't get 36 'more' PA's, they would simply replace 36 PA's that occurred with no one on base. His total PA's and strikeouts remain unchanged, they would just occur with a different set of circumstances (ie, their context). Howard does have 50 more total PA's on the season than Reynolds does though, I didn't even mention that in the previous post, that closes the perceived RBI gap even more.

Yes, his RBI total could theoretically go up, but it could just as easily go down if he stops hitting for the monsterous power that makes him a valuable offensive player. Cutting his strikeout total probably means seeing fewer pitches, which means swinging at more pitches (often bad pitches that aren't going for anything more than a single), which means fewer walks, which likely leads to a less valuable offensive player in the end.

[snepp]

Re: Most Insignificat/Overrated stat in baseball

I have never heard of an agent trying to sell their reliever with holds but I might have never paid attention.

If I were a GM, I'd laugh my way out of the meeting.

I bet they work in arbitration hearings though, they're clueless.

[texans]

Re: Most Insignificat/Overrated stat in baseball

If I were a GM, I'd laugh my way out of the meeting.

That sounds like a great tactic. I'm sure agents would be lining up to negotiate with you.

And yes, minuscule stats like the hold play an even bigger role in the arbitration process.

"The hold was invented in 1986 by John Dewan and Mike O'Donnell to give a statistical measure of the effectiveness of the vast majority of relief pitchers who are afforded few opportunities to close a game."

Logic being if you led your league in holds, you'd be one of the league's best setup men, right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hold_%28baseball%29

[CMH]

Re: Most Insignificat/Overrated stat in baseball

That sounds like a great tactic. I'm sure agents would be lining up to negotiate with you.

And yes, minuscule stats like the hold play an even bigger role in the arbitration process.

"The hold was invented in 1986 by John Dewan and Mike O'Donnell to give a statistical measure of the effectiveness of the vast majority of relief pitchers who are afforded few opportunities to close a game."

Logic being if you led your league in holds, you'd be one of the league's best setup men, right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hold_%28baseball%29

I can see why an agent would use it, but you're also talking to a guy that thinks overpaying a closer is the most ridiculous thing in baseball.

The hold is nice for a reliever, but it only tells me one thing: you were good that season. I want to know if you can be good next season and holds don't really tell me that. Relievers are extremely up and down and it's a waste of resources to invest heavily in them.