I missed Gennaro's talk. Did anyone here see it, and if so what did you think of it?

They have presentations at these things?

I saw it. It was really good, both in terms of clarity and polish of presentation, and in terms of substance.

It was one of those things that, when you're hearing it, you think "well, duh," because you sort of inherently know what he's saying (i.e. marketability, recent performance, defensive position, etc. influences salary) but when you think about it you realize that no one outside of a GM's office is really trying to quantify this stuff or talk about what goes into salaries in an empirical way, nor do you ever hear anybody talking about salaries as if they are reached through at least some sort of empirical basis. In my own mind -- even though I should know better -- I get this image of a GM in a business suit and a magic 8-ball saying "I think I'll pay Jose Guillen . . . .X$!"

If Geri Stecker's presentation was as good as her poster, it probably should have won. I may go with Angus's presentation as the best one that I saw, but that's a gut feeling. Gennaro's presentation was good in some ways. He spoke well and ID'd factors that detrermined free agent salaries and came up with a linear equation. But he only looked at one year's worth of data.

Was Stecker the one about Rogan in Manila?

Her poster was.

Dang. I didn't go to either one.

My favorite was Alan Nathan's cause he had lost of THT logos in his Powerpoint slides.

They have presentations at these things?

Hey Aaron, I added it up. I think you and I were awake at the same time approximately four hours a day.

Her poster was.

I went to her presentation. It was good. The only problem was that she referred to home plate as "fourth base" once, and that had me off track for, like, the rest of the day. She even copped to it and corrected it the moment she said it, but the damage had been done.

Also: she said she's turning it into a book. Based on the presentation, it will probably be a pretty good, and very well researched book.

Strecker's presentation was the best I attended (and I went to Gennaro's). I heard the one about Wally Yomanine was also fantastic.

Strecker's presentation (also about Manila) was outstanding, especially when you consider that she is NOT a baseball researcher by trade.

I didn't go to Gennaro's presentation, and based on Jon's description of it I would not have rated it as highly as Strecker's. I've not been particularly enthralled by Gennaro's approach in his prior convention presentations, and one year's worth of data wouldn't convince me of anything.

Zavango et al deserved the poster award.

Anthony Giacolone's presentation was outstanding, but very likely downgraded because of its limited baseball content. Chris's presentation was also excellent, although the A/V issue hurt it. The presentations that I did see were the best set of presentations that I've seen in five conventions.

-- MWE

And no, Chris, I'm not angry. Disappointed, yes - I thought that Strecker's presentation was far better than Cait Murphy's, which won a year ago in St. Louis. I'm sorry I missed the judges' meeting, but I had to get to the airport earlier than I had figured (our flight was moved).

-- MWE

I heard the one about Wally Yomanine was also fantastic.

That was my favorite, but I'm not sure it should've won. It was great because it was a story I had never heard before, but I think the best presentation should be more than that. The story was known, obviously in Japan. I bet most the SABR-ites who know their Japanese baseball had a similar reaction as many primates did to the Frankie Lane presentation by Treder - good stuff, but a known story. Actually, from that perspective Treder comes out a bit ahead - he had decent and intresting analsysi of Lane and why he was the way he was at the end of his presentation.

I agree that this flock of presentations was among the best I've seen at a SABR convention, but I'm not sure if there was a single really brilliant move-see moment. Even the weaker ones weren't that bad.

I may go with Angus's presentation as the best one that I saw

I covered up my hideio nametag, walked up to Jeff Angus and told him how much I was looking forward to his presentation about Evelyn Ankers.

Jeff was terrific as usual.

Tho some scoffed at the value of figgering game scores.

For the record -- and if anyone can comment about the record of this thing, it's me -- the Yonamine presentation finished this (holds up thumb and index finger, infinitesimally separated) far behind Vince's in the judging. There was a pretty good gap between their percentiles in the evaluation and those of the next ones in the rank-order. They were really the only two we considered in choosing who would win the Doug Pappas Award.

Though I don't have the numbers right in front of me (they're on my laptop at home), most of the other presentations mentioned above also scored very well. We had a large number of very highly rated presentations this year.

I actually attended both Gennaro's and Fitts's talks, as well as Treder, Angus, and Giacalone. As for Strecker, my primary concern at the time was whether her first PowerPoint slide would actually be displayed on the big screen. When I saw it, I breathed a sigh of relief and went on to additional convention duties.

Maybe Gleeman would notice that we have research presentations at SABR conventions if there was one about baseball and poker. Or baseball and acute alcohol poisoning.

Maybe Gleeman would notice that we have research presentations at SABR conventions if there was one about baseball and poker. Or baseball and acute alcohol poisoning.

Only if it's an audience-participation presentation.

Better yet, Doc, he could submit the abstract for it. He's certainly demonstrated the expertise.

I thought there were really no BAD presentations this year, at least that I saw or even heard about.

Gennaro was excellent at PRESENTING what he had, but he had a huge flaw in his Win Shares/Talent methodology, whereby if he were using 2007 (he used 2006) Carlos Pena would rank around 'the same talent' as Albert Pujols, because 2007 would be Pena's most recent season AND his best in the last 4 (Gennaro takes the average of those two IIRC).

Norman Macht had a very good oral presentation on "Potholes and Landmines" in research, which used his researching of Connie Mack bio as the example.

The most interesting 'stat-head' presentation was Matt Souders "Run Production in a Game-by-Game Context" where he uses matrix algebra to sort out the invdividual impacts of Parks, strength of opponent, strength of opposing pitcher, 'true' team offensive/defensive ability, and umpire bias. He just needed Gennaro to present for him, and it would have been great.

I congratulate Vince for bringing the Doug Pappas Award home to Westchester where it belongs!

Oh, but I almost forgot Anthony G. had a wonderful presentation on baseball & society in the 60's, except for the fact he had too much good material, and had to rush a bit to fit it all in.