FanGraphs Audio: The Great (Awards) Debate
Episode Forty-Five
In which the panel takes one step back and, like, a half-dozen forward.
Headlines
You Can Spell Josh Hamilton Without M or V or P, But You Shouldn’t*
Lefties, Lefties Everywhere: AL Cy Candidates
Cage Fighting: Cameron v Joe Pawl
*Especially since M is a letter in his surname.
Featuring
Dave Cameron, Bad as He Wants to Be
Jackie Moore, Real-Live Middle Wester
Joe Pawl, Real-Live New Yorker
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Audio on the flip-flop. (Approximately 40 min play time.)
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Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
there is very definitely a “M” in Hamilton, but I’m looking forward to the listen!
So you are factoring in replacement players (in reality) being above replacement level (in WAR formulae)? And this doesn’t seem to bother anyone on the podcast. It’s news to me, that you don’t actually consider the typical replacement level player to be as bad as the “replacement” in “Wins Above Replacement”. If I understood it correctly.
This is a serious problem with your terminology and/or stats, if I’m hearing it properly.
The idea behind a typical “replacement” player is an anonymous major league veteran or minor league player or “AAAA” player that could fill in. Although “replacement” is relative, different teams have different access to players. Every roster is constructed differently and depending on major- and minor-league depth, a player’s “replacement” can vary a great deal when you really look at it.
The idea for WAR is normalizing this mythical “replacement” player. It’s kind of insane to calculate for each individual player how much better they are relative to their individual replacements. As a season progresses injuries, call-ups, trades, etc. change roster construction.
That is how I understand it, but as I listened to the podcast, they seemed to be saying that actaul replacement players, in general, are slightly better than theoretical replacement players. It could have just been a misunderstanding on my part, but they didn’t seem to be talking specifically about Rockies’ replacements for Tulowitzki, but all of them.
Maybe it’s that MLB starters often get replaced by pre-existing bench players, who are likely above “replacement level”. It’s the bench that inherits the replacement players…
I would have liked to hear Danny Valencia get some mention for Rookie of the Year. In significantly less playing time he has put up a nearly identical WAR to Austin Jackson. Since coming up midseason Valencia has a wOBA of .370 and a WAR of 2.8. Add in the fact that he has played a pretty major role in the Twins marvelous surge in the second half and I am surprised that I haven’t really heard anyone here, or anywhere else, throw his name out there.
Well, now I have an article for tomorrow.
Moore (I think it was you)/Cistulli: Target Field is very slightly larger than the Metrodome. LCF is mildly deeper, CF mostly washes out (deeper on the left field side, shallower a smidge right field side), while RCF is noticeably deeper. It isn’t enough to turn it into Petco, dimensions alone at least, but it’s not quite “gigantic”. It does warm my heart that my preseason prediction of home run suppression has turned out so well.
This is great, thanks you guys.
Apple now has Rhapsody as an app, which is a great start, but it is currently hampered by the inability to store locally on your iPod, and has a dismal 64kbps bit rate. If this changes, then it will somewhat negate this advantage for the Zune, but the 10 songs per month will still be a big plus in Zune Pass’ favor.