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speed dowload hackJune 05, 2005
Peter Gammons Has Lost It
One of my biggest pet peeves is when writers (mostly sportswriters) selectively use stats to prove their point. Listen up -- I know you guys have deadlines, but next time just trot out the latest story on some "character guy" in the clubhouse or something. Don't pretend to be a sabermetician.
Peter Gammons' ESPN.com column used to be a pretty good read. That was before he turned into a complete Red Sox shill and got lazy with anything involving the rest of the league. I think he is struggling to find an identity between the boring beat writers and the geeky stats guys. His latest article is a good example of that. From the article:
While the leadoff hitter is the leadoff hitter only once a game, the leadoff position is vitally important.
Nice debating technique. Concede your argument's most obvious logical weakness.
Fair enough though. Interesting hypothesis, Gammons -- now convince me.
Going into Saturday, the top three run-scoring teams were Boston, Texas and Baltimore, who had, respectively, .400, .350 (.427 with David Dellucci in the one hole) and .439 on-base percentages in the leadoff spot.
Ok, so you are telling me that 2 of the top 3 teams essentially, have good OBP in the leadoff spot. This stuff about Texas/Dellucci is just garbage. A .350 OBP would be good for 73rd in MLB. I have a hard time believing that a .350 OBP in the leadoff spot is much better than about league average.
Coincidentally, those 3 teams play in the 3 most hitter-friendly parks in the league. I'm just saying.
And this is what really gets me:
Milwaukee, Arizona, Seattle and the White Sox have been offensive surprises, partly thanks to, again respectively, Brady Clark (.403), Craig Counsell (.429), Ichiro Suzuki and Tadahito Iguchi (.380) getting on base at the top of the order.
Um -- Yeah. Let me use runs scored and OPS as a measure of offense:
| Team | MLB OPS Rank | MLB Runs Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Milwakee | 21 | 18 |
| ChiSox | 16 | 22 |
| Arizona | 18 | 19 |
| Seattle | 26 | 29 (!) |
Milwakee had jumped up about 10 spots since last year in each of those. I'll buy it. I can understand *maybe* calling Arizona a suprise as they were worst offense in the league last year. But Chicago has dropped 10+ spots in both of those ranks since last year. And the Mariners? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? You are calling the 2005 M's offense a (positive) suprise? They are one of the 5 worst teams in the league and they signed 2 big sluggers to $$$ contracts in the offseason. I just don't see how this argument holds any water.
Bottom line -- OBP is important throughout the order. But that doesn't make for a sexy story. That doesn't get you 6 paragraphs about Red Sox Johnny Damon and Wade Boggs.
Gammons -- I understand you may have found a good angle on Brandon Inge and probably just wanted to propose marriage (again) to Johnny Damon. But please, don't twist the stats to make your case. You just come off as a lazy writer.
Posted by Mike at June 5, 2005 02:46 PM
Comments
You "sports guys" get a little worked up over this stuff. :)
Posted by: Mark Griffith at June 5, 2005 10:18 PM
I can't tell you the exact average, but according to this .350 would rank 16th in OBP from the #1 position, and 7th from the #2 position in the line up
Posted by: The Cheat at June 6, 2005 12:14 AM
oohhh. nice use of the sortable stats.
I did not know that. That is wierd and wild stuff.
Posted by: Mike at June 6, 2005 11:01 PM