Grand Theft Home Plate: Stealing Home In 2012
Who doesn't love watching a steal of home? It's one of those things that makes the legend of Jackie Robinson that much more exciting (as if he needed it), and something that helped Bryce Harper's hype...
View ArticleGrand Theft Home Plate: Stats And The Future Of Stealing Home
Who doesn't love a steal of home? Well, most managers, it seems. In my previous article (check it out here), I wrote a bit about how many times a steal of home has been attempted this season. As far...
View ArticleAren't You Glad You Traded For That Relief Pitcher? (Part 1)
Brandon Warne (@Brandon_Warne on Twitter, give him a follow) posted a tweet today that really stood out, partially because of it's simplicity, and partially because I immediately thought I knew the...
View ArticleAren't You Glad You Traded For That Relief Pitcher? (Part 2)
In Part 1 of this article, I looked at all the near-deadline deals for relief pitchers that have occurred since 2011, going all the way back to 2009. Now, I'll take a look at the previous seven years,...
View ArticleSomething You May Not Have Realized About Alex Rodriguez
As a baseball player and figure, Alex Rodriguez is different from the norm, but not totally unique. Almost equally reviled and celebrated by casual fans and sportswriters, he is a no-doubt...
View ArticleThe Fall Of Melky Cabrera
First things first: All-Star outfielder Melky Cabrera has been suspended for fifty games (effective immediately) following a failed drug test for testosterone. This is, no lie, absolutely devastating...
View ArticleThere's Something Weird About Hunter Pence
Admit it. You probably read the headline and thought "Oh, jeez, Bryan. Tell me something I don't know! The guy plays baseball the same way the Kool-Aid Man enters buildings." So yeah, there's actually...
View ArticleBad Scene, Everyone's Fault - The 2012 Houston Astros
Currently, 78 major league position players have a fWAR greater than or equal to 2.6. None of these players play for the Astros. Currently, 45 major league pitchers have an fWAR of 2.4 or greater....
View ArticleSox Fans! If You Liked Casey Kotchman, You'll Love James Loney!
If you follow baseball, you may have heard something about a Dodgers-Red Sox trade with massive implications for both teams. It happened, although I'm not sure that everyone believes it yet. The short...
View ArticleWhen The Stats Match The Name
Through the history of Major League Baseball, there have been some epic names. According to Dayn Perry of the CBS Sports Eye On Baseball blog, awesomely-named individuals such as Skye Bolt, John...
View ArticleFielding Dependent Pitching And Atlanta Braves Starting Pitchers (Part 1 of 3)
At the end of last month, FanGraphs rolled out a new pitcher valuation metric: Fielding Dependent Pitching (or FDP). Today's article is the start of a three-pronged approach. In the first part, I'll...
View ArticleFielding Dependent Pitching And Atlanta Braves Starting Pitchers (Part 2 of 3)
Yesterday, I posted a quick primer on FDP, and the valuation tools associated with this new metric over at FanGraphs. FDP attempts to quantify everything that FIP (and, by association fWAR) doesn't,...
View Article(A Very Different Way Of Looking At) Mike Trout's Chances Of Making The Hall...
Everyone is talking about Mike Trout. He's having a historically-awesome season, having already racked up boatloads of WAR. James Gentile already looked at one measurement of how great he is,...
View ArticleFielding Dependent Pitching And Atlanta Braves Starting Pitchers (Part 3 of 3)
Hey there, and welcome back to the third piece in my series on FDP and great Atlanta Braves starting pitchers. Part 1 of this series was posted on Monday, and Part 2 went up yesterday, in case you'd...
View ArticleERA+ Vs. ERA-
It's time for a mildly-embarassing admission. I may write for Beyond The Boxscore, historically one of the best sites for sabermetric analysis on the web, but I'm not a brilliant sabermetrician. Don't...
View ArticleReviewing The 2012 Clutch Leaderboards
Clutch hitting (and pitching) exists, but it's not terribly easy to quantify. One methodology that exists for quantifying a player's ability to improve their skills under pressure (or fold like a card...
View ArticleA Quick Thought On The AL MVP Debate
You know what's not very much fun? Jon Morosi's recent article on why Miguel Cabrera absolutely, positively, without a doubt, is this year's AL MVP. You can read the article here, but I advise you...
View ArticleConsidering The NL Rookie Of The Year
While the American League Rookie of the Year award has already been decided, the Senior Circuit is home to a little more drama. As the pennant races wind down, several players (mostly from the NL...
View ArticleWorld WAR(P) III: A Discussion About Metric Creation
Hi there, Beyond the Boxscore readers. Recently, I've embarked on a journey to normalize the different WAR stats (found at Baseball-Reference, FanGraphs, and Baseball Prospectus) to a common,...
View ArticleLine Drives And The Milwaukee Brewers
What's the best kind of contact a hitter can make? Line drives, naturally. According to the FanGraphs Library, a line drive produces about 1.26 runs per out, where fly balls produce 0.13 runs per out...
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