Howie Rose on radio and Keith Hernandez on TV occasionally sprinkle into their broadcasts mentions of the board, now computer, game simulation Strat-O-Matic. Obviously both played the game a lot when they were younger. Even some ballplayers, notably Cal Ripken Jr., have admitted to playing the game on planes during their playing careers.
Keith will see an outfielder not reach a catchable flyball or not get to a ball before it hits the outfield wall and will say something like, “Strat is definitely giving this guy a ‘4’”.
For those unfamiliar with the game every player is rated for his defensive range on a scale of 1 to 4. Technically there is also a 5 given to some players who are particularly awful defensively (think Adam Dunn or Todd Hundley in the outfield) or guys who played scant emergency innings at an unfamiliar position. Eric Campbell received a SS-5 rating in the latest card set and now after Tuesday’s injury marred game Anthony Recker will likely get a 3B-5 rating on the strength of his one emergency inning played there.
But for the most part it’s a scale of 1 best to 4 worst. To get a feel for this let’s just talk shortstops. The poster boy for a SS-1 rating is Andrelton Simmons who probably would merit a 0.5 if there were such a thing. Other 1’s include Troy Tulowitzki and the new Yankee Didi Gregorius. In Met history Buddy Harrelson and Rey Ordonez in their primes were 1’s.
The 2 rating belongs to the above average but not Gold Glove caliber player. Think Elvis Andrus and Adeiny Hechavarria here. During Jose Reyes’ Mets years he usually was a SS-2.
The 3 goes to average to somewhat below average players in the range department. Brad Miller, Omar Quintanilla, and many others (including the 2014 Jose Reyes) get the SS-3 rating. Rafael Santana as a Mets shortstop often got a SS-3 grade.
The bottom of this barrell is the SS-4 and there really aren’t that many of these because most teams are astute enough to avoid playing someone at this position who is so sievelike. Jed Lowrie is a SS who almost always gets a 4. Most years Jhonny Peralta did too although he ticked up to a 3 in the current card set.
One thing you can know for sure is that Wilmer Flores will be rated SS-4 in the next Strat-O-Matic card set just as he was in the current set. Ruben Tejada got a 3.
Daniel Murphy has only gotten 4’s for his work at 2B.
This means that if Flores and Murphy remain the keystone for the entire year then the Mets will be fielding 4’s at both positions.
I asked at a Strat-O-Matic Forum that is frequented by thousands of long time players like myself whether anyone could recollect a single team in the modern era who fielded 4’s at short and second yet still made the playoffs.
One intrepid researcher replied that the 2011 Milwaukee Brewers who won 96 games and went to the playoffs had Rickie Weeks and Yunieski Betancourt at 2B and SS respectively. Each of those players received a grade of 4 from the game company. So we must concede that it is doable although it strikes me as a tall order.
It could almost be described as general manager malpractice for a team to call itself a playoff contender and then go to battle routinely playing 4’s at shortstop and second base.
Hopefully Sandy Alderson will come to his senses soon and upgrade the team’s up the middle defense.
I see Murphy as a 3. Also, aside from the 2 game bad stretch, Flores has played well and there has only been one ball where I saw he was unable to get to because of lack of range (single up the middle-I forget which game). There was a double play he didn’t make because of a lack of urgency and the next day a similar situation arose and Flores exhibited that urgency and got the double play. He seems to be where they hit it, which may go to his work with Tim Teufel.
The game company uses its subjective scouting methods and some statistical research to come up with the range for each player. It’s an imperfect science for sure and at times Murphy does look like a 3. But when sites like Baseball Reference and FanGraphs calculate a player’s defensive WAR (wins above replacement level) Daniel Murphy is usually down there with the other “4” rated 2bmen.
either you don’t watch the mets or you haven’t played Strat to rate Murph a 3…
Thank goodness the game is played between the lines and not a gameboard!
What is the stratomatic rating for “team confidence”?
+1, and made me laugh.
“If it ain’t broke…” doesn’t always apply to games where a line up includes 9 players.
If we would like to continue winning, we need to address holes.
One writer mentioned the confidence that Juan Legares’ glove lends to pitchers to go after the strike zone. Bud Harrelson gave this to Tom Seaver where he had to consistently battle without offensive support.
For us, we are looking at some sterling pitchers dealing with mediocre infield defense.
