Wow. Just, wow. This article is 100% worthy of being wholly and completely dissected by one of us here at FireJay. But it's time for Reader Extra Participation Friday, and I need to go to bed soon, so I'm going to bring it up in an abbreviated format right now. If I can find a little time this weekend in between all the basement dwelling and sun avoiding I've already got on my schedule, I'll break down the whole thing.
You may have heard recently that a bunch of ultra-nerdy Penn researchers (who are probably even more terrified of fresh air and weather than I am) concluded Derek Jeter was the worst fielding shortstop in the bigs last year. Kevin Kernan of the New York Post investigated the reactions of a guy in the Yankee front office and Jeter himself to this news. As I've said, the whole article is hilarious. But my favorite part is one particular excuse both gentlemen make in order to deflect attention away from Mr. Steely Eyes. I'll grant that fielding statistics and metrics are a somewhat inexact science... but really? This is your rebuttal?
Jeter just didn't laugh this one off. He defended himself, saying, "Every (shortstop) doesn't stay in the same spot, everyone doesn't have the same pitching."
and
"Something like that is a disgrace," the scout [Gene Michael] said. "It made me ill when I read that article. First of all, what pitching staff was out there? Each team has a different staff. Derek doesn't really have a sinkerball pitching staff whereas other shortstops, you sit behind certain pitchers, you're going to get a lot of ground balls."
Words cannot explain how ridiculous that line of logic is. I'm literally at a loss. So let's just move on to the Reader Extra Participation Friday topic it has inspired: make an equally outrageous excuse as to why we can't determine who/what is the best or worst at something in the world.
Fastest skater in the NHL: Ice isn't exact same temperature at every arena
Most patient hitter in MLB: Sometimes umpires accidentally forget count, allow pitcher to throw five balls before awarding walk
Best pole vaulter in the world: Not all competitors wearing equally short shorts
World's richest man: Fails to consider that certain people are rich in spirit
World's tallest mountain: Really cold at the top of all of them so who cares
Top selling album of all time: Oh come on, Thriller was way better than anything the Eagles ever did
Seriously... it's the pitching staff's fault?
Mark Price has the best career free throw percentage in NBA history, edging out Rick Barry.
ReplyDeleteBut Barry could argue that Price had the luxury of playing his prime years against a more diluted league because of the late 1980's expansion.
Side note: Price shot 305 FT's in the '93 season and missed 16 of them. No one else in the top 10 season leaders shot nearly as many.
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The crazy thing is that many of the reader comments on that link you provided were reacting as if the Penn study said that Jeter was the worst overall SS, not just fielding. Also, I would love to see an analysis of how Jeter is a clutch fielder.
This is from Keith Law's chat yesterday (Jeff in Syracuse is NOT me):
Jeff (Syracuse): Say what you want about Jeter, but my eyes tell me theres not many better at charging the slow roller, making the play in the hole, and of course ranging into LF/CF for pop ups. He may not be the most complete defender but he still makes great plays and all the plays he needs to.
Keith Law: (2:07 PM ET ) Except for all the plays he needs to make up the middle. He doesn't make those. But yeah, except for those, he's freaking awesome.
Someone should tell Gene Michael about this guy they have named Chien Ming Wang. Heard he sometimes toys with a sinker.
ReplyDeleteUm, yeah, that's a good fucking point Andrew. Wang was 6th and Pettitte was 14th in all of baseball in ground balls induced last year. I'm sure there are more detailed ways to look at this, but I couldn't find GB's by team. Two guys in the top 14th though would seem to debunk their theory.
ReplyDeleteNot that any of this is relevant, but it's good to know that Michael and Jeter are wrong even using their own logic.
Yankee fans did not exactly distinguish themselves with their reaction to that article. I'm a Yankee fan too, and Jeter is my favorite player. It just so happens that he's also a pretty lousy fielder, which I have no problem recognizing. If you watch enough games, you'll be amazed at the simple plays that he just can't make. But he will also make a really great play maybe once a week, and those are the ones that the fans choose to remember. Not the slowly hit 15-hopper up the middle that Jeter still couldn't get to.
ReplyDeleteJeter gets his reputation from two things- memorable plays he has made (the backhand flip in the playoffs against the A's, the face-first dive into the stands to grab a foul pop), and that play that he makes pretty often, where he grabs a grounder as he's moving towards left field, then turns, jumps, and throws to first.
ReplyDeleteI will give him credit for the first part, but the "great" plays he makes to his right look "great" because of his limited range. Most SS will reach those grounders without trouble and turn them into routine plays.
Peyton Manning would have won the QB rating title, but his offensive line was .05 of an inch taller on average to Tom Brady's offensive line.
ReplyDeleteLen Mattiace would have won the 2003 Masters over Mike Weir, except he was used to the holes on the golf course being bigger than the ones at Augusta.
Well, basically no submissions for this week's contest, but some good dialog nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteJeff- Keith Law is kind of a dick. I'm not the biggest fan of him. I can't tell if his answer there is sarcastic or not- it had damn well better be.
I hate to be "that guy", but the study used years 2002-2005, I think.
ReplyDeleteLarry - yeah he's being sarcastic.
ReplyDelete