Friday Links (12 May 06)
Fri, May 12, 2006
by Geoff Young
Happy Friday! At the risk of sounding like one of those obnoxious people who is telling you how incredibly busy they are, I’ve been incredibly busy. I know I owe a bunch of you e-mails, and I’m getting there. Hang tight, folks. Meantime, we’ve got linkage…
- Sutcliffe gives slurred interview on broadcast (MSNBC). Yep, Rick Sutcliffe’s rambling performance from Wednesday night’s contest has gone national. Channel 4SD says they are embarrassed by the episode, but I have to say, now that I’ve finally watched it on TiVo, this is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen on a sports broadcast. The bit about George Clooney is brilliant. Gaslamp Ball has the audio clip and a transcript, man.
- Padres rookie travels long road (OregonLive). Nice article on reliever Brian Sweeney and his struggle to reach the big leagues. Quoth Sweeney: “When you’re a 31-year-old in Venezuela, you come to a crossroads. What am I doing? Am I going in the right direction for myself and my family? Am I doing the right thing?” And here I was, whining about traffic on Genesee.
- Ex-councilman pays $1 to end lawsuits (San Diego Union-Tribune). I hesitate to link to this, but since dude played such a prominent role in the delay of Petco Park’s completion, I don’t see as I have much choice. What a pain in the buttocks he was.
- Prospect Q&A: George Kottaras (Baseball America). We touched on this one in the comments a few days ago, but it deserves a spot of its own. BA’s Chris Kline talks to the Padres’ top catching prospect. Don’t hate him because he thinks Lenny Kravitz is cool.
- Speaking of BA, in their May 10 edition of Independent Leagues Notebook, they note that Rickey Henderson may return for another year with the San Diego Surf Dawgs of the Golden Baseball League. I know a lot of folks think he should hang it up and stop embarrassing himself. I say we should all be so lucky to be doing something we’ve loved for a lifetime at age 46.
- Minor League Splits Database (Brew Crew Ball) is another one lifted from the comments. From their intro:
The MLSD currently tracks all affiliated Minor Leagues and keeps play-by-play logs of all 2006 Minor League games to date. These logs make possible a much greater range of situational statistics than have ever before been available, including lefty-righty splits, home/road splits, batted-ball data, and statistics specific to certain base/out situations.
Giant tip o’ the Ducksnorts cap to Baseball Musings for the heads-up on this. Great stuff here.
That’s all for now. We’ll fire up the IGD about an hour before first pitch. Go Pads!
Picking up where last year's version left off, the Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual provides in-depth analysis of and commentary on the San Diego Padres. Get your copy today.
May 12, 2006 at 6:10 am
dang ur up early Geoff..right on top of the stuff as always..
May 12, 2006 at 7:13 am
Ummmmm, you said the H-word. I’m telling mom.
May 12, 2006 at 8:00 am
can it be true, that as of today the Padres have the best defense in the majors?
Need some help from the stats guys on this one, but I think I’m reading it correctly. FPCT = .991, just ahead of the RS at .990?
May 12, 2006 at 8:14 am
IR - Henderson? … background please …
IR - defense != FCPT … and what’s “RS”?
May 12, 2006 at 8:29 am
RS= Redsocks
FCPT should actually be FPCT - fielding percentage i thnk
I got that from MLB.com
http://tinyurl.com/mr432
May 12, 2006 at 8:33 am
BP posts a stat called “Defensive Efficiency” = The rate at which balls put into play are converted into outs by a team’s defense … Padres currently 3rd …
Team ROE Def_Eff
DET 13 0.739
SLN 15 0.736
SDN 6 0.73
CHA 9 0.725
ANA 13 0.724
NYN 15 0.724
WAS 13 0.72
MIL 22 0.718
CHN 9 0.718
TOR 15 0.715
SFN 11 0.713
SEA 8 0.711
NYA 14 0.711
BOS 10 0.709
ATL 13 0.708
LAN 16 0.703
KCA 14 0.702
TEX 15 0.7
HOU 13 0.699
OAK 14 0.696
CIN 19 0.695
TBA 16 0.693
FLO 16 0.693
COL 13 0.691
ARI 9 0.688
CLE 11 0.683
BAL 9 0.682
PIT 13 0.679
PHI 15 0.665
MIN 7 0.649
note: ROE = Reached On Error: when a batter reaches first base as a direct result of a fielding error.
