2018 MLB Thread

[The Buscher]

I remember when David Wright signed his contract extension I saw people saying it was too much money to give a guy who never had lead the team in RBIs in the few seasons prior, and I just groaned.  Of course the guy hitting behind Wright was going to have more RBIs, because Wright was substantially better at getting on base than the guys hitting in front of Wright.  Wright might have been the best player on the team, but he can't magically will the hitters in front of him on base.  RBIs on their own tend to both reward as well as penalize guys for shit they have no control over.

Batting average in its plainest terms is also a terrible stat to use.  And I was guilty of being blinded by it too.  For years I saw Mets fans clamoring for Ben Revere, thinking he'd be the perfect leadoff hitter just because he hits .300.  But his OBP was only like .320, which means he rarely ever walked.  And his slugging was like .340 which showed he rarely hit anything other than singles.  Yeah he steals 40 bases so in some ways he converts his singles into doubles, but he's just not that good of a player offensively.

Conversely, you have a guy like Granderson.  Hit .259 in 2015 which the people who wanted Revere would think is not good for a leadoff hitter.  But his OBP was over a hundred points better at .364 showing he walked a ton.  And his slugging was .457 demonstrating a ton of pop and that he made the most of his hits.  He set a franchise record for leadoff home runs, which is a great way to start a game off...and it meant when he'd come up win men on later in the game he stood a good chance of driving them in.  Can't say any of those things about Ben Revere.  At an .821 OPS Grandy's 2015 was one of if not the most productive seasons for a leadoff hitter in team history, and you'd never know it if you just looked at .259 AVG.

[Draevyn]

Because I was never a stats guy, I have no idea what goes into the slugging percentage. Is that just how many times he gets extra bases and regular average is just how many hits he gets?

[Meacon Keaton]

It's just total bases divided by at-bats.

So say you have one at-bat in your career, but it was a home run, your slugging would be 4.000. Or if you had 100 at-bats but only 25 hits and they were all singles, it'd be .250.

[thatshortguy]

RISP > RBI and it's not even close.  RBI simply tells you how many times somebody has driven in a runner.  RISP tells you the likelihood they will.  Plus that can be broken down against lefties, righties, etc.

I'd argue that Slugging % is a meh stat, as well, because it doesn't take into consideration times your total bases involved a fielding error.

The point:  baseball has a ton of useless stats and it's almost always the ones TV pundits flock to.

[The Buscher]

 

[The Buscher]

Final HOF update before the announcement in a couple of hours.  57.3% of ballots already revealed......Chipper, Vlad, and Thome are going in no problem.  Hoffman at 79.0%, Martinez at 77.4%, and Mussina at 70.4%

Hoffman should be fine.  But I still think Edgar's gonna fall short while staying in a great position to go in during his final year on the ballot next year.  Moose is a tough call, 5% this late would be a lot of ground to make up but he too is looking like it'll just be a matter of time.

[james_ewing88]

Final tally for HoF are Chipper Jones, Vladimir Guerrero, Jim Thome and Trevor Hoffman. As a life long Braves fan, SO glad Chipper is in. Also, Hoffman is one of the best (if not the best) Closer in MLB history. Congrats to all four.

[Draevyn]

Man, I loved Chipper when I used to follow the braves in the mid 90's. Glad he got the nod. Thome as well. I'm not as familiar with the other two.

[Meacon Keaton]

Not familiar with Vlad?! The Expo, Mr. Canada?! 

Er'body loves Vlad.

 

[9 to 5]

6 hours ago, Meacon said:

Er'body loves Vlad.

I think I have seen the American original of that show.

[The Buscher]

Fun Fact:  If Edgar Martinez unretired, he would need to go 0-952 at the plate to have a lower OBP than Vlad.

He'll go in next year.  Being only 20 votes shy of election historically suggests he'll get over the hump in the next go around.  Plus it's his last year which typically leads to a big push and the ballot will be slightly less crowded next year.  Rivera and Halladay will go in first ballot but most voters should have two more open spots to work with.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

Yelich to the Brewers.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/01/brewers-to-acquire-christian-yelich.html

[Meacon Keaton]

Good for the Brew Crew. Now they should sign Darvish and really make a push.

[ThrillhouseMAX]

@Meacon my brother literally just said the same exact thing to me. I feel like if that happens, the Brewers would definitely be in business, and I'm sure Darvish would thrive with the Brew Crew. 

[thatshortguy]

Damn. Was hoping the Braves could have nabbed him for someone other than Acuna. Alas, the rebuild continues.

[ThrillhouseMAX]

Brewers also signed Lorenzo Cain

[Meacon Keaton]

Wow, so they have an outfield of Braun, Cain, and Yelich. I suppose they'll trade Domingo Santana for pitching help. That team is going to be fun as hell to watch this year. That may be the National league team I follow most this season. 

[Your Mom]

1 hour ago, Meacon said:

Good for the Brew Crew. Now they should sign Darvish and really make a push.

[Meacon Keaton]

Just now, The Chiksrara Special said:

Somebody has to put up a fight in the central! I can’t imagine it’ll be the Pirates or Reds. And let’s be honest, no one wants it to be the Cardinals. Why not the Frosty Brews?!

[Your Mom]

10 minutes ago, Meacon said:

Somebody has to put up a fight in the central! I can’t imagine it’ll be the Pirates or Reds. And let’s be honest, no one wants it to be the Cardinals. Why not the Frosty Brews?!

If it has to be anyone sure let it be them. But you said they should take Darvish