This thread is getting the official Rabbit Hole Trophy.
This thread is getting the official Rabbit Hole Trophy.
i am nearly convinced this has been either steel or raisor messing with our heads.
Dubito Ergo Cogito Ergo Sum.
If nothing else I'm glad I waded through this whole thread for that stat, since I didn't know if or where "Productive Outs" we tracked by anyone. I would've guessed the gap between the two would've been greater, that does a lot to remove the advantage a runner-moving GO would have over a K.Originally Posted by SteelSD
Sadly, I can all but assure you that this is not the case. BF, DH, PRose14...whatever name you choose...has been carrying on this argument for more than one baseball season.Originally Posted by TRF
He was flying high off of Dunn's 2003.
He wrote off Dunn's early 2004 season success with predictions of complete second half collapse.
He finally relented that Dunn's 2004 was an abberation, and as good as it will ever get.
His best prediction was that Dunn will get bored playing baseball and retire before his 30th birthday. He also mentioned non-tendering the Donkey after this year.
Just some of the gems from the "Adam Dunn Strikeout Thread" on the mlb.boards.
TRF, I have no problem with OBP or SLG. I like them both. My "problem" is if when they come together and make OPS - the OPS stat is then treated as the end all be all stat. I prefer my apples (OBP) and oranges (SLG) separately.Originally Posted by TRF
I want to give more weight to SLG for an "rbi type" guy and more weight to OBP for the non "rbi types" who I will count on for bat control, speed etc. and hopefully to score my runs.
I like Juan Pierre but I'd like him even more if he'd take a few more walks. He'll make you pay on the bases. I don't care that his SLG is not that high.
I also don't get too excited about a guy batting 5,6 or 7 who is overly content with taking BBs. I don't want the onus shifted to 7,8,9 hitters who ARE more likely to make outs and kill rallies.
- - - - - - - - -
I think my K vs. other out position is already clear and reasonable. For now, I much prefer my conceptual/logic-based argument which concludes Ks are worse to the "real world" stat-based arguments I have seen which conclude they are just outs. Those arguments/studies have far too many fluctuating variables to expect any clear correlations.
So you're saying that because the graph notes no correlation between Strikeouts and Runs scored, it's because other variables actually drive Run Scoring from an offensive perspective?As for the K vs. other outs, I'm sticking to my position for now. I will be checking out that study in greater detail but my first impression is the plot graph thing is a "bad study" - far too many variables.
Well, darn. You're right. Strikeouts don't drive offensive Run Scoring. Non-Out events do.
What that author is telling you is that from an offensive perspective, K's do not matter. From a pitching perspective K's do matter because high K-rate pitchers tend to allow fewer non-Out events and thus are impacted less by them.
That's not at all counter-intuitive. Make few Outs and acquire many Bases and you're a good hitter regardless of how many times you Strike Out. Aquire many Outs and allow few Bases and you're a good pitcher regardless of how many Hitters you Strike Out.
It just so happens that Strikeouts are NOT indicative of negative Hitter performance. We can see that in the real-world examples of high-K hitters and teams who do a very good job of avoiding Outs and acquiring Bases.
If your contention was correct (ie. that Strikeouts are a negative offensive performance driver) we'd see very convincing evidence in that graph (ie. the RS plotting would very closely follow the line that charts K rate). But we don't. In fact, some of the top offensive MLB seasons are those in which the highest K rates occur.
But Strikeouts ARE indicative of positive Pitcher performance- but not because of the effect of Strikeouts on performance, but because high K pitchers tend to do a better job of acquiring Outs and preventing Bases.
That's not at all counter-intuitive, nor does Wilkins' study contradict itself in any way, shape or form. In fact, Wilkins' has used proper scientific method, has included over 50 years of real life performance data. He hasn't made up any wild scenarios or attempted to position a conclusion as his hypothesis.
But because his finding's don't match your belief system, it's a "bad study".
"The problem with strikeouts isn't that they hurt your team, it's that they hurt your feelings..." --Rob Neyer
"The single most important thing for a hitter is to get a good pitch to hit. A good hitter can hit a pitch that’s over the plate three times better than a great hitter with a ball in a tough spot.”
--Ted Williams
That about sums it all up...Originally Posted by SteelSD
You should care. Because if Juan Pierre's SLG was better, he wouldn't need to risk Outs to advance himself into scoring position and he'd be far more valuable to his team.I like Juan Pierre but I'd like him even more if he'd take a few more walks. He'll make you pay on the bases. I don't care that his SLG is not that high.
The best leadoff hitter of our era was Rickey Henderson. But not because of BA . And not because of Strikeouts. But because Rickey Henderson combined his "apples to oranges" better than just about anyone AND threw in a whole ton of cherries (see: speed) to complete the package.
The point of baseball from an offensive perspective is not "Few Outs or Many Bases". It is "Few Outs and Many Bases".
They are the two great tastes that go great together.
"The problem with strikeouts isn't that they hurt your team, it's that they hurt your feelings..." --Rob Neyer
"The single most important thing for a hitter is to get a good pitch to hit. A good hitter can hit a pitch that’s over the plate three times better than a great hitter with a ball in a tough spot.”
--Ted Williams
nj, don't come in here and start taking cheap shots and drag down what has been "civil" debate.... :allovrjr: :thumbdownOriginally Posted by NJReds
You get "lifeless blob" results in a study for at least two reasons:
1) there truly is no correlation or
2) as in this case, there may or may not be a stronger correlation but the study itself has too many fluctuating variables to produce more telling results.
