baseball
Sabermetric analysis of all things baseball - on-and-off the field. Barry Bonds fan club.
Eduardo Nunez’s Versatility Has Helped Him Thrive In Boston
Eduardo Nunez hasn’t exactly stuck with one team in his major league career. The 30-year old infielder has played for four different organizations throughout his seven year big league career, but despite that, he’s a lifetime .282 hitter. He’s been a solid player both offensively and defensively in the majors. For the Red Sox, Nunez was a great acquisition on July 25th because he adds depth to their lineup as a guy who can move around and play all over.
By Quinn Allen8 years ago in Unbalanced
The Chicago Cubs Are the World Series Favorites
Make no mistake: the Dodgers are a great team. They have Clayton Kershaw, the pitching equivalent of Mike Trout. They have Corey Seager and Justin Turner, two of the best infielders in the National League. They have Kenley Jansen, a lights out closer who has been nothing short of dominant throughout his career. And yes — as my colleague Dylan Svoboda pointed out — they’re predicted to be better (though by a fairly slim margin) than the reigning WS Champs, the Chicago Cubs.
By John Edwards8 years ago in Unbalanced
To Sell or Not to Sell?
Baseball has reached the two month mark. Teams are 50+ games into the season, and we’re rapidly approaching the 1/3rd mark. We’ve seen Michael Conforto, Aaron Judge, and Miguel Sano emerge as some of the best hitters in baseball, we’ve seen Justin Bour and Scott Schebler duke it out for the NL HR lead, and we’ve seen the Cubs flounder like a fish out of water.
By John Edwards8 years ago in Unbalanced
Wilmer Flores, DLM (Designated Lefty Masher)
We’re all familiar with the LOOGY, the “Lefty One Out Guy”. He’s a left handed relief pitcher whose entire job is to come into a game in a high leverage situation and get a single left-handed batter out. It’s a very niche role, but some players, like Jesse Orosco and Randy Choate, made entire careers out of it.
By John Edwards8 years ago in Unbalanced
Matt Harvey: Version 3.0
How appropriate that, during this week of Easter, we talk about a ballplayer seemingly twice resurrected —SP Matt Harvey, who has had to bounce back from not just one, but two of the biggest surgeries a pitcher can undergo — both Tommy John and Thoracic Outlet Syndrome surgery.
By John Edwards8 years ago in Unbalanced
Breaking Down the Longest Dingers of 2017 (So Far)
In baseball, the scorer doesn’t give a damn how far you hit that sucker. As long as it clears the fence on the fly, you receive credit for a home run, an RBI, and RBIs for however many players were on base. Real baseball isn’t that video game The Bigs where the further you hit a home run, the more score multipliers you’d rack-up — a home run only counts for as many runners that were on base, plus one, in the eyes of the scorer.
By John Edwards8 years ago in Unbalanced
It’s Time to Shake up the Yankees’ Front Office
The biggest story from the arbitration hearings this offseason was undoubtedly the newly-emerged feud between RP Dellin Betances and the Yankees’ front office. For those unfamiliar with the events of the past few days, the gist of the story is this: Betances and the Yankees had gone to salary arbitration, with Betances asking for $5 million and the Yankees countering with $3 million. The Yankees won the case, largely because of how dated the arbitration system is.
By John Edwards8 years ago in Unbalanced
Leave OBP Alone
Concession number 1: The term “On Base Percentage” is a misnomer. OBP doesn’t truly measure all the times a player is awarded a base. It doesn’t include the times a player reaches base due to fielders choices/errors, dropped third strikes, obstruction, or catcher’s interference.
By John Edwards8 years ago in Unbalanced
Yonder Alonso Figured It Out
Yonder Alonso, up until 2017, had looked like James Loney — a 1B without any power. Alonso could reach base at a decent clip, hit for a decent average, but never slugged above .400 in a full season. In 2,343 PA from 2010 to 2016, Alsonso slugged 39 HRs total. On a rebuilding Athletics team with their sights set on the number one draft pick, Alonso fit in — but on any team hoping to compete this season, he would have likely been relegated to backup.
By John Edwards8 years ago in Unbalanced
Breaking Down the WBC: Pool B
The “World Series” is a misnomer — the final round of the MLB playoffs only determines the best team in America/Canada. The true “World Series” is the World Baseball Classic, where the top baseball teams from all across the globe compete.The WBC isn’t like Olympic Baseball, where only the best amateurs compete — instead, countries draw on the best professional talent tied to the nation and assemble powerhouses of teams to compete with one another.The first round of the WBC consists of four pools of four teams who compete in a round robin tournament. The top two teams from each pool move onto the next round. For the next week, I’ll be ranking each WBC team, pool by pool, to see who might be best poised to make it to the next round. Teams are sorted from 1st to 4th by their ability to contend in the WBC. I reviewed Pool A last week, and now I’ll look at one of the strongest pools in the WBC: Pool B.
By John Edwards8 years ago in Unbalanced
Breaking Down the WBC: Pool C
The “World Series” is a misnomer — the final round of the MLB playoffs only determines the best team in America/Canada. The true “World Series” is the World Baseball Classic, where the top baseball teams from all across the globe compete.The WBC isn’t like Olympic Baseball, where only the best amateurs compete — instead, countries draw on the best professional talent tied to the nation and assemble powerhouses of teams to compete with one another.The first round of the WBC consists of four pools of four teams who compete in a round robin tournament. The top two teams from each pool move onto the next round. For the next week, I’ll be ranking each WBC team, pool by pool, to see who might be best poised to make it to the next round. Teams are sorted from 1st to 4th by their ability to contend in the WBC. I reviewed Pool A and Pool B already, so today I’ll look at Pool C.
By John Edwards8 years ago in Unbalanced
Giving Players the Bonds Treatment
There is no higher compliment that can be given to a ballplayer than to be given “The Bonds Treatment” — being intentionally walked with the bases empty, or even better, with the bases loaded. It’s called “The Bonds Treatment” because Bonds recorded an astounding 41 IBBs with the bases empty, and is one of only two players to ever record a bases loaded intentional walk. In other words, 28% of IBBs ever issued with the bases empty were given to Bonds — and 50% of IBBs with the bases loaded. Bonds was great, no denying that — but is there anyone out there today who is worthy of such treatment?
By John Edwards8 years ago in Unbalanced
