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Breaking News: American Sports Media Still Wooing Scrappy White People

Tiny by Matthew on in Bad News

I know it doesn't come as much of a shock to everyone here, but the BBWAA is still jealous over Scrappy White Player's bitter break up with them. He used to be unloved, neglected, and the BBWAA adopted him like a three-legged FAS puppy, nurturing him with love far beyond what he deserved.

Well, that retarded puppy is all grown up now, and cashing in on the 24-hour news cycle and regional biases and the BBWAA just cannot get over that it's no longer needed. And so, they keep trying to woo their former dunce child back into the fold. They tried candy, they tried praise, and now they're moving on to gifts.

Somebody voted for Raul Ibanez.
Somebody gave Jason Bartlett a 6th place vote.
16 people thought Dustin Pedroia was the MVP in the American League.

I'd like to get worked up into a furor over it, but it's just par for the course for these people. And that's sad. Your profession is to cover baseball, I would hope that you would have enough professional pride and integrity to try and get better at it.

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Morneau and Youkilis being 2nd and 3rd

Ahead of people like Mauer and Sizemore is just sad.

by nfreakct on Nov 18, 2008 11:28 AM PST   0 recs

I'm cool with Youk being up there.

He’s probably several wins better than Morneau when defense is factored in.

by Teej on Nov 18, 2008 11:29 AM PST to parent up   0 recs

Feh, Pedroia winning it all isn't that inexcusable. He had a great year.

It’s Mauer getting jobbed once again, and Morneau finishing in SECOND PLACE that are really outrageous. I mean, what the hell people?

Patriotism, Pepper, Professionalism

by esoteric on Nov 18, 2008 11:31 AM PST   0 recs

Let's play: Guess the players!

Player A: .326/.376/.493 in a hitter friendly park
Player B: .296/.378/.450 in a pitcher friendly park

A: 0.377 wOBA*
B: 0.378 wOBA*

A: 82.6% in zone plays, 37 plays made out of zone
B: 82.9% in zone plays, 42 plays made out of zone

by lailaihei on Nov 18, 2008 11:34 AM PST   0 recs

Ok, here's a hint...

Player A got 317 points in MVP balloting
Player B got 0

They both play the same position.

by lailaihei on Nov 18, 2008 11:41 AM PST to parent up   0 recs

Indeed

Now why didn’t he get any votes?

by lailaihei on Nov 18, 2008 11:48 AM PST to parent up   0 recs

You didn't post his RBI or HR totals!!!!!

Those are obviously the most important.

I could be wrong though

by staplemaniac on Nov 18, 2008 11:50 AM PST to parent up   0 recs

I wish they'd just change the name of the award.

Best Player in September, or Best Player Whose Team is Good.

by Teej on Nov 18, 2008 11:51 AM PST to parent up   0 recs

Morneau doesn't even fit either of those...

He sucked hard in September (.243/.298/.398) and he was the second-best player on his own team. If we’re going to rename the award it should just be the BBWAA Make Shit Up Award. Or perhaps the BBWAA Attempt To Justify Their Preferred Storylines.

Pedroia’s not an especially awful choice for first (overrated by some for a year, but he was good, mainly Roberts was underrated), it’s just the bizarre inconsistency of the whole exercise that kills me.

by ubelmann on Nov 18, 2008 12:02 PM PST to parent up   0 recs

Yeah, I don't despise the Pedroia choice. He's very good.

And no one seemed head and shoulders above everyone else. I still would have voted for Mauer.

by Teej on Nov 18, 2008 12:28 PM PST to parent up   0 recs

Best Player To Write a Story About Among Those Who Were Very Good.

by Jay on Nov 18, 2008 12:26 PM PST to parent up   0 recs

But but but but...

Brian Roberts is a Scrappy White Guy, AND short! He’s 5’9"! And he plays the infield!

I vote to retire the scrappy white guy meme. Ibanez and Pedroia aren’t as white as, say, Jim Thome. Or Willie Bloomquist.

I have to agree though that the criteria by which some players are elevated above others by sports writers is fucking ridiculous.

I’m curious how Sizemore would be more valuable than Pedroia, though. Granted, I do not know what I’m talking about, I’m curious because at first glance, Pedroia seems more impressive. CF is a position where talented guys are generally put, whereas second base seems to be pretty bland. I had thought that CF was stronger offensively and defensively than 2nd, which would make a good second basemen perhaps more valuable than a good to very good CFer. This is also why Mauer strikes me as excellent.

by spittle8 on Nov 18, 2008 2:56 PM PST to parent up   0 recs

CF has a .5 win advantage over 2B.

Sizemore and Pedroia were both around +10 defensively, according to Sky Kalkman among others. There was a .004 difference in their wOBA*; .381 for Sizemore, .377 for Pedroia. When I calculated their respective WsAR, I had Sizemore at 5.5 and Pedroia at 4.5. I’m not sure the gap was that huge, but there’s a definite difference in value. Sizemore’s WPA/LI was 3.01; Pedroia’s was 2.03. Sizemore has the edge in the statistical categories, he plays a more important defensive position and he had more PAs than Pedroia. I think it’s clear who the more valuable of the two was.