I’m a Murph fan. I love the way he approaches the game and his body language shows a certain defeatist posture right now. Yet, admittedly, he is not a natural second baseman and neither is Wilmer Flores a natural SS.
Is Troy T still on the block? What would it take? It may take a Noah or Matz along with MLB ready players and then the dice roll of health begins. We must not forget Plaweki and Reynolds are both now heating up in AAA.
Next, what of Grandy? Can we bear with a sub .200 lead off batter who’s OBP is not going to be sustained with the BB pace dropping off? Even Keith stopped his “you’ll see Grandy heat up” comments that were generous in the opening 7 games.
If he were to return to his career trend, even with the fences moved in, he may be sub .220 average in leadoff.
Cuddyer will need a day off, no question, but who can predict anything TC will do (or say) especially with knowing that Duda is not going to hit .400, though I think the improvement of Travis DN is a fundamental one.
With so much going right, and Bartolo surprising the heck out of us, are we able and willing to make both defensive moves and offensive moves to support our fine pitching staff?
Larry, thanks for an interesting article. It if fun to read some old school commentary about our announcers. It is better than the NY Daily News’ ripping of Keith, especially, in the most nit-picking of manners.
I love everything we are doing right now, and the benchmarks we need to change, winning at home and beating the Nats, are doing just that. Those are both critical for e Metsies to be in the black and headed to the playoffs.
That said, I urge caution in leveraging the present solid play from Spring flowers to Fall foliage. The likelihood that a Flores/Muph middle infield combo can bring good returns is very slim. I hope we see upgrades for at least one position, and hopefully both, before the trade deadline.
So far our wins are piling up against teams with all losing records (combined 11-22). The only team with a winning record we played we lost the series. I’m optimistic and happy and loving watching these games. With 151 games to be played, there’s a lot maneuvering left to occur. I hope it’s with a better middle infield.
This brings me back. I played stratomatic when I was a kid. I remember buying the historic teams sets and playing the 69 Mets against all the great teams of the past.
I’m not sure how I would rate Flores at SS. His errors have been on throws this year, but I don’t think that’s a weakness. He’s weirdly inconsistent on the double play, sometimes looking very smooth and urgent, other times looking like a deer in headlights. I’d probably say he could push a 3 if Santana was.
I firmly believe Murphy will be traded at some point and Herrera will be playing 2B. Herrera is a much better 2B, so the 4-4 middle infield combo probably won’t be together come playoff time.
Also, we know trade winds will continue to swirl…
Besides for each player being given a range rating they also get an “e” number which shows about how many errors a player will make if he’s played every game of a 162 game season.
Right now Wilmer is on a path to be rated something like SS 4e36 which is just brutal and will badly hurt the club in the long run. One might swallow that if he was hitting .280 and powering 25 homeruns but personally I doubt he is capable of those kinds of offensive numbers.
I don’t see Murphy-Flores being our siuble play combo for long. Either murph gets traded, flores gets replaced or one of them gets injured.
Matt, I agree with you. While I share Peter’s fandom for Murphy, it is because I view him as a player that had to overcome circumstances to become a MLB player, and he plays for MY team. However, while he has worked hard to become adequate at times with the glove, he also has not improved a lick as a hitter. Every time I see him hit a first pitch pop up to left center, I want to fine him.
Further, the Mets led the NL in double plays last year, so how is Murphy a 4? Unless, he has a low e-rating… Also, I don’t see Recker even getting a 3B rating off of one appearance, pretty sure you need more than a single emergency one-inning showing to gain a rating. I would love to know if TDA was a 4, e16, +3 arm, T 1-15 or so.
I used to love Strat in high school, both baseball and football.
Here’s your answer on d’Arnaud: c4(+1)e2t16
For those not familiar with the game: 4 = bad range.
+1 below average throwing arm
e2 – low number of errors in non-basestealing situations
t16 – plays catch with Lagares a lot when steals of 2B are attempted.
LOL, pretty much what I expected. Thank you Larry.
I still find myself thinking from time to time what ratings certain players are getting.
My friend and I were discussing how to improve the offensive production of a baseball team, and he brought up the idea of batting the best eight or nine hitters on the team, and worry about their positions after. Never thought about this, but maybe this is what the Mets are trying to implement in a way. Murphy and Flores are solid hitters, but their defensive shortcomings make me worried. Murphy will be replaced after this season, and I still think there may be a trade for Tulowitzki at some point in the season.