Taking out the Trash….

One of my favorite tv shows The West Wing called Friday, trash day.  The reason for that is the press reporter would drop all the excess news stories on the media right before the weekend, hence the idea of taking out the trash.  And that is sort of what I am going to do today, but the stories I will link to in this blog aren’t exactly trash, in fact they are the exact opposite.  All of these links are informative and well written, and I encourage you to take a few minutes to sit down and read through them.  I’m just calling this trash day because all of these links have been saved in my favorites list, and I no longer have room for them anymore.  I will of course give my two cents on each link, so enjoy:

1) http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=2617

- This is an older article written by Ryan Wilkins at BaseballProspects.com, but the context still holds true to this day.  People love to get on Adam Dunn or Ryan Howard because they strikeout an awful lot per season (Howard averages 190 over the past 3 years and Dunn avgerages 168).  However that doesn’t make them bad ballplayers.  Dunn is my opinion is a very underrated ballplayer (although his defense is terrible) while Howard was a very good ballplayer until he allowed his OBP to slip to .330 this season.  The point of this article is that a strikeout is an out, no worse than a lazy ground ball, but in a way slightly better statistically. 

2) http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6911

- Here’s another one from Baseballprospetus.com, however this one is written by Derek Jacques.  There’s nothing groundbreaking in this article, however it should clear up questions for anyone who doesn’t quite understand how a team accumulates draft compensation.  Since a Type C free agent was eliminated in the last collective barganing agreement, a free agent can only be deemed a Type A (CC Sabathia) or Type B free agent (Pudge Rodriguez), or nothing at all (Carl Pavano).  Take a look and then the next time someone asks you what free agent compensation means you can make yourself look smart.

3) http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/alex-rodriguez-clutch-hitter-411/

- I found this today in ESPN’s Rob Neyer’s daily blog, and I literally cried after reading it (okay I really didn’t but it was quite moving).  I’ve defended A-Rod all season long, and despite the fact that I can point to his phenomenal offensive numbers, people always love to throw the “well he’s not clutch” argument in my face.  I of course counter that argument by stating that clutch hitting is a fluky statistic, which can vary from year to year due to the small sample size.  Well this article written by Carl Bialik dives deeper into that discussion and sheds some light on the never ending question of “Does clutch hitting exist, and if so, does Alex Rodriguez excel at it?”

4) http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2008/09/08/every-rose-has-his-thorns/

- In my opinion, Joe Posnanski of the Kansas CIty Star is the best at blogging, period.  He mixes pop culture, baseball (and other sports) and investigative journalism all into one ball, which is usually made up over 1,000+ words (the one above may be his shortest ever though).  This blog entry is in regards to an interview he conducted with Pete Rose, who did not seem to like the idea that Derek Jeter or even Ichiro Suzuki can challenge his all time hit record.  I’ll let you read the exact quote from Pete Rose for yourself, and then you can form your own opinion if Rose comes off as bitter or rightfully confident. 

There is no doubt Pete Rose was a legendary hitter, despite his off field actions.  But is his hit record of 4,256 more impressive then say Babe Ruth’s total of 2,873?  In my opinion not really, and let me explain why.  Remember when I told you how batting average is a dead stat because it doesn’t account for walks or slugging percentage.  Well at first glance you’d say that Rose’s 4,000+ hits are far more impressive then Ruth’s total, but what if most of Rose’s hits were seeing eye singles, while Ruth’s hits were monsterous homeruns and ripped doubles into alley ways that extended to nearly 400 feet?  Isn’t an extra base hit better than a single? 

Babe Ruth’s career slugging percentage was .690, Rose’s was .409.  Ruth drew 2,062 walks in his career, Rose drew 1,566.  That’s nearly 500 fewer at bats Ruth had to collect another hit, not to mention the 5,655 more at bats Rose had in his career.  A career that should have ended when he was 40, but he choose to continue to play at a below average level so he could overtake Cobb for the hit record.  Oh and he just so happened to be the player/manager of those Reds teams in his final few seasons. 

I don’t mean to be knocking Rose so heavily here, because he was a great ballplayer and deserved to make the HOF before gamblegate (I still don’t believe he deserves a plaque, he knew the rules, he broke them, hence the lifetime ban stands).  Still he should at least be respectful and acknowledge Jeter and Ichiro’s hit totals, even if he doesn’t want them to take his record.  Also, be sure to see the first comment underneath that blog entry, as it contains a very funny quote from Mickey Mantle in regards to Pete Rose’s hit total.

5) http://www.nysun.com/sports/much-of-k-rods-value-is-derived-from-context/85730/

- This last link also came from Rob Neyer’s blog today, and it makes the argument which I have made before in the past.  K-Rod is having a very good season, but far from the best in baseball.  This article calls into questions the importance of the save statistic, and the argument of how the 5th best closer in the AL can win the CY Young award just because he is on a team that has great pitching and a lackluster offense. (Credit to Tim Marcham of the NY Sun for actually writing the article).

That’s it from me today, hope you enjoyed these links.  I’ll be back next week to go over the latest happenings in Yankee baseball.  Thoughts and questions can be sent to jvg019@yahoo.com.  Later.

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