BBTF's Community Forums

Umpire Doug Eddings

2007-09-29T22:25:23-05:00

Did anybody just finish watching the Tigers play the White Sox? Did anybody see Umpire Doug Eddings run into Jermaine Dye who was totally out at second, but was awarded second because this retarded umpire got in the way???? Then in the bottom of the ninth he blew a call at second, which instant replay showed he blew it. The Tigers lost the game due to the crap call, and he ejected Leyland just to be a douche nozzle. Where do we complain to about the moron?

New York Daily News Poll nominating greatest Yankee players by position

2008-03-07T15:09:52-05:00

What is your opinion of the results of the recent New York Daily News poll to select the greatest Yankee at each position that is resulting in Mickey Mantle wiinning out over Joe DiMaggio?

I grew up in New York City in the 50’s and Mickey Mantle was my favorite player by far but both myself and Mickey would agree that Joe DiMaggio was the greatest Yankee centerfielder hands down.

I welcome thoughts on this poll result.

The Case Against Blyleven

2007-09-14T14:10:20-05:00

It seems most baseball fans think Bert Blyleven is worthy of the Hall of Fame, while he’s only getting moderate support from sportswriters in the HOF voting.

Fans are adamant about Blyleven not getting in, saying “It’s ridiculous!” or “He’s a slam dunk case!” or “He’s the most deserving player not in.” These overreaching statements lead me to believe that they’re not looking at the data, because at best he’s a borderline case, and Ron Santo, Dick Allen, Rich Gossage, Darrell Evans, Keith Hernandez, Ted Simmons, Minnie Minoso, Jack Morris and Dale Murphy all have more compelling cases than Blyleven does.

I think any argument which claims Blyleven belongs in the Hall of Fame can be effectively refuted, so give it your best shot.

A few preliminary questions for Blyleven supporters:
-Do you feel 287 wins is enough to qualify a pitcher for the Hall of Fame?
-Was there ever a three-year period (or longer) in Blyleven’s career where he was one of the five best pitchers in baseball for that period? If so, when? If not, don’t you think that’s a reasonable standard to start with?
-Do you think Blyleven’s lackluster Cy Young voting (3rd, 3rd, 4th, and 7th) means that the voters didn’t appreciate him, and if so, why didn’t they?
-What do you consider to be Blyleven’s two best seasons?

I will support my position with various evidence as the discussion goes along. I’ll start off by challenging the myth that Blyleven played on poor run-scoring teams, because I know that’s implied every time someone tries to defend his mediocre won-loss record.

ARGUMENT I

Let’s look at his 10 best ERA+ seasons, in order starting with his best:

1973—158, 20-17, 325 IP, Minnesota 6% OVER league scoring average. And yet he won only 3 more games than he lost.

1977—151, 14-12, 234 IP, Texas 4% OVER league scoring average. And yet he won only 2 more games than he lost

1974—142, 17-17, 281 IP, Minnesota just barely OVER league scoring average. And yet he won no more games than he lost.

1984—142, 19-7, 245 IP, Cleveland 5% OVER league scoring average.
Finally, his W-L reflected that of a great pitcher.

1989—140, 17-5, 241 IP, California 3% UNDER league scoring average.
Again, his W-L reflected that of a great pitcher.

1985—134, 17-16, 293 IP, Cleveland (9-11) barely UNDER, Minnesota (8-5) 4% UNDER league scoring average. Still, he won only 1 more game than he lost.

1975—129, 15-10, 275 IP, Minnesota 5% OVER league scoring average. About what would be expected for a decent pitcher in terms of W-L.

1971—127, 16-15, 278 IP, Minnesota 5% OVER league scoring average. And yet he won only 1 more game than he lost.

1981—126, 11-7, 159 IP, Cleveland 2% OVER league scoring average. About what would be expected for a decent pitcher in terms of W-L.

1976—125, 13-16, 297 IP, Minnesota (4-5) 4% OVER, Texas (9-11) 5% UNDER league scoring average. About what would be expected for a decent pitcher in terms of W-L.

10-year total (his ten best seasons)
149-122 (.549)
His teams averaged 2% OVER the league scoring during that time (he was not a victim of playing for bad teams). Let’s repeat this… 2% OVER the league scoring for the ten years of his best ERA+ seasons.

An average pitcher would be expected to have a .509 winning percentage on those teams, or 138-133 given that number of decisions. In his ten best seasons, Blyleven was merely 11 wins above an average pitcher, or a paltry 1.1 wins per season above an average pitcher. And those were his ten “best” seasons. This is not Hall of Fame material.

