FAQ Answers Round 6: SABR and Sabermetric Tools

[Unassisted]

Just in time for the holiday weekend, questions in need of answers from the sharp sabermetric minds of RedsZone.

We're answering one set of questions at a time. The 6th round of answers will be on the "SABR and Sabrmetric Tools" category. Post your answers to any or all sections of the question in this thread. I will compile and incorporate them into this first post.

Feel free to post links to threads if you think they contain particularly good answers or might be difficult to identify as such.

There must be other good questions to be found in this category, so feel free to submit those, too.

So far I'm mining the following threads:
(none yet)

As far as the form of your answer, you can either go with a "just the facts" format or make a post with full sentences as if someone had asked the question. If you want to disagree with an earlier answer for some reason, that's fine, too.

Rough Draft of Round 6 Answers:

Category: SABR Organization

Q: What is the SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) Organization?
A: The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) was established in Cooperstown, New York in August, 1971.

Q: What is the mission of the SABR Organization?
A: SABR's mission is to foster the study of baseball, its history, its present, and its future.The purpose of SABR is to foster the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball.

SABR shall carry out that mission through programs:

• #To encourage the study of baseball, past and present, as a significant athletic and social institution;
  #To encourage further research and literary efforts to establish the accurate historical record of baseball; and
  #To help disseminate educational, historical and research information about baseball.

Find out more at the society's web site at http://www.sabr.org/.

Category: Sabermetric Tools
Q: What is sabermetrics?
A:Sabrmetrics" is an objective analytical study of baseball performance.

Q: What's the difference between "SABR" and "sabrmetrics"?

A: SABR is an acronym for an organization, the Society for American Baseball Research. "Sabrmetrics" is an objective analytical study of baseball performance. Some sabrmetricians may be SABR members, but not all SABR members are sabrmetricians.

Q: Is there a glossary of terms?
A:

Q: What is OPS?
A:

Q: What is DIPS?
A:

Q: What are the shortcomings of the "batting average" statistic?
A: (This question was moved to the category "Other," by popular demand.)

More questions are welcome. Surely, this doesn't span the breadth of knowledge a newbie might need to begin to grasp this topic.

edit at end of round 6: I don't think the "Sabermetric Tools" category is complete enough to preserve for posterity yet. Let's re-visit it in the offseason.