04/26/24
March 26, 2010
SportsFilter: The Friday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
Just so none of the four teams would be coming from Durham, NC. That's my main hope.
posted by beaverboard at 09:23 AM on March 26, 2010
Joe Posnanski has a nice piece on heart vs. stats.
And the stats are getting more complete, which makes it even more revealing and more difficult. When a hitter said, "Oh, there's a lot more to hitting than batting average," he was right. When a hitter said, "Oh, there's a lot more to hitting than on-base percentage," he was a little less right. When a hitter said, "Oh there's a lot more to hitting than runs created," well, it gets dicier. When a hitter said, "Oh, there's a lot more to hitting than Win Probability Added," well, now you're going to have to tell me what "more" you are talking about because this is a statistic that literally measures every single at bat and the contribution you made, even if that contribution was just moving a runner over.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 09:28 AM on March 26, 2010
Neat way of looking at the historical value of players by breaking down their WAR values (warning, Red Sox content). By @adarowski.
posted by yerfatma at 09:49 AM on March 26, 2010
Notes about Chris Chelios (age 48, playing for Atlanta):
- He is partnered with a player (Zach Bogosian) that was born nine years after Chelios was drafted by Montreal.
- Four franchises have moved (Hartford to Carolina, Winnipeg to Phoenix, Quebec to Colorado, Minnesota to Dallas) and nine have been added (Minnesota, Atlanta, Nashville, Tampa Bay, San Jose, Columbus, Ottawa, Anaheim, Florida) during his career.
- There are 4 players who were drafted, signed, played in the NHL, retired, waited 3 years and have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, all while Chelios was an active player in the NHL. (Patrick Roy, Brian Leetch, Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille)
- He has played against all 6 original Sutter brothers (Brian, Brent, Rich, Ron, Darryl, Duane), and has played in two seasons at the same time as two of their sons (Brett, Brandon).
- There have been 8 teammates that would become coaches in the NHL while Chelios was still playing (Mario Tremblay, Guy Carbonneau, Bob Gainey, Larry Robinson, Dave Allison, Dirk Graham, Brent Sutter, Denis Savard).
- He's played against someone born in 1943 (Tony Esposito) and against someone born in 1990 (Erik Karlsson).
posted by grum@work at 12:51 PM on March 26, 2010
Another Chelios note...
When the Red Wings hired Mike Babcock, Chelios was playing for a coach a little over a year his junior...
posted by MeatSaber at 01:15 PM on March 26, 2010
I didn't catch the edit button in time, but I'd be remiss if I didn't make mention of the date. Let me set the scene for you...a hard-fought hockey game that quickly devolves into an all-out street brawl on ice. A small, non-physical Russian center tackling one of the NHL's best power forwards. An enforcer rushing the gutless wonder, who turtles under a barrage of punches to the head. A goalie taking a flying clothesline from a Irishman. A midget chopping down a tree at center ice. Blood everywhere, and a team needing something to pull their season together gets revenge for a vicious blindside hit the season before. And like the cherry on top of the sundae, the aforementioned enforcer scores the game-winner in overtime. No, I'm not talking about a movie script I'm working on. Today is the 13th anniversary of the The Brawl. I still get chills just watching it...
(The video is crappy quality, but it was the only one I could find that showed the whole thing...)
posted by MeatSaber at 01:36 PM on March 26, 2010
The video link isn't working.
posted by grum@work at 01:39 PM on March 26, 2010
heart vs. stats
So Nomar says that heart can't be measured. Theo Epstein took notice and has his staff working to devise a metric. (Stolen from Peter Abraham in today's Boston Globe) Come to think of it, maybe yerfatma's post is the start of the attempt. (Thanks, fatty, that was interesting stuff.)
posted by Howard_T at 03:40 PM on March 26, 2010
That WAR stuff is fascinating. And via fatty's link, is the link to the 500 best position players of all-time. You know, if you don't want to just read about the Red Sox. (I know fatty. You warned me.)
