Comments on: Future Redbirds 2012 Top 20: Just Missed

By: Hugecardsfan

Hugecardsfan — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 02:10:28 +0000

That’s so Tony wouldn’t have felt obliged to chamber one…so to speak.

By: tom s.

tom s. — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:02:47 +0000

defensive statistics require a huge sample size to be meaningful. two seasons’ worth of data are useful; three seasons’ worth is much better (a view endorsed by MGL, the designer of the metric). so, picking apart colby’s defensive metrics season by season is a misuse of the data.

that’s why i used colby’s career numbers. they tell you much more than one season.

i didn’t cite skip’s career numbers in center, because his career numbers in center are in a small sample size (700 innings). but they do say he’s a -10 CF, which is pretty terrible. over a more substantial sample of 2000 innings in the OF – which includes lots of corner outfield time – skip has a net -5 UZR/150, which correlates well with being a -10 or worse CF, since being a corner outfielder is less defensively challenging.

and that correlates with his general outfield defensive rep. moreover, it’s unlikely that he got better as a centerfielder in his age 30 or 31 seasons. it’s hard to see how defensive statistics support anything other than the conclusion that skip schumaker is significantly worse defensively than colby.

By: bc

bc — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 01:24:43 +0000

At least look at the defensive stats, before you purport to give a tutorial. The “guys who put the stats together” also say that the stats become more reliable over several seasons. So let’s do that:

From 2009-2011, Rasmus’ OF defense is +3.4 using TZL, +8 using DRS, and -2.4 UZR/150. Those are the three “major” defensive stats usually used. And they say Rasmus is somewhere around average, either above it, or slightly below it.

By: zuke354

zuke354 — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:44:12 +0000

Because I didn’t didn’t get sucked into all the Rasmus hype. What I saw of his play I wasn’t impressed.

I don’t give Rasmus a pass for potential. His play in the OF was subpar. And this is comming from a guy who has played it everyday for his entire life vs. a guy who started playing of as a professional along with other positions.

For the record, I don’t consider skip to be starter quality. I think he is fine in a sub roll.

I struggle to understand how you could consider Rasmus a good OF.

By: zuke354

zuke354 — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:39:06 +0000

And I am not asking to trust my eyes. All I am asking is for other people to use their own eyes and also understand the limitations of defensive metrics.

The problem is that Offensive metrics can show a very good picture of a a person’ts hitting ability. However, their is a huge gap when it comes to defensive. The guys who put the stats together admit this. But many fans don’t realize that gap and consider defensive metrics just as reliable.

And by the way, the defensive metrics don’t support rasmus to be a good outfielder either.

By: zuke354

zuke354 — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:34:08 +0000

Part of it might have been that he was never really in a good position to make a throw. But he did not show strength or accuracy.

By: zuke354

zuke354 — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:31:54 +0000

By far would actually indicate that Rasmus was good

By: jjray

jjray — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 20:09:00 +0000

Now that there is a well written post.

By: Gruntosaurus

Gruntosaurus — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 15:58:48 +0000

If Chambers had abandoned baseball, moved to a South Pacific island and started to spend the rest of his life meditating, Raz was still going to get traded.

By: Mrs. TLR

Mrs. TLR — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:31:25 +0000

A reason we were able to jettison Rasmus was Chambers. He can get another season at Memphis to work on hitting skills. If Jay were injured, Chambers could get a promotion.
Chambers is an aggressive runner, unlike Darryl Jones. He did not show stage fright in the majors, but battled at the plate.
Chambers is not going to slug. His keys will be defense and on base percentage.