"A New York Treasure" --Village Voice

Fixing a Hole

Over at ESPN, Mark Simon looks at the fielding of Robinson Cano and Mark Teixeira.

5 comments

1 a.O   ~  Jun 27, 2011 6:53 pm

Meh.

2 kenboyer made me cry   ~  Jun 27, 2011 7:22 pm

Double Meh.

How do you measure the DP pivot? How many outs has Cano saved by completing the DP that others could not?

How many hits has Tex prevented by fielding scalding grounders, or digging throws out of the dirt?

Hate fielding metrics, too much is missed.

3 Dimelo   ~  Jun 27, 2011 10:19 pm

"Teixeira, Cano have small hole to close" -- sometimes a joke just writes itself.

4 RIYank   ~  Jun 28, 2011 6:38 am

[2] I don't think those are fair criticisms of the article. Yes, you could measure pivot awesomeness, and probably Robinson gets high marks, but that's not what the article was about. Teix fielding scalding grounders is captured in range metrics.

The real problem is that the sample size is tiny, much too small to make the kind of "don't say we didn't warn you!" predictions in the article. If the rating swings from a big plus one year to a big minus the next, and there's no injury or other factor to explain it, that's a very good sign that you have a noisy signal.
I think everyone who's serious about defensive measures knows that they are still very weak, very noisy. Look at someone's career numbers, with at least four seasons of data, and you can get a realistic picture. One season, or worse yet a third of a season, that can't tell you much.

5 Normando   ~  Jun 28, 2011 10:58 am

Stat-iest stat article that ever stat-ed.

As one commentator noted:

If you look back at that article, Simon lists the 7 worst teams in protecting the right side hole. Three of those teams lead their division. Two are in 2nd place in their division, that leaves 2 other teams. So again....Simon is "warning" us all to be aware....of what? That if you don't protect your right field side you'll end up in 1st place? It is an insignificant stat as evidenced by the fact that 3 division leaders are in the bottom of his stat list. So some of you care about insignificant stats ok, i believe you. Just shows you what a nerd is like.

feed Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via email
"This ain't football. We do this every day."
--Earl Weaver