Or let’s look at his three best seasons of ERA+…

3-year total
51-46 (.525)
His teams averaged 3% OVER the league scoring during that time.

An average pitcher would be expected to have a .513 winning percentage on those teams, or 50-47. In his three best seasons, he was 1 win above an average pitcher, or only 0.3 wins per season. Not all that great.

Do you still think it was his team’s offenses that kept him from having good W-L records?

I have a further reflection that refutes this myth, but I’ll wait to hear other arguments first.

Those pesky Royals

2008-04-04T12:41:33-05:00

These two posts, although making fun of the Royals, atleast prove they’re relevant again (hopefully for more than just a week):

Royals bizarre calendar photo shoot

Royals start 2-0, reach milestone

Best Rotation

2008-02-21T14:48:23-05:00

I have seen the ZiPS projections, but I was wondering if the BBTF community had an opinion on which starting rotation is going to be the best in baseball this season.

FWIW, I have absolutely no idea, although off the top of my head, I’d say a case could be made for San Diego, the Angels, a perhaps a few other teams. Certainly not my White Sox =(

Speed Index calculation?

2008-02-14T18:47:56-05:00

I just picked up the Graphical Player 2008 and I’m taking a look at the speed index for batters. Problem is, I’m a little slow and I don’t understand it.
The description about the speed index says “Speed Index(SX) is just an estimate of the rate at which a hitter tries to steal (successfully or not).” It’s supposed to be a reflection of the manager’s tendency to send a player. The numbers in the book range from zero to 600, with lines at 200 & 400.
Can someone explain this in a way I can understand this? For the life of me I just can’t figure out what the Speed Index means or how it’s calculated. Thanks in advance!

Pedro Feliz - Does defense balance out offense?

2007-12-16T16:42:29-05:00

A question raging amongst stat-inclined Giants fans is this: does Pedro Feliz’s defensive prowess balance out his offensive shortcomings enough to warrant a starting job? There are a lot of arguments for and against, and everyone has a strong opinion it seems. I was just wondering if anyone had taken a hack at putting it all together. Can a defensive whiz over the age of 30 carry a corner position in the big leagues and have weak offense? I think all stats are fair game - I just ask that if you do answer that you say one way or the other in your conclusion whether you think his defense can make up for his bat.

(Also, just FYI I know that the answer can be “for the Giants it does, cause who else they got” - I’m interested in finding out Feliz’s value independent of the Giants. Would he be a good option for a team like the Phillies, Angels, whoever. Just trying to better gauge Feliz as an everyday player.)

Coors Field creation myth

2008-01-18T19:36:57-05:00

I have a theory that players who have home games at coors field suffer MASSIVE drops in road numbers Examples include Juan Pierre(Gained 50 points on his road average after leaving colorado) Joe Girardi, Ellis Burks, Walt Weiss, Jeff Cirrillo, in fact this last year was an aberration for the team to hit .260 on the road it is usually closer to .245-.250 range.
Eric Young had similar overall numbers with the Cubs as he had with the Rockies but had MUCH better road numbers and most every other example I can find with few exceptions(Castilla, Burnitz) have similar hitting numbers overall but much better road numbers.

The reason I write this is that I have read a lot of people saying Matt Holliday isn’t worth 100 million in a market where JD Drew gets 65. What do you all think???

Teams of the Decades

2007-09-30T22:08:51-05:00

Sorry if this has been discussed at length previously, but I couldn’t seem to find anything. Anyone ever try putting together teams from each decade, i.e. All-Decade Teams? I have been trying to do so for a game I am playing and have used two criteria:

1. Players can only appear on one team, the decade where they have the most at-bats or games pitched.
2. Hall of Famers are given the nod over non-HOFers unless there is extreme circumstances.

Let me know if this has already been discussed or if you are interested in me posting what I have accumulated so far.

Nationalism, Racism and the Joe Carter Walk-Off

2007-08-30T22:18:09-05:00

That’s the title of a book that explores American attitudes toward anything non-American. Makes some interesting points such as the rating of American sporting events like the Bobby Thomson Home Run which a) only meant a League title not a World Series plus there were 20,000 empty seats in New York b) the century old practice of 100 m. champ being fastest man on earth suddenly challenged by Michael Johnson in 1996 because a Canadian won the 100 m in World Record time. A record that he held for a long time apparently.
The thesis is if Americans are so short sighted and biased about insignificant sporting events then imagine how emotional they are when going to the polls, or helping others, or acknowledging any achievement that’s non- American.