First thanks so much for the tremendous responses, both in the comments and just the participation in the polls. There’s been 700 to 1200 votes in each poll. Just overwhelming responses.

For now, let’s start the second inning by leaving aside the hitters and talk about defense. Now, when I refer to defense, I mean pitching+fielding. Remember, defense is the whole team, the pitchers and the fielders. We’ll worry about how to separate fielders from pitchers in a soon-to-be-asked question. Just not now. Cool?

Let’s say that one team defense allows 10 hits with 3 walks. But they are all scattered, and so actually end up with a shutout. Another team defense allows the exact same number of hits and walks. They even allow them in the exact same way. The only difference is the timing. They allowed them bunched up, and so resulted in eight runs allowed. From a team defense perspective, how do you see them in terms of assigning value?