I remain one of the dwindling numbers of baseball fans who refuse to believe that D.J. Lemahieu turned into Rogers Hornsby one winter night during this past off-season. There will be a regression to the mean.  Water seeks its own level.  Small sample size, blah, blah, blah… You’ve heard them all.  If you’ve been within … Continue reading DJ, I have some questions…

Out of left field is a semi-regular post for when there isn’t anything that requires 1,000 words of analyzation, but there are some informal, random observations I want to throw out there.  In no particular order: The Yankees can play defense. I’ve seen more non-Yankee baseball this season than in any season in recent memory, … Continue reading Out of left field:

Trent Thornton, today’s starting pitcher for Toronto, doesn’t present anything unusual for Major League batters or fans to look for or deal with.  He has a pretty good strikeout rate, but also a pretty high walk rate and a pretty high rate for home runs.  That doesn’t require any deep mathematical research and analysis to … Continue reading Trent Thornton and some fun

My Baseball Page’s 2019 All-Star Ballot: A little sooner than usual.  The relatively early game date combined with this silly early deadline for voting nonsense has forced my hand.  Again, as a general rule, I look at WAR  first, adjusted OPS second, then everything else.  When a decision is a toss-up, I go with who … Continue reading 2019 All-Star Ballot

Subtitle:  And what the Yankee lineup should be ongoing… Like what I did there?  Regression to the mean, “mean” as in not nice, regression…?  Never mind. So we always hear that there will be a regression to the mean when players greatly exceed their levels of past production.  And like most overused phrases, there is … Continue reading That’s A Mean Regression

Man, baseball broadcasters do love their silly stats. If you’ve followed me for any reasonable amount of time, you’ve heard all about my dislike for OPS.  OPS is the stat that the uninformed use to make themselves sound informed.  (Adjusted OPS, however - “OPS+” - is a great indicator of a player’s offensive performance, but … Continue reading Dumb statistic, #24:

Out of left field is an occasional post where there are some thoughts that don’t require 1,000 of analysis but must be shared. Yes, “must”.  In no particular order... Mookie Betts has been leading off for the Red Sox lately.  This is an incredibly bad move from a manager who’s had a pretty good year … Continue reading Out of left field, NYY/BOS edition

A few months ago, before we knew that Gary Sanchez would bounce back and after we learned that Salvador Perez would miss the season, the prospects for the roster of the 2019 American League All-Star team at catcher looked pretty thin.  Well, figuratively speaking of course, as many of them are literally quite portly.  Not … Continue reading More Yankees/Sox FYI:

In comes the ‘Sawx at 29-27 and in 3rd place in the American League East.  Although to be fair, their runs scored versus runs allowed suggests their record should be a little better than that.  Of course, we all know that the .518 winning percentage isn’t anywhere near the .678 winning percentage they posted last … Continue reading ‘Sawx FYI

Did you see the Yankee game yesterday?  Not sure what you were watching, but here’s what I saw: A great example of small ball done right, and more bullpen mismanagement from Aaron Boone. Let’s start with small ball! Top of the 7th, Yankees leading 3-1, Oriole’s pitcher Paul Fry issues a one-out walk to Thairo … Continue reading Small ball, well done!