Just dropping in a little somethin-somethin to let you know that I'm making a change in how I do things here...
I'm cutting off the 2009 Power Rankings team profiles and doing the same for the Top 100 Prospects individual profiles because they just take too damn long to do, plus they're like War and Peace.
Based on time restrictions with my real job, and on advice from lots of friends (in and out of the sports media business), I've come to the decision that a lot of short posts with timely observations will work better than a smaller number long posts that take a lot more time to write and read.
From here on out things will be of the more quick-hitting variety. I'll post the full 2009 Power Rankings next up and save the details for responses to comments/e-mails.
E-mail if you ever have questions, comments, opinions, suggestions, etc.
KW
thebaseballgods@gmail.com
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Mr. Wheeler :)
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy listening to you talk baseball, but I heard you say something today on the radio that irked me a little bit. I understand that you cover A TON of different sports, and that you're a very busy guy, but the fact that you referenced ERA as an important stat...for a LOOGY (Reyes) is a little astounding. Why not look at his BABIP or a stat that looks at fielding independent pitching.
Thanks :)
DT
Honestly, because I think you can tell a good reliever based on opponent batting average (another thing I referenced), K/BB, K/9 and ERA.
ReplyDeleteYou're not going to find many pitchers - relievers or otherwise - with ERA's in the low 2.00's if they're not quality pitchers.
What that low ERA tells you, as much as anything, about a reliever is that he did his job consistently throughout the season. Relievers with high ERA's sometimes have just a few terrible games that skew their numbers but guys who are consistently good don't have those horrible outings more than 1-2 times in a season.
I love me some numbers but I think we've all gone a little overboard trying to quantify everything.
Sometimes simple is good enough.
Maybe my problem is that I also trust my own eyes enough to know that I don't need to dig all that deep to see if a guy's good. I watch hundreds and hundreds of games on the MLB satelliate package, not to mention the games I cover in person, so I feel secure in my opinion of a guy like Reyes without looking at things like BABIP.
Thanks for tuning in - feel free to comment here anytime - and feel free to call me on something anytime you think you should.
It's all good...
KW