mqtcelticsfan

It's fun to try and actually win the title with a low payroll forcing you into getting rid of all of your best players. Getting as far as he does speaks wonders.

Swisher is second on the team in runs. He gets on base and magically scores runs. The only person with more runs than him? Carlos Quentin, who has the highest OBP on the team. So, Nick Swisher, with his .216 BA is still scoring, because he got on base with a walk. It's really quite funny how that works.

essbee

didn't you just say he contends each and every year? why are you ignoring the fact that they finished 1 game ahead of the last place rangers last year? i don't get it. Also the marlins beat the world series favorite yankees while the marlins had one of the lowest payrolls in baseball. I guess that one doesn't count.

Lmfao are you really saying that it's fine that nick swisher is hitting .210? He's only 31st in the league in runs scored but I know I know that's okay because his obp is so high. seriously lmfao.

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essbee

good thing batting average is a useless stat

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mqtcelticsfan

Ugh, are we really going to go into ****ing semantics here? Does it really matter that a couple of the years were bad?

He's 25th in all of MLB in runs, and that's out of, what, 250 regular hitters or so? That's not exactly awful. If I'm not mistaken, the point of baseball is to score more runs than the other team. He's hitting .216 and still is 7th in the AL in runs scored. How is being 7th in the AL in runs scored bad for an offense (whilst ignoring the whole team must bat you in factor, which you love to do, even though even a player who has a BA of .500 could not score runs if the rest of the team fails to drive him home)? Now, his low slugging percentage is a major problem as an OF. He simply cannot continue to hit for as little power as he is right now. But, considering he's a full .100 points below his career average, and his patience at the plate has remained, any intelligent person would assume that will go up. Still, with his awful power numbers, his EQA is .253, which is just slightly below average. Once he regains his power, he'll once again be among the league's best.

mqtcelticsfan

Fred Lewis has an OPS+ of 142, an EQA of .312 and an OBP of .405, which are exactly the kinds of number you love to see from anybody. However, Barry Bonds had an OPS+ of 170, an EQA of .345 and an OBP of .480 last year, so who cares?

However, Fred Lewis has a BA of .327 to Barry's .276 last year. Obviously we know who the better hitter is, thanks to the best stat ever, BA.

Oh, and Fred Lewis has a BABIP about 100 points too high. There's no way he maintains this. The league average is .290 to .300 and Lewis is above .400 right now.

essbee

how is it semantics that you said they contend every year under him? That's not semantics that's an actual quote. Is it also semantics that they've only won a SINGLE playoff series under him?

You'd prefer your leadoff hitter score more than that, especially in the AL. He is however tied with such notables as platoon catcher Ryan Doumit. Wow that's amazing.

What you don't realize is that part of the reason swisher has long home run droughts (didn't i talk about his droughts?) where he's striking out a lot is that his obsession with walks leads him to get behind in counts. Getting behind in counts makes him a more defensive hitter. Being defensive greatly reduces his power numbers which usually come from him when he's being aggressive.

But again, how could you realize that without watching him play?

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mqtcelticsfan

It's taking my words too literally. Since 2000, when Beane would have had time to implement his system, the As have been out of contention on the last day of the baseball season twice. That's pretty damn near every year.

There are currently 4 leadoff batters in the AL with more runs than Swisher. I'm starting to think that what you're saying is that in order to be an effective player, you have to be the best in the league, right?

Also, until he gets to the end of the season with a crappy season, I don't care if he's a defensive swinger. If he gets on base, scores runs, etc. I don't need to see him fall behind in counts to see his impact on a team.

essbee

i've never met somebody who so actively defends not watching baseball games as you. This in the end is the worst part of the sabermetrics legacy.

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mqtcelticsfan