Mashed Potatoes

Good looking out, I meant to keep them separated as you suggested, but I never clicked the first link 1970 provided so I wasn't sure if it was the explanation or the rankings. Anywho I fixed it. Also 1970 or Tony or Scottie can you guys change the thread title from Stick to Sticky? Thanks!

Check the OPS Misleading? thread, he was one of the posters who advocated the idea.

Thanks to the work of Baltimoron and now, we have the beginnings of a comprehensive advanced statistics list. Anyone with more links, important and concise notes, or organizational ideas just post them here or PM me, and I'll edit the original post. It will become a sticky, and eventually incorporated into the hangout. Availability is only the first step though, once the list is finalized I'll start a weekly series on a specific statistic. How is it calculated, where is it applied, what are its strengths, deficiencies, and limits...etc. Soon we will all be "cooking with gas." Quick Links to Super Stats - the best and most comprehensive measures EQA (Equivalent Average) VORP Hitters VORP Pitchers (Value Over Replacement Player) Winshares Runs Created WPA Leaderboard wOBA (Weighted On Base Average) 2004-2006 Park Factors OPS (On base Plus Slugging percentage) RC27 (Runs Created per 27 outs) DIPS (Defense-Independent Pitching ERA) PMR (David Pinto's Probabilistic Model of Range) WXRL Basically VORP for relievers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Notes: EqA - EQA and the EQA based counting stats EQR, RAP, RAR, RARP. Comprehensive (includes stolen bases), highly correlated to actual runs produced (EqR is the companion counting stat), park and league adjusted, consistent in that it is relative to a league-average baseline that is set to the same number (.260), calibrated to mimic the scale of batting average (i.e. a .300 EQA is comporable in scarcity to that of a .300 batting average). VORP - Value Over Replacement Player. The number of runs contributed beyond what a replacement-level player at the same position would contribute if given the same percentage of team plate appearances. VORP scores do not consider the quality of a player's defense. OPS - simple to calculate, adding OBP to SLG. Correlates well to Runs Created (RC/27), but is inaccurate to the extent that OBP is actually at least 1.5 times more important than SLG. RC27 - Runs created per 27 outs (Estimates how many runs per game a team made up of nine of the same player would score) DIPS - A pitcher's ERA, independent of the defense behind him. This formula, based on essays by Voros McCracken, assumes that all pitchers have consistent BIPA (Balls In Play Average. Batting Average Against, not including home runs or strikeouts), and adjusts accordingly. The DIPS ratios on ESPN use the DIPS 2.0 formula, are not park-adjusted, and do not adjust for knuckleball pitchers. WPA - Win Probability Added, is a system in which each player is given credit toward helping his team win, based on play-by-play data and the impact each specific play has on the team's probability of winning. Here's a link from January 06 at the USS Mariner that talks about the defensive fielding stats available. link It doesn't have great info on the Fielding Bible (because it hadn't yet come out), but is not bad otherwise. Here's a good link discussing the Fielding Bible wOBA - wOBA Tangotiger's website is a great resource. Not really easy to digest, but very valuable. PMR - Its system for evaluating fielding range. It calculates the probability of a ball being turned into an out based on six parameters: 1. Direction of hit (a vector). 2. The type of hit (Fly, ground, line drive, bunt). 3. How hard the ball was hit (slow, medium, hard). 4. The park. 5. The handedness of the pitcher. 6. The handedness of the batter. For each ball in play, the program sums the probability of that ball being turned into an out, and that gives us the expected outs. Dividing that by balls in play yields expected defensive efficiency rating (DER). That is compared to a player (or team's actual DER), or how many balls in their "area" were turned into outs. Its the next step beyond UZR and unlike the fielding bible, is freely available on the web. PMR is explained here and here, or in a short video 5 minute video here (the video is pretty easy to understand). WXRL - It takes into account the game situation when a reliever enters, when he leaves and gives credit for the difference by evaluating the relative win probabilities. Inherited runners, bequeathed runners, and leverage are integral.