If Josh Collmenter pitches a good game in a blowout, did it really happen?

by
March 1, 2016

Collmenter came in relief in 32 games. Among the 210 relievers with at least 30 innings, he had the 6th lowest Leverage Index at a tiny 0.39. He also had the 23rd best performance as measured by change in Run Expectancy.

Only 4 of those 32 games did he enter the game when it really mattered. There was another 3 when it sort of mattered. The other 25 games were a smattering of complete blowouts to mostly didn’t matter.

When we’re handing out wins, especially in games that he had virtually no hand in participating because of the timing in which he came into the game, should Collmenter be like a tree in the forest with no one around?

Or do we give him credit for his performance even though it had no impact when it did happen?





 

23 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
aaronsteindler
8 years ago

When a tree falls in the woods, a disturbance is created in the air pressure regardless of who is around. Therefore, it makes a sound.

1
Mikemember
8 years ago
Reply to  aaronsteindler

does it though?

sound, noun, “vibrations that travel through the air or another medium and can be heard when they reach a person’s or animal’s ear.”

so doesn’t it need to be heard in order to be a sound?

4
Tangotigermember
8 years ago
Reply to  Mike

Right. And not to get all saber-metaphysical about this, but if you come into a game with a seven-run lead, and you pitch a one-inning shutout in the 9th, did you accomplish the same thing as a pitcher who entered the 6th of a tied game who also pitched a one-inning shutout.

If your team ends up scoring 7 runs in the 7th or 8th inning, should these two relievers be treated any differently, simply because one was trusted and the other wasn’t?

0
Rob
8 years ago
Reply to  Tangotiger

Kind of like, if #Notgraphs continues to live on in the hearts and souls of it’s readers, then is it really dead?

Or we could just start Meta-graphs

4
slane35
8 years ago
Reply to  Mike

No. The definition just says “can” be heard. Not “must” be heard or “are” heard.

3
formerly matt w
8 years ago
Reply to  slane35

I would hang my hat on “when they reach a person’s or animal’s ear.” They would be heard when they reached an ear, if there were an ear close enough. The fact that there isn’t an ear close enough doesn’t mean there isn’t a sound.

The philosophical literature on sound (link to a paper) seems to generally agree that a tree that falls in a forest makes a sound whether or not there’s anyone there to hear it. Here’s a way of thinking of it–we say things like “I hear a crashing sound behind me”–if the sound is behind me then it’s located in the object that’s making the sound, not in my ear, and so removing me and my ear from the scene shouldn’t make the sound go away.

1
david k
8 years ago
Reply to  slane35

matt w: I can see both sides of this, but playing devil’s advocate of your statement, could you consider the possibility that SOUND is how your brain perceives waves that pass thru the ear canal, which converts the energy to sound? So the waves themselves may not constitute sound, but only after the ear processes those waves is a sound created.

So if the only person around is deaf, then what?

Also, does it work the same way for light? If there’s a sealed room with a light bulb that’s turned on, and the only person in the room is blind, does the bulb make light?

Man, my head is hurting over this now!

0
formerly matt w
8 years ago
Reply to  slane35

I would consider the possibility that sound is in the mind! In fact I was responding to a talk by the guy whose paper I linked and I suggested something like that, but there was an illness in the family and I had to ask someone else to go to the conference and read the stuff I’d written, so I didn’t get to hear what he said. Though from what I understand what he said was something along the lines of “I’d like to talk to him about that because that’s kind of nuts.”

I think light is generally taken to be a physical phenomenon… but color, that’s another question.

0
Clutch Narrative
8 years ago
Reply to  Mike

The double slit experiments have proven that if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, it looks like a wave.

1