Operation Sports Forums - View Single Post - Official New York Yankees Bleacher Creatures Team Thread

GBrushTWood · 07-03-2005, 10:06 AM

Good points brought up by both of you. Just wanted to follow up with some things.

1. favre4vr, as you mentioned before, defense is extremely difficult to evaluate with methods that we in the public are aware of. From my understanding, the Red Sox (and other teams) have employees responsible for charting every single ball put in play that a defender has a chance to defend. How hard the ball was hit, the fielders position, how fast he gets to the ball, and other variables are measured here.
I'm nearly certain that the Red Sox have been working on method(s?) to properly empirically evaluate defense. We will never be aware of this, however, because they aren't just going to put out a press release stating "We, the Boston Red Sox, have devised a breakthrough new mechanism for evaluating defense! Here it is:". They would put themselves at a competitive disadvantage. So, it's difficult to see what is going on behind the scenes here, but I'm fairly certain that the Epstein front office realizes this is an important aspect of the game to research and has been working on solutions for a long time.

2. NYJets, I would argue that having strong defense behind a pitcher results in some tangible benefits for said pitcher. I believe that with the confidence of having vaccuum cleaners out in the field, the pitcher develops increased confidents to throw strikes, and not nibble around the corners. He feels that unless the hitter makes perfect contact on the ball, his fielders will find some way to get to the ball and record it as an out. This takes pressure off the pitcher and allows him to focus on playing his game, making pitcher's pitches, and focusing on getting ahead of batters.

Now, the converse of this is a pitcher with poor defense behind him. He is afraid of throwing pitches that run across the fat part of the plate, because his fielders probably won't get to it. He is forced to nibble and paint corners (BB rates increase). He is forced to throw more pitches due to errors and misrecorded potential outs. Everything is affected as a net result.

I could be wrong here, but I strongly believe that defense influences a pitcher in a huge way.

07-03-2005, 10:06 AM	#633
GBrushTWood Banned OVR: 9 Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Atlanta, GA	Re: Official New York Yankees Bleacher Creatures Team Thread Good points brought up by both of you. Just wanted to follow up with some things. 1. favre4vr, as you mentioned before, defense is extremely difficult to evaluate with methods that we in the public are aware of. From my understanding, the Red Sox (and other teams) have employees responsible for charting every single ball put in play that a defender has a chance to defend. How hard the ball was hit, the fielders position, how fast he gets to the ball, and other variables are measured here. I'm nearly certain that the Red Sox have been working on method(s?) to properly empirically evaluate defense. We will never be aware of this, however, because they aren't just going to put out a press release stating "We, the Boston Red Sox, have devised a breakthrough new mechanism for evaluating defense! Here it is:". They would put themselves at a competitive disadvantage. So, it's difficult to see what is going on behind the scenes here, but I'm fairly certain that the Epstein front office realizes this is an important aspect of the game to research and has been working on solutions for a long time. 2. NYJets, I would argue that having strong defense behind a pitcher results in some tangible benefits for said pitcher. I believe that with the confidence of having vaccuum cleaners out in the field, the pitcher develops increased confidents to throw strikes, and not nibble around the corners. He feels that unless the hitter makes perfect contact on the ball, his fielders will find some way to get to the ball and record it as an out. This takes pressure off the pitcher and allows him to focus on playing his game, making pitcher's pitches, and focusing on getting ahead of batters. Now, the converse of this is a pitcher with poor defense behind him. He is afraid of throwing pitches that run across the fat part of the plate, because his fielders probably won't get to it. He is forced to nibble and paint corners (BB rates increase). He is forced to throw more pitches due to errors and misrecorded potential outs. Everything is affected as a net result. I could be wrong here, but I strongly believe that defense influences a pitcher in a huge way.