2013 Offseason Discussion: Part 3

[SFrush90]

Somehow Belt cheated the system. He needs to be punished. Maybe The Great Sanchez should start to set him straight.

[Leandres_sf]

This offseason, Pablo's doing this. What have you done lately?

http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/201.../3938334/pablo

The crowd noise was intense...

[otatop]

Just a heads up to anybody who got the $10 MLB.tv subscription last year, it auto-renews so don't forget to cancel.

[ciaban]

If they all perform like they did last year, the Torres/Blanco platoon will be the most successful of them all.

Fun fact: The Pill/Belt platoon had a lower BA than Belt did on his own.

you know this is why i am not in love with platoons, there are some guys who can be good so long as they have consistent ab's, and platoons don't always work, it seems like an obvious thing to do, oh Ethier is great vs righties bad vs lefties, gomes is great vs lefties bad vs righties, so it must work, but it doesn't always. and then you also get into match up problems.

[Cangrejo]

you know this is why i am not in love with platoons, there are some guys who can be good so long as they have consistent ab's, and platoons don't always work, it seems like an obvious thing to do, oh Ethier is great vs righties bad vs lefties, gomes is great vs lefties bad vs righties, so it must work, but it doesn't always. and then you also get into match up problems.

I've gotta agree with you, ciaban. Even though I'm comfortable with the idea that Bochy will finally settle on a decent lineup for the last half, all the tinkering and platooning in the first half can be infuriating. Granted it's more than fair at this point to say you can't argue with the results, but I think your point is valid. If you're going to tinker, make sure the players have time to settle in and develop a rhythm. The short, seemingly random stints that Bochy is so fond of in the first half has gotta be hell on players that are trying to establish a rhythm coming out of spring training.

Last, I've gotta think that this practice had some bearing on the relative performances of Crawford and Belt last year. Crawford was given pretty much free reign to settle in, find his bearings, and work through the kinks. Belt, on the other hand, well...hell it's Friday and the Niners are in the Super Bowl. Enough said.

[sfgiants5518]

If Niners win, Is Belt going to drive Harbaugh's car?

[SFrush90]

I've wondered how the parade would work. How are they going down the parade route with 50+ players and coaches?

[SFrush90]

I'm hearing #sfgiants and Sergio Romo are closing in on deal to settle team's last possible arb case. Offer and ask price were $2.675m/$4.5m

- Hanky Panky

[SFrush90]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/89...placement-stat

Jim Caple's likes and dislikes on WAR. One thing that writers keep bringing up, as Caple did, is that they keep thinking pro-saber people use WAR as the end-all stat. Of those I do know that are pro-saber, I've never seen them use only WAR. I guess they don't know there are other stats that prove why Trout should've won Cabrera. He also cited a Bleacher Report article .

[SFrush90]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/89...placement-stat

Jim Caple's likes and dislikes on WAR. One thing that writers keep bringing up, as Caple did, is that they keep thinking pro-saber people use WAR as the end-all stat, and nothing more. Of those I do know that are pro-saber, I've never seen them use only WAR. I guess they don't know there are other stats that prove why Trout should've won over Cabrera (which is the only stat Caple noted). He also cited a Bleacher Report article .

An excerpt that shows how Caple isn't well verse with advanced stats:

And just in case you're thinking FanGraphs must feature the more reliable WAR, bear in mind that Ricky Nolasco was 13-9 with a 5.06 ERA in 2009 while pitching just 185 innings, but FanGraphs had his WAR at 4.3 that season

During that season Nolasco had an FIP and xFIP of 3.35, and 3.23, averaging 9.49 K/9 and 2.14 BB/9. Seems deserving of a 4.3 WAR to me.

Look all stats have their limitations. If a player has a .329 batting average, that probably means he's pretty good. But for an accurate measure of the player, we need more information. How many extra-base hits does he have? How many times does he walk? How many stolen bases? How many runs, how many RBIs? How many double plays has he hit into? The same is true for a player with 40 home runs. Does he have a .300 average to go with them, or a .230 average? Does he strike out a lot? How often does he walk?

The same approach should apply to WAR. We need to look at many stats to assess players, and one of them should be WAR. But it shouldn't be the only stat we look at or cite.

This pisses me off.

[sfgiants5518]

MLBN is doing its top 10 by position.

Posey is #1 C

Belt is 'on the rise' for 1b, not top 10 but could be there next year.

[ciaban]

I've wondered how the parade would work. How are they going down the parade route with 50+ players and coaches?

don't worry the ravens are winning it so we wont have to find out.

[SFrush90]

don't worry the ravens are winning it so we wont have to find out.

This is the winners table. Go scurry back to the losers table with the likes of the Chiefs and the Jaguars.

[spliff(TONE)]

....and the Dodgers.

[sfgiants5518]

....and the Dodgers.

Damnit! I wanted to say that!