Former Baseball Prospectus writer Joe Sheehan posted the following nugget on Facebook the other day: "The #Twins’ improved run prevention is entirely coming on contact. Last year, the Twins allowed a .320 batting average on balls in play, with 356 doubles and triples conceded. This year, the Twins have allowed a .298 BABIP, and 300 [...]
In yesterday’s article about Brandon Nimmo, a side thread in the comments section developed about Nori Aoki, specifically his contract status and the viability of bringing him back as a reserve outfielder in 2018. Commenter Pete In Iowa expressed this opinion: What’s all this crap about the $7 – $8 million Aoki would get being [...]
Relievers are fickle by nature. There are two main reasons for this. The first is that the better pitchers are most often starters and the second is that because relievers pitch fewer innings, they’re more susceptible to small sample size issues. When Jacob deGrom has a lousy eight inning stretch, he’s going to have 190 [...]
So much is made of the offensive environment at Las Vegas – and rightfully so. It’s so well-ingrained in us now about the offensive inflation there that we know that a, say, .300/.348/.484 line is nothing special. In just about any other league, an .832 OPS would be something to sit up and take notice. [...]
Two key pieces of the second-half 2016 Mets bullpen are now free agents. Jerry Blevins posted a 3.07 ERA with a 5.0 K/BB ratio from July 15 to September 18 while Fernando Salas had a 2.08 ERA, a 0.635 WHIP with 19 Ks and 0 BB in 17.2 IP after being acquired from the Angels. [...]
When the Mets won their first World Series in 1969, they received 51 complete games from their starters. Last year their staff posted just one complete game. Many people wish that we would go back to the starting usage from that earlier era. My thought is that in the overall scheme of things, we’re better [...]
With the Statcast data now making its way out to the public, we’re going to see new metrics proposed. This is going to be a turnoff to some people and that’s okay. What you have to ask yourself is: Am I happy with my current level of knowledge and understanding of the game or am [...]
There were three defining areas for the 2016 Mets, two bad and one good. The bad ones were the injuries and the hitting with runners in scoring position (RISP) while the good one was the team’s strong finishing kick. We’ve discussed the injuries and the kick in greater detail, so now it’s time to discuss [...]
There’s been talk around the blogosphere about the Mets ponying up and making a deal for Andrew McCutchen. The former MVP winner fell on hard times in 2016 but most people are projecting a significant bounce-back year from McCutchen in 2017. But how realistic is that? Let’s look at a couple of different measures. First, [...]
Longtime readers may recall that prior to the 2014 season, there were a series of articles posted here about durability and health. One of these suggested that one of the keys to a good season was to have four pitchers with 175 or more innings and/or five hitters with at least 575 PA. In 2013, [...]
On Sunday we threw out some comps for Robert Gsellman, mentioning at the time that they were merely data points and that a full-blown comparison might show something else completely. So, what follows is an attempt to look for recent historical comps in a more vigorous manner. This is done with the understanding that Gsellman’s [...]
Here on the final day of the regular season, the Mets are 14th in the National League with a .676 OPS with RISP. The average NL team has a triple slash line of .256/.341/.415 while the Mets check in with a .225/.305/.372 line. It’s pretty amazing that they’ve made the playoffs with those numbers. But [...]