I agree on Mauer though. I’ve got him dead even with Sizemore in terms of WAR, and Mauer’s WPA/LI is 3.4. Even if you want to call them equally valuable in terms of the metrics, I think you have to give the edge to the Catcher. I think Mauer would have been the right choice,

by acblue on Nov 18, 2008 3:22 PM PST to parent up   0 recs

Also I'm new at this whole doing math thing

 so if I am wrong please do not let this just sit here so I look like an idiot.

by acblue on Nov 18, 2008 3:27 PM PST to parent up   0 recs

Thanks for the clarification

I must say, those statistics you mentioned frighten me because I don’t understand them. I’ll leave it to y’all to make sense of the statistical analysis bit of the sport.

by spittle8 on Nov 19, 2008 12:05 AM PST to parent up   0 recs

WAR isn't as intimidating as it seems.

WPA/LI is a little more difficult to grasp (at least it was for me) but it’s interesting stuff.

by acblue on Nov 19, 2008 12:40 AM PST to parent up   0 recs

Yes,

I understand WAR to a degree. I just am not entirely acquainted with the method by which the statistic is calculated.

by spittle8 on Nov 24, 2008 3:36 AM PST to parent up   0 recs

Yeah but but

Clutch man. Like, the pressure in like Boston is like totally wicked. You just don’t understand! You never played baseball! GO BACK TO YOUR PARENTS BASEMENT!!!! Yeah… why even bother giving awards? It’s stupid… The voters are stupid… What I dont get is old metrics (BA, RBI’s HR’s) are generally accepted to be truth, but when someone tries to use new metrics we are told stats don’t matter, the game is played on the field. Oh well…

by zeke5123 on Nov 18, 2008 11:49 AM PST   0 recs

Nah

He’s 6’5", 220. That’s way too big to be scrappy.

Pedroia’s all of 5’9", 180. It’s not Eckstein-level scrappy, but that’s pretty damned scrappy.

'Catsmeat!' he cried. 'I see it all. It was that chump, Catsmeat.'

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Nov 18, 2008 11:57 AM PST to parent up   0 recs

I wonder who voted or Raul?

I am no longer in Spokane, but I think I'll keep the name anyway.

by InSpokane on Nov 18, 2008 12:20 PM PST   0 recs

That should be public knowledge.

That’s why we know who thought Edinson Volquez was a rookie.

I like using semi-colons; they make me feel smart.

by Llewdor on Nov 18, 2008 12:30 PM PST to parent up   0 recs

It had to a Seattle Reporter

I am no longer in Spokane, but I think I'll keep the name anyway.

by InSpokane on Nov 18, 2008 12:33 PM PST to parent up   0 recs

He split leagues

It basically makes him ineligible. If he’d done that for a full season in Anaheim he’d probably win.

Furcal

by JI on Nov 18, 2008 12:31 PM PST to parent up   0 recs

Oh yeah

Forgot about that little detail

Determined, Jonesing Commentor | Proud proprietor of Washingtonhighways.org

by I'm NOT Corco on Nov 18, 2008 1:24 PM PST to parent up   0 recs

Pedroia lead AL Position Players in WARP

Although the Red Sox make me vomit, Pedroia lead AL hitters in WARP. Lee, Halladay and Rivera were all ahead of him, but there’s a bias against pitcher MVPs because they have their own friggin’ award.

In fact, I would say that A-Rod and Mauer were really the only hitters in the AL that you could say deserved the award more.
However, we can keep bitching becaues it’s criminal as shit soup that Chase Utley has two team mates with more MVPs than he has.
For the record, I would have had 22 RBIs last year if I hit behind Utley and Rollins and Chase Utley would have had 182 RBIs if he hit right behind himself. Which makes Ryan Howards 140 something look pretty weak.

by philosofool on Nov 18, 2008 12:43 PM PST   0 recs

While I agree with much of the sentiment

WARP has passed it’s expiration date.

Furcal

by JI on Nov 18, 2008 12:53 PM PST to parent up   0 recs

WARP, or BB/K ratio, or GPA or wOBA

Look at any one of these stats and you’ll see Pedroia among the leaders. At a defensive premium position, which he plays well. Pedroia also put in 726 plate appearances (part of the reason his WARP is so high—it is not a rate stat.) But those plate appearance mean something.

Okay, I probably overstated earlier. There’s a good case to be made for several other players. I still think as much as he’s a minion of the devil, an objective character says that he’s not totally undeserving.

by philosofool on Nov 18, 2008 3:51 PM PST to parent up   0 recs

People in front of Pedroia in park adjusted wOBA:

Bradley
Rodriguez
Quentin
Youkilis
Markakis
Ramirez
Drew
Huff
Mauer
Cabrera
Pena
Damon
Kinsler
Giambi
Morneau
Granderson
Ordonez
Hamilton
Cust
Abreu
Guerrero
Sizemore
Byrd
Roberts
Shoppach

People in front of Pedroia in batting runs above average (bRAA):

Rodriguez
Bradley
Markakis
Youkilis
Quentin
Cabrera
Huff
Mauer
Morneau
Sizemore
Hamilton
Abreu
Damon
Pena
Granderson
Ordonez

by Graham on Nov 18, 2008 4:03 PM PST to parent up   1 recs

Agree

I play all the Super Mario games all the way through like a true gamer

by Gomez on Nov 18, 2008 6:48 PM PST to parent up   0 recs

BBWAA writers getting better at their jobs would require expending effort

and said effort is better expended at the press room buffet.

Nice Guys Finish Third - Hopelessly lost, but makin' good time.

by pdb on Nov 18, 2008 12:54 PM PST   0 recs