Link Dump and Open Thread 5/26

by colintj on Aug 26, 2008 5:07 PM CDT

Knucklers go under the pitch f/x microscope - Charlie Haeger is among those examined
Replay on HR in MLB starts Thursday - h/t larry (i don't actually know how to put fanposts on the front page)
AL East has 5 of top 10 teams in baseball? - looks plausible, at least, particularly if Tango is signing off on the possibility
Heat Zones - pitch location by count, with leverage index
Should you always expect pitchers to decline? - Phil Birnbaum is pretty excellent and while his scope extends to all sports, the quality of work is very high (as is the comments section).
Tango's look at pitcher aging curves - Not new, but gives more context to Birnbaum's work.
Turning the monkey into a gorilla - Brian Cartwright at Statistically Speaking takes the bare bones framework of Marcels and gives it a dose of mathematical HGH. What you're basically looking at is how to build your own PECOTA. Hint, hint rearden.
On curveballs - Derek Carty dissects the curve using pitch f/x. How and where to throw it is discussed in good detail. I'm a little skeptical on his groupings, but they're still very illustrative.

FTR, this is what I wish Wiz would do every day.

Poll

Instant Replay:

Yay

89 votes

Nay

42 votes

131 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs | Comment 18 comments

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Comments

I salute you, sir -- this is hardly the lardy filler I was expecting based on your pessimism in the last thread.

The other 5 teams in the top 10, by the way, are all the Twins (various roster permutations, you know).

by The Actual El Guapo on Aug 26, 2008 5:34 PM CDT 0 recs

This thread would have been awesome a little earlier in the day yesterday.

But, thanks for doing it anyway.

sniff sniff.

I miss Wiz.

I don’t even have a link to contribute!! I don’t even know what a link is without Wiz….

...and then some depressed fucked-cake eating.

by homesickalien on Aug 27, 2008 9:13 AM CDT 0 recs

me too hsa me too

nothing gets ‘em wetter than infrequent postings on the city’s second favorite team

by colintj on Aug 27, 2008 9:42 AM CDT up 0 recs

:(

takes some real stones for the one certifiable cocksucker on here to jump into this convo.-mm

by furby2056 on Aug 27, 2008 10:44 AM CDT up 0 recs

Come on and...

ease on down, ease on down the road!
Don’t you carry nothing that might be a load, come on, ease on down, ease on down the road!

...and then some depressed fucked-cake eating.

by homesickalien on Aug 27, 2008 10:45 AM CDT up 0 recs

I'd be more interested in your Dad's moodiness

Do you think he’ll be back? While the rest of us are young?

"I suck... the Sox don’t." reply actions 25 recs
by SSH2005 on Aug 6, 2008 1:08 AM EDT

by winningugly on Aug 27, 2008 3:16 PM CDT up 0 recs

whoops.

i just looked back at his posts. looks like i was the one who drove him away with my incivility/humor which grossly missed mark. my bad!

"Suck it up Bunky, we gotta go.'" - ron gardenhire

by larry on Aug 27, 2008 4:03 PM CDT up 0 recs

I figured that with his "Mensa" reference.

Pointy-head that you are. We will probably get sued for discrimination now. Nice job.

"I suck... the Sox don’t." reply actions 25 recs
by SSH2005 on Aug 6, 2008 1:08 AM EDT

by winningugly on Aug 27, 2008 7:42 PM CDT up 0 recs

"Suck it up Bunky, we gotta go.'" - ron gardenhire

by larry on Aug 27, 2008 9:56 PM CDT up 0 recs

Nice. Put the "X" on his SSS tombstone.

"I suck... the Sox don’t." reply actions 25 recs
by SSH2005 on Aug 6, 2008 1:08 AM EDT

by winningugly on Aug 28, 2008 1:08 PM CDT up 0 recs

He said he was returning....he was just taking a break from commenting.

Besides, he’s incommunicado this week anyway – whether he wanted to be around here in the first place.

I don’t see why Larry has no problems throwing a shit-fit when people don’t take his comments seriously and answer with lardy bullshit….I recall a recent fit when not enough people were recognizing his contributions (Chiburb being the only one who actually regularly did, and always thanked him)….but then he’ll turn around and treat someone else the same way.

What was wrong about Chi asking why SB’s had shit to do with a ROY candidate? He wasn’t kidding.

That’s all.

...and then some depressed fucked-cake eating.

by homesickalien on Aug 28, 2008 1:55 PM CDT up 0 recs

baseball prospectus - and most of what we do on here, to boot - is analyzing minutiae. stolen bases, and stolen base percentage, in addition to baserunning as a whole, has value.

or, in the case of a guy who sucks at stealing like ramirez, detracts value. i’m not sure why one would want less information and not more about a player.

"Suck it up Bunky, we gotta go.'" - ron gardenhire

by larry on Aug 28, 2008 2:08 PM CDT up 0 recs

I agree that Ramirez' value is lessened by his crappy SB - but enough to form an argument for why he shouldn't be a ROY candidate?

That stat shouldn’t overshadow the rest of his greatness, which is what I assume Chi meant by asking….
Like in saying, “well that’s a crappy reason to dismiss him.”

It’s a lessening factor, but in the grand scheme, SB’s are pretty minor, it seems.

Brotha’ does need to get better hops and attempt in less obvious situations, though, no doubt about it.

...and then some depressed fucked-cake eating.

by homesickalien on Aug 28, 2008 4:22 PM CDT up 0 recs

okay. the point of what sheehan wrote is pretty simple.

he said ramirez’ OBP sucks. now, one can overcome having a really shitty OBP basically in three primary ways: hit for power, play good defense (especially at a valuable position), and steal bases in large amounts and for a high percentage. that was what he addressed. the people who read BP are not necessarily familiar with what alexei ramirez’ numbers are. so sheehan provided them. BP is for a general baseball audience. that audience may be smart but they don’t know – and probably don’t want to look up – what kind of defense or how many bases ramirez has stolen. so they provide them in the article to reply to what would be the normal questions about a player with that sort of OBP.

"Suck it up Bunky, we gotta go.'" - ron gardenhire

by larry on Aug 28, 2008 4:51 PM CDT up 0 recs