Mets Minors: The stats the bind us (pitching edition)

Following up last week's article about the Batting Statistics I use to evaluate minor league performances I’ll be writing this week about Pitching Statistics.  Just as with batting, it would be ideal to combine seeing a pitcher in person for some live scouting.   Base on Balls or Walks (BB): A useful raw statistic that [...]

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How the Mets stack up against playoff teams using fWAR

The Mets finished the year 77-85, 13 wins behind the division-leading Braves. Not all wins are created equally. Some wins are due to “talent” and others are due to “luck.” And it’s not always easy to tell where one of these things ends and the other starts. The Braves were 23-12 in one-run games while [...]

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Kim Ng fits as the next GM

We always hear about the cross town rival New York Yankees as if they are the older brother that grew up to became a successful stock broker, while the Mets are like the younger brother that showed some promise in high school, but has elongated their “gap year” in between college and high school to [...]

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What the Mets can learn from these playoff teams

Ten out of 30 teams made the playoffs, and several others (Mariners, Rays, Cardinals) had good seasons and came pretty close. While some of those teams leaned on powerful lineups (Brewers, Yankees, Red Sox) and others on pitching (Astros, Indians), there are a few common threads that run through most if not all of them. [...]

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MLB trends younger and the Mets need to do likewise

As we near the end of the second decade of the 21st Century, the game is different than it was back in Y2K. Everyone focuses on the increase of strikeouts, especially as it compares to hits. But one thing that doesn’t get nearly enough attention is how the game is trending younger. Baseball-Reference includes age-related [...]

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The Mets fans’ guide to the postseason

The 2018 regular season is over, and we are down to 10 teams that are still alive in the World Series chase. The question is, what team should the Mets fans root for? We’ll look at the possibilities in reverse order, from the perspective of an everyman Mets fan. It’s possible there are some Mets [...]

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Mets Minors: The stats that bind us (batting edition)

Writing about player development without being paid as a full-time scout or having the financial freedom and time to view players in person has more to do with analysis than with gut feelings.  I can look at the stats of a player like Peter Alonso and see things that excite me as much as the [...]

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Scioscia’s tenure with Angels comes to an end

Mike Scioscia's 19-year run with the Angels has officially come to an end. Scioscia, the longest-tenured manager in baseball, announced that he will be stepping down from his post following the Angels' 5-4 walk-off win over the A's in Sunday's regular-season finale. The move has been widely expected, as Scioscia is in the final days [...]

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