We Have The Right GM

[Satyr3206]

This was my source.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AjPYUfhm9vGIJ9ZrLYiF2esRvLYF?slug=jp-yankeesredsox122309&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

And if being absolutely right is a criteria than the # of posts will be dropping significantly.

[sbauer]

This was my source.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AjPYUfhm9vGIJ9ZrLYiF2esRvLYF?slug=jp-yankeesredsox122309&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

And if being absolutely right is a criteria than the # of posts will be dropping significantly.

Wow. That's just awful. He tried, though. More than you can say for some. At least he didn't bring up the "stats guys live in their parent's basement" theory.

[Lucky Jim]

This was my source.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AjPYUfhm9vGIJ9ZrLYiF2esRvLYF?slug=jp-yankeesredsox122309&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

And if being absolutely right is a criteria than the # of posts will be dropping significantly.

Your source was wrong. And it's not that you weren't "absolutely right" it's that you criticized something you clearly don't understand based on a flawed source while apparently being too lazy to verify it.

If we exclude those kinds of posts, I think that the number of posts would decrease only by, well, yours and Trea's.

It's not hard to look up. It's also not hard to find an explanation of how it works. As you can see above, Zobrist was nearly thirty runs below Pujols.

The reason Zobrist had the highest WAR (as a batter AND fielder) is twofold: first, he played spectacular defense at relatively high-value positions (whereas Pujols played mediocre defense at a low-value position), and second Joe Mauer is a catcher and there's no measure of defensive value for catcher.

[Hank Scorpio]

Your source was wrong. And it's not that you weren't "absolutely right" it's that you criticized something you clearly don't understand based on a flawed source while apparently being too lazy to verify it.

If we exclude those kinds of posts, I think that the number of posts would decrease only by, well, yours and Trea's.

It's not hard to look up. It's also not hard to find an explanation of how it works. As you can see above, Zobrist was nearly thirty runs below Pujols.

The reason Zobrist had the highest WAR (as a batter AND fielder) is twofold: first, he played spectacular defense at relatively high-value positions (whereas Pujols played mediocre defense at a low-value position), and second Joe Mauer is a catcher and there's no measure of defensive value for catcher.

This coming from a guy who hopes to one day be smarter than a box of hair!?!?!?!

:laughlol:

[Lucky Jim]

This coming from a guy who hopes to one day be smarter than a box of hair!?!?!?!

:laughlol:

Hey, even the bottom of the food chain has a hierarchy.

[JBugaboo]

This looks to be a simple mistake to me. My guess is the source (Jeff Passan, Yahoo Sports) meant to say highest WAR among position players, which Zobrist appears to be. Instead be buggered up his grammar and said "batting WAR" which leads to the confusion.

Or, Passan could just be wrong. I don't blame satyr3206 once he-she provided the source. The blame goes to Passan. Since we're playing the internet message board blame game.

[Lucky Jim]

This looks to be a simple mistake to me. My guess is the source (Jeff Passan, Yahoo Sports) meant to say highest WAR among position players, which Zobrist appears to be. Instead be buggered up his grammar and said "batting WAR" which leads to the confusion.

Or, Passan could just be wrong. I don't blame satyr3206 once he-she provided the source. The blame goes to Passan. Since we're playing the internet message board blame game.

But why criticize an entire metric based on a second-hand source? That's the problem: he relied on a Yahoo sports article to claim that the metric lacks "validity". If you're going to play the role of arbiter of validity, at least know what you're talking about.

[FR500]

Who is available next year that is such a big deal that you save up for him?

Beckett? Yea right..No way AM is giving out a 5+ year contract to a pitcher.

Mauer? No chance.

Guys like Carlos Pena and Derek Lee aren't going to cost crazy amounts of money.

So, who exactly is he waiting for?

I got to agree 100%... chances are next year there will be new excuses.... the "New Oriole Way" looks more like the "The Turtle Way" --- slow and steady, never going over 20 mph for fear of actually being able to compete

THIS YEAR.... Fear the New Turtle... This is Turtleland.

OK, not happy with FAs this year (AGAIN)? What about some creative trades... they all won't be stinky Glen Davis trades.... we could actually make a great Frank Robinson trade?