Padres are doing very well defensively, clearly!
May 12, 2006 at 8:37 am
IR (PM) - I see that MLB.com has “DER” = Defensive Efficiency Rating, defined as the ratio of team defensive outs recorded in defensive opportunities. To determine Defensive Efficiency Rating for a team, divide the total number of hits in play allowed (not including home runs) by the total number of defensive opportunities (all balls hit into play, not including home runs) and subtract from one: 1-((H-HR)/(PA-HR-BB-HBP-SO)).
Padres are 3rd in this also … so if it’s not the same as the BP stat, it seems very close …
May 12, 2006 at 8:40 am
So what about FPCT?
May 12, 2006 at 8:51 am
regardless of the numbers, it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that the Padres are doing well defensively. Defensive upgrades in centerfield, left field, 3b, 2b and 1b.
thats 5 of 8 defensive positions..there better be some improvement..
May 12, 2006 at 9:01 am
Hank, you might get some arguements about 2b, but I see your point. Ok, back to being irrational. all these stats hurt my head.
May 12, 2006 at 9:45 am
Kottaras is young and probably hasn’t heard all the music that Kravitz ripped off, I mean was influenced by.
I don’t understand why people knock Rickey. I know if I had the ability to play baseball at that level I’d never stop. I don’t think it’s any different than us average guys playing softball on the weekend.
Is DER generally considered to be a true indicator of ability? I know some stats like BABIP are considered to be heavily influenced by “luck” (I hate when that word is thrown around to explain why a stat isn’t statistically consistent). Isn’t DER sort of the flip side of BABIP?
May 12, 2006 at 10:43 am
It’s my understanding that defensive stats are generally considered to be “on the list needing improvement / research” … in other words, I don’t think anything is yet “generally considered to a true indicator of ability” … I’ve heard of things called “Zone Rating” and “Range Factor” … there’s several flavors out there …
I think one thing that many “analysts” agree upon is that straight “fielding percentage” (FPCT) isn’t much of an indicator of ability … for example, if/when a player doesn’t have the range to get to a ball, it’s not considered an error … but it’s not good defense either …
And it’s always a challenge to separate out the effects of pitching and defense … in other words, some pitching staffs can make the defensive stats look better than “true ability” … and vice-versa …
I agree with hank, and most general observers … current Padres are playing better defense … and it’s helping them win games.
Does Vinny’s glove make up for this bat (and I use the term loosly in this context)? WARP says they about even out … which means it thinks his glove is pretty valuable!
May 12, 2006 at 10:47 am
re: Rickey … I love Rickey … I lived in the Oakland area in the early 80’s … Billy-ball was a *BLAST* and Rickey was the heart & soul … if he wants to play, I say “go for it” … and if I’m in town, I’ll pay to see him play!
On the other hand … that’s what I did last summer … and it was tough to see him out there … the difference to an observer like me between just being tired/old/slow and “not giving 100%” is very grey … he’s certainly not the player he was 5 years ago … let alone 20-25 years ago!
May 12, 2006 at 11:19 am
Vinny’s glove “balances” his bat in the sense that it gets him to neutral. This is not Ozzie Smith stealing so many hits that you don’t care what he does at the plate. Right now Castilla is replacement level only because he’s fielding so well. Different than a player making a positive contribution.
It’s not that babip isn’t consistent. It consistently shows that most pitchers don’t have a lot of control over what happens when a hitter does make contact. Field 9 David Ortizes, everything’s going to fall in. Build an OF of Andruw Jones, Garry Maddox, and Willy Wilson, with an infield of Robinson, Smith, Mazeroski, and Snow, and anything except a HR is an out. Same pitcher, radically different results.
DER is more an attempt to look at fielding as the product of 9 players working together instead of breaking it down into 9 different fielders.
May 12, 2006 at 3:32 pm
I was going to ask you to send me a copy of the Sut drunk and then it showed up on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....0sutcliffe
That’s the most sense I’ve heard out of Sutcliffe’s mouth in years. I’m a little surprised that he didn’t manage to name check Jeff Bagwell though.
May 12, 2006 at 8:42 pm
Makes sense…..Kottaras’s intro music is Kravitz