It's basically like a list of the most successful hitters of all-time, all neatly ordered. Couple things I noticed:
On fatty's link - man, Tris Speaker and Nomar were probably the second and third most successful hitters in Red Sox history, given their total WAR compared with PAs. And reconfirms that nobody touches Teddy Fucking Ballgame.
Also - Look how low Ortiz is. If someone were to look at a list like this some years from now, without any memory or knowledge of his career, they wouldn't think much of him. But the truth is different. Legendary moments have value too.
And from my link - How good was Bonds!?!? Seriously good. And A-Rod is goddamn 21st. Bit of a surprise there. Also, kinda makes me not like it.
Also - Roberto Alomar has more WAR than Mark McGwire. And Ryne Sandberg. God, I do not like Ryne Sandberg.
And lastly - look how low (I mean, you know, low on this list, not low as compared to the history of baseball) Frank Thomas is. I've always associated Frank Thomas' career with the statistical side of the game. He was the first guy I noticed as kinda the prototypical high OBP, High Slugging, Runs kind of hitter. The stat guy's guy. But it doesn't seem to be reflected there - and he had a really long run. Interesting.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 04:09 PM on March 26, 2010
I am now a big fan of former Central Michigan QB Dan LeFevour. Mostly because on SportsNation today on ESPN, he burned the living daylights out of Justin Bieber.
posted by boredom_08 at 05:01 PM on March 26, 2010
I've played baseball with Chelios' son. When he'd come to watch he'd stand way back from the backstop to stay away from autograph seekers.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 05:29 PM on March 26, 2010
posted by MeatSaber at 05:35 PM on March 26, 2010
Lewis Hamilton doesn't get enough thrills from driving around an F1 track.
posted by owlhouse at 05:40 PM on March 26, 2010
Gilbert Arenas avoids jail time Suspended Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas was ordered Friday to spend 30 days in a halfway house for his conviction on gun charges stemming from a locker-room confrontation with a teammate. D.C. Superior Court Judge Robert E. Morin also sentenced Arenas to 400 of community service, which cannot be conducted at basketball clinics, and a $5,000 fine.
posted by tommybiden at 05:52 PM on March 26, 2010
Pat Burns has arena in Quebec named after him
posted by tommybiden at 09:54 PM on March 26, 2010
And lastly - look how low (I mean, you know, low on this list, not low as compared to the history of baseball) Frank Thomas is. I've always associated Frank Thomas' career with the statistical side of the game. He was the first guy I noticed as kinda the prototypical high OBP, High Slugging, Runs kind of hitter. The stat guy's guy. But it doesn't seem to be reflected there - and he had a really long run. Interesting.
That's because all of Frank Thomas' value is hitting. Like, more than 90%.
766 batting runs vs 773 runs above replacement
He has almost no value invested in his base running or fielding.
The man was pure hitting prowess.
posted by grum@work at 08:20 AM on March 27, 2010
Tris Speaker and Nomar were probably the second and third most successful hitters in Red Sox history
And Speaker was a hell of a fielder too. Just ran across him in Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Lineups (which I just ran across in my bathroom) and I think his is another Red Sox career reputation hurt by poor media relations. In Speaker's case, it's that he went into the Hall in a Klansman's uniform.
Of course, Nomar was a hell of a fielder too, in my biased eye's opinion, but it looks like the stats bear that out. We were spoiled in the 90's with Valentin and Nomar as great hitting shortstops who could field as well (though no one noticed because their styles were unusual and led to errors on balls other players didn't get to).
posted by yerfatma at 10:07 AM on March 27, 2010
With yesterday's results and the possibilities of this evening, there is a distinct possibility of a Butler, Kentucky, Ohio State, Purdue Final Four. Now, I realize that that may not be the most likely outcome come Sunday night, but if it happened, the farthest school--and only #1 seed remaining--Kentucky would have a mere 3 hour drive to Indianapolis. That could be wild!