Sorry... AM is moving WAY TOO SLOW for this old timer.

[sbauer]

This looks to be a simple mistake to me. My guess is the source (Jeff Passan, Yahoo Sports) meant to say highest WAR among position players, which Zobrist appears to be. Instead be buggered up his grammar and said "batting WAR" which leads to the confusion.

Or, Passan could just be wrong. I don't blame satyr3206 once he-she provided the source. The blame goes to Passan. Since we're playing the internet message board blame game.

I don't know. I think he's just wrong. If he meant to say position players, then what would his problem be? You can't just determine a player's value by only including their offense, and ignoring their defensive worth. Defensive issues cost games/runs as well.

[ShaneDawg85]

We won't be winning more games against the Yankees and Red Sox until the whole organization loses that defeatist attitude toward those two teams.

From the owner to the GM to the players, there's a major inferiority complex against both of those two teams.

And we can start to end that by actually trying to challenge them and not back down when we are competing against them being it for talent or in actual games. We've got to be willing to play with the "big boys" if we want to win.

Got any evidence, quotes, or anything factual to back up such a loaded and bold statement? Because I'm highly skeptical you're going to find anything.

[byrdz]

This was my source.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AjPYUfhm9vGIJ9ZrLYiF2esRvLYF?slug=jp-yankeesredsox122309&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

And if being absolutely right is a criteria than the # of posts will be dropping significantly.

Get a new source. Go to Fangraphs and do some research into what the stats actually mean. That's where most of these "Yahoos" go to get their info anyway. Then we'll be talking apples to apples.

For instance, there's no such thing as "batting WAR" as far as I know. It's just WAR and that stat is a culmination of other value stats.

Start here, there's some links to articles at the bottom, I expect a report on my desk by COB today.

[Frobby]

But why criticize an entire metric based on a second-hand source? That's the problem: he relied on a Yahoo sports article to claim that the metric lacks "validity". If you're going to play the role of arbiter of validity, at least know what you're talking about.

OK, but we're making too much of this at this point. His general point was that WAR has its flaws. Hard to disagree that any stat that identifies Zobrist as the best player in baseball last year is dubious.

For one thing, they really need to figure out a way to give catchers some credit for their defensive contributions. It's ridiculous to treat 8 of 9 defensive positions as if they matter, and then ignore defense at a position where defense always has been considered extremely important.

For another thing, and I know we could spend the next 100 posts debating this, the defensive part of WAR generally just seems at odds with common experience. If Zobrist was really that good at 2B, he wouldn't have been moved back to the OF the second Iwamura was healthy enough to return.

I don't want to get into too much of a debate about all that right now. I'll just say that when next year is over, I'm pretty sure neither the Red Sox nor the Yankees will have a total of 60 WAR.

[TonySoprano]

And we can start to end that by actually trying to challenge them and not back down when we are competing against them being it for talent or in actual games.

We want to be right on the heels of the Yankees and the Red Sox ... or right in their faces - Peter Angelos, Sept 24, 2004;)

Baltimore is a great baseball town, with great fans, a beautiful ballpark and a good organization. We will get the players necessary to be successful." - Peter Angelos, Sept 2005

[Satyr3206]

I read the article and I quoted from it. I didn't verify because my eggnog is a lot more important than stats research right now. Soon Irish coffee will dominate.

I'll do my best to find a statistical metric for those two things as my penance.

[carolinaoriole]

I don't want Bay at all.

Holliday is a maybe depending on what kind of contract you can get him for.

The highest I would go is probably 6 years and somewhere in the 90-100 million range.

If i were the O's, I would put a 6/90 on the table right now....That probably doesn't get it done and I would be willing to go a little higher but not much.

In terms of who is available...Well, that all depends on many things...I do think we should be going to "poor" teams and offering to take a bad contract off their hands to obtain more young talent...I think we should be talking to Zona about Stephen Drew.

I think we should be talking to Detroit about MCab....Boston about Lowrie.

With so many teams having so many financial constraints, I feel it is in our best interest to take advantage of that....but I don't think AM will do this.

What makes you think A.M. is not doing all of this?