On the usage of statistics on the OH

[Tony-OH]

Tony hates you both, too :laughlol:

No, I only dislike passive-aggressive nerds who are offended by their own nerdom.

Guys like SJ and eb are great because they don't take this stuff too seriously.

No but wait, I'm getting all ugly and mean. Boo frick'n hoo.

[SilentJames]

I have a cat named Lola (after the song)

I have been featured in the Baltimore Sun for my ballpark signs

I made Orioles t-shirts designed with pirated Adobe Photoshop

I have seen They Might Be Giants half a dozen times and have a personally autographed copy of the documentary on them

I frequently edit wikipedia

I am currently looking at one of TWO Enterprise models sitting in my front room

That model is sitting beneath local arist renditions of 1) a valkhryie and 2) Walt Whitman

One cubby of my DVD shelf is the entire series of the X-Files, both movies (fiancee's) My copy of Star Wars DVDs bought specifically because they had the original theatrical runs on them and SPACED.

Behind me is a Hi-Fi with Charade! the soundtrack on the turntable.

[The Epic]

I have a cat named Lola (after the song)

I have been featured in the Baltimore Sun for my ballpark signs

I made Orioles t-shirts designed with pirated Adobe Photoshop

I have seen They Might Be Giants half a dozen times and have a personally autographed copy of the documentary on them

I frequently edit wikipedia

I am currently looking at one of TWO Enterprise models sitting in my front room

That model is sitting beneath local arist renditions of 1) a valkhryie and 2) Walt Whitman

One cubby of my DVD shelf is the entire series of the X-Files, both movies (fiancee's) My copy of Star Wars DVDs bought specifically because they had the original theatrical runs on them and SPACED.

Behind me is a Hi-Fi with Charade! the soundtrack on the turntable.

...and I'm working undercover for the man! :wedge:

I'm in two OOTP baseball leagues, and in one, I write childhood backstories for all of my players, and a bunch of the players on other teams, based on their hometowns and peripherals.

I read "the Book" while I'm on the toilet.

My current favorite songs are based off of Tetris and Q-Bert.

Do I win? No. But I just felt like playing!

Also, I have a cat named CiCi.

Seriously, though, great thread. I had nothing to add.

[eb45]

I own about twelve shirts from bands none of my friends have heard of.

I compete in Scrabble tournaments.

Under my bed are stacks of comic books that I haven't taken the time to sort yet.

One of my most prized possessions is my original vinyl pressing of Mission of Burma's Signals, Calls, and Marches.

I recently registered a Something Awful forum account.

There are seven webcomics in my Firefox bookmark bar.

I started a thread here explaining how to use Greasemonkey to improve the vBulletin ignore system.

I'm the best Tetris player I know.

I'm in my fourteenth season in a DiamondMind Baseball league that started in 1961. My team has the best record in 1977 and won a championship in 1972.

I once invented my own statistic to measure baserunning.

[SilentJames]

15 comics in my firefox toolbar

Registered member of SOCIAL ENTROPY since 2002

I own both Seasons of The Adventures of Pete and Pete on DVD, the third season is on my computer.

I have the entire 5th season of Doctor Who on my laptop.

I called The SCREEN SAVERS

My favorite Doctors are, in no particular order: T. Baker, McCoy and Smith

I play Settelers of Catan, Fluxx and Carasconne

I will destory you at Scrabble

I have an original RISK board from the 60's

I have an original Orioles Pennant Fever LP

My classroom door is plaster in the following comics: Penny Arcade, XKCD, SMBC and Dinosaur Comics

Above the comics is a big friendly sign that reads: Don't Panic.

[The Epic]

I compete in Scrabble tournaments.

Three random things from this, just because it reminded me.

#1: I probably have mentioned it before, but...I have never lost a board game of Scrabble. Ever. I used to play my family, my classmates in homeroom, and a couple of friends in college. Never lost. I actually stopped playing because I liked thinking about the fact that I was undefeated over 100-some games. Pretty cool thing about myself.

#2: I won a school-wide tournament of the 24 game when I was in middle school. It was my crowning achievement for a long, long time. Great math game. My teacher actually told me after the competition that I should be an actuary. It's actually why I ended up majoring in it.

#3: More nerdiness.

[El Gordo]

My letter to the editor was PUBLISHED in a GREEN ARROW comic written BY Kevin Smith.

I played Baritone Saxophone in my HS marching band

I wrote a paper on the War of 1812 titled: "How Baltimore Saved America"

I am a HS Civics teacher - I use the word CIVICS

My last sick day was spent watching MSTK3K, all day

I am a member of the International Thespian Society

My longest paper in college was about Diderot's Encyclopedia and its influence on enlightenment France

I gave my fiancee an 19th century edition of Dante's Inferno for our anniversary.

I won best supporting actor at the Maryland Thespian Society Festival in 1963, wrote a paper on Diderot's the Paradox of Acting, saw Tony Shaloub in Rameau's Nephew, and beat the Cohen brothers at Trivial Pursuit. And Tony hates me, so I must be a nerd.:laughlol:

[SrMeowMeow]

Really? You would be able to draft high schoolers without looking at them at all, to see what body type they had and whether htey might be able to add muscle to their frame or not? And of course there is an INCREDIBLE variance between different levels of high school ball from state to state, from county to county, from public school to private school. Yet you would be able to determine which high school players to draft based SOLELY on stats? Or else you would go only with college players where there is a bit more reliable statistics to measure them, but you would be handicapping yourself by ignoring completely the high school market.

And how would you statistically evaluate, without EVER having a scout watch them, which 16 year old kids from the Dominican to sign? Or would you ignore that market entirely too?

I'm skeptical of your claim, if it wasn't TIC.

I thought about it. I'd lose every draft, but come on. The advantage everywhere else would be overwhelming. Imagine trying to trade without using stats at all...just using your memory and the physical tools of the player in question. There'd be no way to evaluate existing players.

No contest.

[SrMeowMeow]

15 comics in my firefox toolbar

Registered member of SOCIAL ENTROPY since 2002

I own both Seasons of The Adventures of Pete and Pete on DVD, the third season is on my computer.

I have the entire 5th season of Doctor Who on my laptop.

I called The SCREEN SAVERS

My favorite Doctors are, in no particular order: T. Baker, McCoy and Smith

I play Settelers of Catan, Fluxx and Carasconne

I will destory you at Scrabble

I have an original RISK board from the 60's

I have an original Orioles Pennant Fever LP

My classroom door is plaster in the following comics: Penny Arcade, XKCD, SMBC and Dinosaur Comics

Above the comics is a big friendly sign that reads: Don't Panic.

BUT...have you ever won a Magic: The Gathering tournament? (Hint: I have)

[Stotle]

I thought about it. I'd lose every draft, but come on. The advantage everywhere else would be overwhelming. Imagine trying to trade without using stats at all...just using your memory and the physical tools of the player in question. There'd be no way to evaluate existing players.

No contest.

Wouldn't be close -- scouts would win every single time evaluating from minors on down. Existing established MLB players, I think you could make an argument for statistical analysis being able to come close to standing on its own.

[SrMeowMeow]

Wouldn't be close -- scouts would win every single time evaluating from minors on down. Existing established MLB players, I think you could make an argument for statistical analysis being able to come close to standing on its own.

Are you kidding? Stats would DESTROY scouting with established players. You can't possibly believe that even the most detailed scouting analysis of a player could stand up to even something like Marcel in projecting performance.

[Remember The Alomar]

Give me stats and never let me look at a player or talk to a scout. Give you every scout in the game but nobody in your organization can write down a statistic. I will build the better team.

On his podcast, Kevin Goldstien was asked this exact question and said instantly that that scouts would win without a doubt--even if they could only keep track of everything in their head. This is coming from a guy who works for the mecca of so called stat nerds.

My opinion doesn't count for much 'cause I'm just a guy who loves baseball, but Tony is 100% right on this. Minor league stats have uses, but seeing players in person and scouting them is so much more important. In the minors it's more about how a prospect is doing what he's doing rather then the numbers that he's actually putting up.

[ChaosLex]

I swear to God this is dumb.

The biggest nerd here is ME. We all know this.

I read histories for fun! My favorite book is Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. My fiancee has a full bookshlef full of nothing but Tolkien.

For my birthday I am getting a bobblehead made out of ME!

I have a hat that reads: Tosche Station

My screen name is an homage to Kevin Smith.

I am the Nerd Duke, bow before me.

I watch Pokemon. Your argument is invalid.

[Stotle]

Are you kidding? Stats would DESTROY scouting with established players. You can't possibly believe that even the most detailed scouting analysis of a player could stand up to even something like Marcel in projecting performance.

Existing MLB players, stat analysis can reveal some of the hidden gems. If you are talking about a straight draft of players, scouts are going to be able to pick out the best players in the game without much trouble. So the stats will probably give an edge later on in the draft when you are talking about rounding off the teams.

Your response seemed to indicate that the draft is the only area where stats wouldn't have an advantage. No way. In both MiLB and draft your statisticians would be spanked and it wouldn't be close. So stats probably win a small battle at the MLB level with players with track records and get their ass handed to them at every other level.

[ScottieBaseball]

NERDS!!!!