The study I suggested which would have number of hits, BBs and as many other variables as possible all equal (re: scientific method "all other things held equal") would be a far better study for measuring impact of strikeouts on runs scored.
BF, you have had six pages of posts showing you are wrong.
and you haven't budged an inch.
I admire the tenacity, however wrong your conclusions, and they are wrong.
Simply put, you started with a conclusion not a hypothesis.
You put out hypothetical situations, that can never happen to support your conclusion. This is now the second time i have stated this.
You have yet to refute a single point any of us have made, and you have contradicted yourself on numerous occasions.
The worst part is, I don't think you really learned anything over the last two days.
Now for my last question, who had the better year?
According to everything you have posted, you would select the first player. High BA, Low strikeouts.Code:G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG TB SH SF IBB HBP GD 162 678 100 221 22 12 3 49 45 24 45 35 .326 .374 .407 276 15 2 1 8 9 161 568 105 151 34 0 46 102 6 1 108 195 .266 .388 .569 323 0 0 11 5 8
And you would be wrong.
Dubito Ergo Cogito Ergo Sum.
No cheap shots BF, DH, PRose14...just the truth.Originally Posted by BadFundamentals
You and I have been through all this stuff before, you're right, I shouldn't say anything here, I've had my piece.
I'll keep the rest of my comments to your new thread on MLB. oke:
Originally Posted by BadFundamentals2004 MLB OBP = .330Code:out 1 67.00 100 out 2 45.00 100 out 3 100.00 100 212.00 300 70.7%
1st out occurs 67% of the time with no chance to move runner.
2nd out therefore occurs 45% of the time with noone even on base.
3rd out fails to advance a runner 100% of the time.
Therefore at the absolute minimum, 71% of the time a player has no opportunity to advance a runner with an out. Given that walks and singles are much more likely than 2bs or 3bs, the opportunity to advance a runner happens in a very small percentage of ABs. Double plays happen often enough to effectively cancel out those relatively few times a runner is moved up.
On top of that, moving runners up doesn't actually mean they have scored. Given the few times that moving a runner up INCREASES actual scoring, in the macro view of things a K = any other out.
GL
Originally Posted by TRF
I'll expect my check in the mail anyday now.
:mhcky21:
I follow your argument (at least initially):
Your arguing to start an inning that 67% of the time you'll have one out right out of the box. Leaves you only one more out before there is no such thing as a "productive out". True.
Of course the flip of that is 33% of the time or (9 innings X 162 games X .333) = 481 (call it ~450 factoring out a number for leadoff homers) or 450 times during the course of the year a leadoff batter gets on base to start inning. And since (use the Reds for simplicity) the Reds were only victims of ~125 double plays last year, once that leadoff batter is on your likely to follow that up with many more productive out opportunities.
Additionally, (of course overlap here with above but another way of looking at it) 313 of the Reds 1375 hits last year (23%) were either doubles or triples. By definition, if not with 2 outs, and two thirds of them wouldn't be, that's 200+ productive out opportunities created.
Your "Double plays happen often enough to effectively cancel out those relatively few times a runner is moved up. " I see as opinion - fair enough (But the Reds averaged far less than one DP a game last year)
Also, I differ with your "Given the few times that moving a runner up INCREASES actual scoring" comment. Maybe the Reds (who by my research set the #2 and #3 team strikeout marks in baseball history in 2003 and 2004) don't fancy and benefit much from moving runners up but other teams do and I can only hope that one day the Reds will too.
Originally Posted by gonelong
Swapping an out for a base may increase the potential for A Run to be scored but, over time, decreases the potential to score multiple Runs in an Inning. Very simply, trading Outs for Bases is a net Run Value loss proposition.Also, I differ with your "Given the few times that moving a runner up INCREASES actual scoring" comment.
Non-choice Productive Outs (meaning we're excluding bunts) occurred at a rate of only 2.1% of all Plate Appearances in 2004. Knowing that Base Hits PLUS Sac Flies were the result of only 24.3% of all PA in 2004, we can use that information to understand that a random ball hit into play Productive Out to move a Runner is truly beneficial AT MOST in 0.05% (yeah, half of one percent) of all MLB Plate Appearances. We also know that Productive Out behavior decreases the overall number of Runs scored by an Offense over time.
Now again, that's AT MOST 0.05% of all PA. Considering that not all Base Hits score runners advanced by a "Productive Out", you've got yourself a big bunch of nothing.
And knowing THAT, it's not at all surprising that three sabrmetric-driven teams (Toronto, Boston, Oakland) finished with three of the lowest four slots in all of MLB in "Productive Outs". They've figured it out.
The other team that finished in the bottom 4? The Cincinnati Reds, who finished 20th in MLB in Runs Scored even though they had fewer Base Hits than all but three MLB teams and led all of MLB in Strikeouts.
Seriously, if Strikeouts and swapping Outs for Runners were primary offensive drivers then why did the Reds finish 9-10 spots higher in the MLB Runs Scored standings than you'd think they would?
Because neither K's nor Productive Outs have pretty much nothing to do with Run Scoring over time.
"The problem with strikeouts isn't that they hurt your team, it's that they hurt your feelings..." --Rob Neyer
"The single most important thing for a hitter is to get a good pitch to hit. A good hitter can hit a pitch that’s over the plate three times better than a great hitter with a ball in a tough spot.”
--Ted Williams
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