I don’t think I’ve given proper respect to Ballbug, an excellent news feed aggregator. Ballbug collects the big baseball stories of the day from the mainstream media, and augments them with a healthy collection of related blog entries. It sometimes takes a little longer than I would like for the latest news to cycle to the top of the page during the day, at least sometimes, but it’s a great place to start your daily baseball reading. Highly recommended.
MLB
Ask Rotoman, the column
The new column is out at mlb.com. I realize I haven’t been talking about why I choose the questions I do. In this week’s issue I compare Carlos Lee and Jason Bay, compare Michael Cuddyer and Aubrey Huff, chatter on about past embarrassments Tyler Walker and Jorge Cantu, and then I bite into the ripest piece of meat. Dig in!
Idiots Write About Sports
He links to the original, which is rather amazing in its hyperbole. Ahab had his whale, that’s a good one. The whale, of course, was a whale.
Tampa Bay Devil Rays News: Kazmir No. 1?
Scott Kazmir has been pitching very well this month, which is of increasing frustration to Mets fans, who can only wonder what might have been if the then really young phenom hadn’t been traded for the now career-threatened bum Victor Zambrano.
Looking at the picture that accompanies the story, which is of Kazmir with his long stride nearly off the mound and his arm still back behind his shoulder, reminds me that part of the knock on Kazmir was that his unusual delivery led some to think he would be an injury risk.
In this story, in which his start this year is compared to Vida Blue’s historic rookie campaign, no mention is made of the potential risks for a young pitcher cast into a heavy role. Just ask Vida Blue how that turned out. (Note that Blue threw 312! innings as a 21 year old, and topped 180 10 times.)
On the other hand, Kevin Appier had the most shoulder-twisting delivery I’ve ever seen by a starter, and he got in 11 seasons with better than 180 IP—starting at age 22.
Let Kazmir throw!
David Appelman: Pujols’ hot spots
SI.com – MLBÂ Wednesday May 17, 2006 12:26PM
When I was a boy perhaps the most influential thing I read was the issue of Sports Illustrated excerpting Ted Williams’ book about hitting, Science of Hitting. Most notably, a chart that showed his batting average when the ball was thrown in each spot in the strike zone and out.
I’m a little embarrassed now that I have no idea how the data for that chart was compiled and whether it was even real. Collecting such data in the early 60s was a lot harder than it is today. David Appelman is one of a growing number of baseball analysts who are drawing on the ever expanding trove of data Baseball Info Solutions has been collecting, and his Fangraphs.com site has been linked to here before.
These hitter charts are of interest, of course, but it seems to me that they tell the wrong half of the story. Player performance isn’t a constant, and wouldn’t it be really interesting to be able to see the distribution of pitches when Adrian Beltre was going bad and compare it to when he was going good?
The other thing that should be noted is that BIS derives most if not all of it’s data off of television broadcasts. While I trust that a reporter’s mark showing where the ball crossed the plate will be sort of accurate (and I believe the company employs multiple reporters for each game), there are plenty of reasons to suspect that they won’t be pinpoint. And if the analysis is meant to show scintillating differences in performance based on pitch location (remember, that the camera distance and angle is different in every ballpark), the noise of subjective judgement is likely to wipe out the little differences.
This isn’t to derogate Appelman’s work, or to impugn the value of what BIS is doing. But it is important to remember that better and more finely grained data isn’t necessarily objective data. Enjoy these excellent visuals, and imagine what they tell us about these hitters, but don’t imagine this is the end. In some ways it is just the beginning.
Holy humidor! Rockies are for real
Todd Helton is quoted in this story as saying that the humidor helps the Rockies on the road: “Before they used the humidor, breaking pitches did not break as much at Coors as at sea level, so when the Rockies went on the road, they had to adjust to breaking pitches that actually broke.”
Do balls coming out of the humidor break more than those kept in the outside atmosphere? I don’t see why they should. The issue is how far the ball goes when hit, no?
This Week’s Ask Rotoman
The new one has been released, looking at the long term potential of three rookie second basemen (and not even including Josh Barfield), asking the musical question is Joe Borowski for real, contemplating the relative values of Pedro Feliz and Justin Morneau, and comparing a rotation of free-agent starters to one good starter. There’s lots to read, so get going!
LaRoche’s disorder in spotlight
Adam LaRoche’s problem, apparently, is ADD. He won’t take medication for it, however, or make excuses, which is why he sometimes looks like he isn’t paying attention to the game. Or he doesn’t hustle, as in a play in Monday’s game against the Nats. According to the experts quoted in this story, if LaRoche took the right medication he’d be a better baseball player. But there are a lot of people these days who say that taking the ADD medication helps them focus better, too, even if they haven’t been diagnosed with the disease. Since LaRoche can function on the extraordinary level of a major leaguer without taking medication, can his disease be bad enough that he should be allowed performance enhancing drugs his teammates and opponents aren’t allowed?
I’m just asking.
Statistic sheds new light on Big Hit Theory
Our favorite Pittsburgh Press-Gazette columnist goes all close up on the Pirates, and I think validates an experimental sabermetric measure. Even if I’m missing something, and you’ll let me know, it’s nice to see the local papers hire Saber guys.
Bucs Dugout ::
Tracy With The Dodgers: An Interview With Dodger Math
A Pittsburgh blogger talks to an LA blogger about what to expect from Pirate’s manager Jim Tracy. The elephant in the room is why, as Dodger Math says, Tracy’s managing go bizarre after Paul DePodesta became the LA General Manager. I’d like more discussion about that, but this is interesting stuff nonetheless.