wOBA: Tony Blengino's new stat of the week

by ARock on Dec 9, 2009 6:58 PM PST Comment 47 comments

This week's episode is great as well. (Unfortunately no LL mentions this time).

Fun discussion with Zduriencik, followed by Tony Blengino with a great explanation of wOBA, both why the other stats like OPS are lacking, why wOBA is an 'uberstat', and even giving the formula on air, with all the decimals!

One little thing he left out. When he explained the values (of the linear weights) for wOBA, he said they were the run values of the events. Really they are the run values compared to the value of an out (which is around -.3 run). So a walk isn't worth .72 run, its really .42 run plus its not an out which wouldve been -.3. But probably that wouldve just been even more confusing to the listeners.

He also mentioned when discussing OBP versus SLG, that OBP was 'at least twice as valuable' as SLG. My understanding of this from Tom Tango's posts is that OBP is around 1.8 * SLG. Not sure why Tony would say over twice, but I wouldn't argue that much about it. Who knows, maybe they know something? I think his words were that 'over a certain point, OBP is over twice at valuable as SLG'. Is there soemthing interesting here, that they have learned?

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I think OBP has more of a multiplicative effect than SLG

In other words, if you were to add two guys to your lineup that each added an extra 10% to your OBP, the amount of runs scored would go up by 15% or something. Slugging doesn’t really do that.

(those are just numbers, don’t take the actual amounts seriously)

by nathaniel dawson on Dec 9, 2009 7:13 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Yeah...

This is just further demonstration of why wOBA is much better than OBP and SLG.

by ARock on Dec 9, 2009 7:25 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

wOBA can't deal with that either, I don't think

Linear weights don’t work that well in weird run environments

by Graham on Dec 9, 2009 9:25 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Hmm, true.

I guess it works assuming the rest of your team is a typical team.

Maybe the Ms research department will invent something better and gain an edge :)

by ARock on Dec 9, 2009 9:59 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Is this available to listen to again?

I also think it’s nice to hear them treat us like adults instead of talking about ‘advanced’ stats like … cERA or Holds.

by EnglishMariner on Dec 10, 2009 1:32 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

x

http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=574&p=32&n=Hot%20Stove%20League

by Poochie on Dec 10, 2009 9:46 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

How long do you think it will be before Graham gets offered a job with the Mariners?

by HARRYP09 on Dec 10, 2009 7:41 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Sure, he got traded to Detroit for French and Robles, but he was there for a few years.

by abender20 on Dec 10, 2009 5:50 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

710 did lose the thread briefly, and they let Blengino go back to his duties while they did the fix

he likely had more to add on the subject

by msb on Dec 10, 2009 7:58 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Feed. They lost the feed.

Apparently I lost the thread.

by msb on Dec 10, 2009 8:17 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Rizzs probably fell asleep and banged his head off the console.

I like to imagine him wearing an exasperated expression while Blengino is giving technical explanations.

by Kermit. on Dec 10, 2009 8:19 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I like to picture him going through the better part of a bottle of Scotch

by abender20 on Dec 10, 2009 8:24 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Rizzs was napping at home in Issaquah.

Salk was half-listening while furiously searching the web to find out just which player had the best wOPA in MLB

by msb on Dec 10, 2009 8:49 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Hmmm...

I dunno..

Not sure Saint Ricco swigs Scotch….

SHOW FiFi THE MONEY!!!!

by PositivePaul on Dec 10, 2009 9:25 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I bet his liver sucks

by abender20 on Dec 10, 2009 11:32 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

We have great baseball media here in Seattle.

I know he gets shit from here and USSM on occasion, but I think Geoff Baker is a really kick ass beat writer. Add in Larry Stone, Ryan Divish, Shannon Drayer etc. and we have a really competent group of media types following the team. I’ve been really impressed by their willingness to latch onto the new advanced stats over the last year or so.

But I wasn’t expecting Tony to pronounce wOBA and FIP by spelling them out like that. I always say them like words, and I assumed that was pretty much the norm (cause they sound like they could be real words).

by Vatinius on Dec 10, 2009 11:18 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

I've always spelled them out. "Fip" and "woba" sound strange.

by redwolf75 on Dec 10, 2009 11:38 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, WHIP is the only one I can say out loud without feeling like an asshole.

by Teej on Dec 10, 2009 11:48 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I like wOBA

by Graham on Dec 10, 2009 12:01 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Emphasis on the 'O'

w-OH-buh

by seattlebruin on Dec 10, 2009 12:29 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I thought it was pronounced like Joba...

SHOW FiFi THE MONEY!!!!

by PositivePaul on Dec 10, 2009 12:43 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Yes, this is how I think of it.

Of course, I only ever write it, I dont have anyone to talk to that I can mention wOBA to.

by ARock on Dec 10, 2009 1:25 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

WHOA!-buh

by seattlebruin on Dec 10, 2009 1:49 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Correct.

by ARock on Dec 10, 2009 3:32 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

You go, Mushmouth.

Say it with me: Washington Capitals. Capitals.
Preserved In All His Greatness - R.I.P. The Reignman 1989 to 1997

by JLProck on Dec 11, 2009 12:33 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I was thinking more Joey Lawrence.

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

by Llewdor on Dec 11, 2009 9:51 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

That's odd; I say them... if someone spelled out 'F.I.P.' it might take me a minute to understand what they were saying.

by marc w on Dec 10, 2009 1:08 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I think it derives from the fact FIP is designed to improve upon ERA, which

one spells out. Thus I’m prone to continue on the trend.

by redwolf75 on Dec 10, 2009 10:11 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Same here for FIP.

wOBA is joba with a w for me, mostly because going letter by letter makes it a bloody six-syllable word. Might as well just say Weighted On Base Average then. Using the colloquial pronunciation of “av-ridge” and that’s a 6-syllable phrase as well.

by Terminator X on Dec 13, 2009 5:32 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I say "FIP" but spell out wOBA

Saying “Whoa-buh” sounds too silly for me.

by OlSalty on Dec 10, 2009 10:18 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

F.I.P.

F##king Insane Pancakes

by chrisisasavage on Dec 10, 2009 10:20 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I do the exact opposite.

by Kirkharbaugh on Dec 10, 2009 11:55 PM PST via mobile up reply actions 0 recs

I do the exact opposite as well,

and I think sounding out “FIP” just sounds weird.

by ChristopherA on Dec 11, 2009 9:41 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed. "woba" to me sounds less strange than "fip."

by redwolf75 on Dec 11, 2009 1:51 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Maybe he's doing it to make it easier for listeners look into each stat.

Although when I heard UZR out loud for the first time a few shows ago and it sounded really strange with a ‘zee’ in the middle and not a ‘zed’. Whatever’s comfortable, I guess.

Fuck Anaheim.

by Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth on Dec 10, 2009 11:44 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

The band ZZ Top probably sounds pretty wierd to you too then.

by ARock on Dec 10, 2009 1:26 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Now this one is probably just me, but

to me UZR is oo-zee-are. I’m assuming it came from uzi submachine guns or something… I mean, where else do you see u and z next to each other? I didn’t realize I did it until I tried to say it out loud once and sounded like a goddamned retard. Now it’s far too ingrained to go back.

by Terminator X on Dec 13, 2009 5:27 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs