baseball
Sabermetric analysis of all things baseball - on-and-off the field. Barry Bonds fan club.
Gerrit Cole Trade Makes the Astros Rotation One of the Best in Baseball . Top Story - January 2018.
The Houston Astros added another piece to their organization that will certainly help them as they look to repeat as World Series champions in 2018, and that piece is Gerrit Cole. The 'Stros sent three prospects and Joe Musgrove to the Pirates in exchange for Cole. The 27-year-old spent all five major league seasons with Pittsburgh after they selected him first overall in the 2010 draft out of UCLA.
By Quinn Allen9 years ago in Unbalanced
Ichiro Shot the Moon
Ichiro is one of the most bizarre players of the past 20 seasons. While many hitters have come over from Japan to the MLB, Ichiro has stuck in North America like no one else. The NPB is famous for its ground-ball-heavy approach—per Deltagraphs, the NPB ran a GB% of 48 percent compared to 44 percent for the MLB last season—but that approach usually doesn't work that well across the pond. That wasn't the case for Ichiro. He made it work, and he made it work all the way to capturing the single-season hit record. And he did it in a really, really weird way.
By John Edwards9 years ago in Unbalanced
An Exercise in Generating Similarity Scores
In the process of writing an article, one of the more frustrating things to do is generate comparisons to a given player. Whether I am trying to figure out who most closely aligns with Rougned Odor or Miguel Sano, it is a time-consuming and inexact process to find good comparisons. So, I tried to simplify the process and make it more exact—using similarity scores.
By John Edwards9 years ago in Unbalanced
Ronald Acuna: The Future of the Atlanta Braves
Ronald Acuna came into the start of the 2017 season with one question to answer: Can he stay healthy and perform at a high level for a full season? That question was soon answered. Acuna had an outstanding 2017, which was his first full pro season since making his pro debut in 2015. The Venezuelan hit .325 with 21 homers, including stops in High A, Double-A, and ending in Triple-A with the Gwinnett Braves, where he tore up AAA pitching, hitting an astounding .344 in 55 games in the International League.
By Quinn Allen9 years ago in Unbalanced
St. Louis Cardinals: Offseason 2017 Preview
After two seasons of missing the playoffs, Cardinals fans are becoming increasingly frustrated. Every fan wants their team to succeed, but are we spoiled? Over the past decade, St. Louis has been in the playoffs practically every year, won a World Series, but it still doesn't seem good enough.
By Aaron Mullins9 years ago in Unbalanced
Remembering Roy Halliday
When the news broke of Roy Halliday's death in the late afternoon of November 7, I was in shock. “No way,” I thought to myself. “It can’t be him. He is young and just retired from baseball.” But, as the news continued for the day, and his passing was confirmed, a wave of grief and loss hit me hard.
By James Roller9 years ago in Unbalanced
How Do You Hit 30 HR While Being the Worst Hitter in Baseball?
On the surface, Rougned Odor had a pretty decent 2017. He got paid $1.3 million, was healthy the whole season, and on top of it all, he hit 30+ home runs for the second straight season. That is about as far as good things go; Odor posted the single worst wRC+ and OBP of 2017 among qualifiers, and barely hit above the Mendoza line. Yes, someone who hit 30 home runs was worse at the plate than Alciedes "What's an extra-base hit?" Escobar.
By John Edwards9 years ago in Unbalanced
Qualifying Offer Part Two: Pitchers
The World Series may have been an incredible finish to the 2017 season, but baseball is a 365-day business. All thirty teams had until the afternoon of November 6 to issue a qualifying offer to any of their pending free agents. The qualifying offer is a one-year deal with a value equal to the average of MLB’s top 125 salaries in the most current season. This year, the value is $17.4 million.
By Matt Mocarsky9 years ago in Unbalanced
J.D. Martinez Would be a Perfect Fit for the Red Sox This Offseason
When the Arizona Diamondbacks acquired J.D. Martinez at the trade deadline, I wrote a short article about how Martinez would thrive playing in the hot, dry weather in Arizona. Coming from Detroit, where he hit 38 home runs in 2015, to a climate where the ball flies. Well, that is exactly what happened: Martinez came to Arizona with 16 homers, and within 62 games with the Diamondbacks, he hit an astounding 29 homers. He was a big reason Arizona even made the postseason in 2017, finishing the season with a .303 average and 45 bombs.
By Quinn Allen9 years ago in Unbalanced
Qualifying Offer Part One: First Base
The World Series may have been an incredible finish to the 2017 season, but baseball is a year round business. All 30 teams had until the afternoon of November 6 to issue a Qualifying Offer to any of their pending free agents. The Qualifying Offer is a one year deal with a value equal to the average of MLB’s top 125 salaries in the most current season. This year, the value is $17.4 million.
By Matt Mocarsky9 years ago in Unbalanced
Has the Qualifying Offer Been Worth It?
The off-season is officially upon us, and the ups and downs of the playoffs have been replaced with hushed whispers of trade rumors and the frantic refreshing of Ken Rosenthal's Twitter feed. Free agents officially filed this Monday, and nine players were tagged with qualifying offers — one-year contracts for a league-set salary from a player's former team that, if declined, entitle the former team to a draft pick between the first and second round of the 2018 MLB Amateur draft. Of all of the players who have received qualifying offers, only five have ever accepted them for various reasons. How has each player who took the QO fared after taking the offer?
By John Edwards9 years ago in Unbalanced
