Comments on: Validate this, Theo

By: Lehho Rebassoo

Lehho Rebassoo — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:38:50 +0000

Cody Ransom had a good spring, but has struggled at the plate. I think his BABIP might be uncommonly low. He’s a scary athlete. YES showed footage during a recent game of Ransom jumping from the floor onto a platform 60 inches high. I haven’t seen any evaluation, but I reckon he’s there to be rock solid on defense, with any offense as gravy. Swisher in right, Damon in left, and, of course, Jeter, are troublesome. But the rest of the infield, especially when Jose Molina catches, are first-rate. Molina is otherwordly.

By: Henry

Henry — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 01:19:46 +0000

Other than Bay, the only other question mark for the Red Sox is Lugo, assuming Lowrie is out very long. And Lowell needs to stay healthy. Youkilis is an excellent first baseman, but about average at third. Who do the Yanks have at third now? A-Rod was quite good and filled the gap for Jeter.

By: Lehho Rebassoo

Lehho Rebassoo — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 17:27:08 +0000

FRAA = Fielding Runs Above Average. Yankees went from -26 in 2008 to a projected +9 for 2009. Mariners go from -45 to +11. The Cubs go from a spectacular +58 to a merely respectable +6, which should still be enough to win the NL Central. The Angels go from +21 to -16. Terrible outfield, and Kendry Morales instead of Teixeira. I was wrong about the Sox. Apart from Bay, who is not considered an improvement over Manny, their defense is elite: +15. Woe be to the Pirates, who not only have atrocious offense and pitching, but atrocious D, too. Will management ever do anything right?

By: Lehho Rebassoo

Lehho Rebassoo — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 17:17:48 +0000

I like this metric. It’ll be interesting to see whether it pans out as any kind of predictor. I’m still going with Sabremetric defense, which correctly predicted a surge last season for the Rays. The Rays will be strong again, but I fear the Red Sox have taken a dip, while the Yanks got marginally better with Teixeira, Gardner, and, until Nady’s injury, Nady. Abreu is a terrible outfielder. The Angels will suffer greatly. Even Torii is overrated, according to metrics. Due to age, he has lost a step. I wish I could remember the particular stat (it’s related to VORP). It has to do with runs created versus runs saved defensively. It determines that David DeJesus is worth more runs to his team than Adam Dunn is to his. It is suggested that it is because many ML teams pay such close attention to related metrics that Dunn got such middling demand on the free agent market this past winter. Ostensibly, he would cost his team fewer runs at 1B? Soriano was huge for the Cubs, thanks mostly to his rocket arm in left field. He was a top outfielder, though I believe Alex Rios is still #1.