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Thompson

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Yeah, you're right AntwanJ306, fielding % is stupid. Why even keep it. Same with batting average or hitting with runners in scoring position. Just stupid, meaningless stats. Your eye and obviously correct oppinions for what makes a player good or bad should be the new standard. Case closed. Glad we have you.
 
4merCane said:
Yeah, you're right AntwanJ306, fielding % is stupid. Why even keep it. Same with batting average or hitting with runners in scoring position. Just stupid, meaningless stats. Your eye and obviously correct oppinions for what makes a player good or bad should be the new standard. Case closed. Glad we have you.
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You want to be an ***? Now I have to embarrass you.

100 ground balls are hit toward third base.
John gets to all 100 balls, gets 90 outs and makes 10 errors. His fielding percentage is .900.
Frank gets to 70 balls, gets 65 outs, makes 5 errors. His fielding percentage is .929.

In your 1930's baseball world, Frank has a better fielding percentage, therefore he is a better fielder. What we realize, though, is that only 10 baserunners reached base while John was playing 3rd, and 35 baserunners reached base while Frank was playing 3rd. But you pointed to Frank's fielding percentage. And you would be wrong. In 2014 we realize that fielding percentage only accounts for the balls reached. It doesn't know that Frank wasn't good enough to even get to 30 of those balls. And so we ignore fielding percentage.

If you need any other lessons, feel free to ask. Since you brought it up, no one goes by batting average anymore either. Go on teh internets and use "Google" to look up sabermetrics.
 
At the end of the day, I'm not crazy about having Fieger in the lineup as bad as he's struggled at the plate, but I trust his glove at 1B more than Thompson's, especially down the postseason stretch here. I'd love to have Thompson in the lineup to replace Fieger, but I can't do that without pulling Fieger's glove at 1B and downgrading defensively to Thompson in favor of more offense. And then there's the wild card of just how healthy/game-ready is Thompson coming off of surgery...even if he has been released by the doctors?

That's why I said from the get-go that this is a tough question for Morris. But...that's why he's paid whatever he's paid to manage the ballclub. He's got to feel that out, weigh his options, and make the right decision.
 
you are right about his fielding, if he is on I would DH him, if not then ride the pine.
 
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BWCD said:
At the end of the day, I'm not crazy about having Fieger in the lineup as bad as he's struggled at the plate, but I trust his glove at 1B more than Thompson's, especially down the postseason stretch here. I'd love to have Thompson in the lineup to replace Fieger, but I can't do that without pulling Fieger's glove at 1B and downgrading defensively to Thompson in favor of more offense. And then there's the wild card of just how healthy/game-ready is Thompson coming off of surgery...even if he has been released by the doctors?

That's why I said from the get-go that this is a tough question for Morris. But...that's why he's paid whatever he's paid to manage the ballclub. He's got to feel that out, weigh his options, and make the right decision.
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Dude Fieger is terrible at first. It's not like he's John Olerud out there.
 
Sabermetrics is so out-of-date. Today everyone uses Antwanmetrics. It's a bit complicated, but basically Antwanmetrics is able to precisely measure which balls a fielder should have reached. Antwanmetrics calculates wind resistance, field conditions, global warming increases, the glare off the trainers bald head, and even a missing cleat off a fielder's left shoe to help determine if the fielder should have reached the ball and made a play. Research is also being done to determine the fielder's state of mind and whether or not he really wanted to make the play. Because of the tremendous variables and suppositions of Antwanmetrics, however, one or two old fashioned managers, scouts, statisticians, and analysts, still prefer to use ancient measurement such as fielding percentage and batting average.
 
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That's an interesting way of saying that you were pwned earlier in the thread. Glad you threw in the white towel.
 
CanEs4life04 said:
Dude Fieger is terrible at first. It's not like he's John Olerud out there.
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I'm not comparing Fieger and/or Thompson to John Olerud, last I checked. I'm comparing them to each other, and the way I see them. In the field at 1B, Fieger is better and proven while Thompson can be inconsistent. At the plate--Thompson ***** on Fieger all day every day IF Thompson's truly healthy.

Looks like Morris is rolling the dice on sitting Fieger, and sacrificing his glove for Thompson's bat. I don't have a problem with it. I really don't care if Thompson goes 0-4 or 1-4 in either game today, he just needs to be solid at 1B and help our fielders out. No dropping throws that you should catch. Dig out a few when you get the chance as well. Just BE SOLID.
 
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BWCD said:
CanEs4life04 said:
Dude Fieger is terrible at first. It's not like he's John Olerud out there.
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I'm not comparing Fieger and/or Thompson to John Olerud, last I checked. I'm comparing them to each other, and the way I see them. In the field at 1B, Fieger is better and proven while Thompson can be inconsistent. At the plate--Thompson ***** on Fieger all day every day IF Thompson's truly healthy.

Looks like Morris is rolling the dice on sitting Fieger, and sacrificing his glove for Thompson's bat. I don't have a problem with it. I really don't care if Thompson goes 0-4 or 1-4 in either game today, he just needs to be solid at 1B and help our fielders out. No dropping throws that you should catch. Dig out a few when you get the chance as well. Just BE SOLID.
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I understand what you're saying but I disagree that Fieger is proven in the field. They are both pretty bad out there, the difference being Thompson can be a game changer with his bat.
 
CanEs4life04 said:
I understand what you're saying but I disagree that Fieger is proven in the field. They are both pretty bad out there, the difference being Thompson can be a game changer with his bat.
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Understood. We just see it differently. Fieger has just struggled down towards the end this season. The reason why I say he's proven is because he's picked up his performance with his glove and bat both at the end of about every season he's played at Miami. I'm going off of his career history, not this year's performance up to this point. That's what I meant about "proven".

It's like there are certain players in the majors that always great players in April/May, but you don't want them on your team in October...and vice versa. Some dudes normally light up for the postseason...and Fieger's been one of those guys. Will he do it again? I don't know, and I kind of doubt it...but he has a history of it.

I'll never argue that Thompson's not as good of a player as Fieger or anything like that...just looking at the historical trends.
 
The problem with sabermetrics, according to many baseball analysts, is that while they attempt to dig deeper than traditional stats, they often simply trade one flawed stat for another.

An example of this is BABIP (Batting Average for Balls In Play). What this statistic measures is what a hitters batting average is for everything that was not a home run, a strike out or a foul out. It essentially attempts to measure how lucky a hitter gets. Statistics would say that regardless of how good or bad a player is, 30% of all balls put into play should fall for a base hit.

So when a player has a .212 BABIP, as Chris Iannetta had in 2010, it is easy for fans to suggest that he simply was a victim of bad luck.

On the other hand, Jonathan Herrera, a guy firmly in the mix for the second base job, logged a .330 BABIP in 2010. According to sabermetrics, Herrera was lucky, and Iannetta was extremely unlucky.

The problem with this stat? It assumes that all balls put into play are equal. It doesn't take into account the pitches that a player chooses to swing at, or any flaws in his swing. For instance, Iannetta, who struggles with a loopy swing, found himself consistently popping up. Instead of squaring balls up, he was constantly working underneath pitches, lifting them high in the air, which were then easy for the defense to catch.

Herrera, on the other hand, is a hitter who has a plan at the plate. When he doesn't get the pitch that he wants, he simply fouls off the pitch and waits until he gets the one that he likes.

While Herrera is by no means the definition of a great Major League hitter, his .330 BABIP should not simply be excused as luck. Same goes for Iannetta, as his low BABIP was not simply line drives finding gloves, it was pop flies waiting for a defender to camp underneath the ball.
 
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Why everybody so sensitive all the time?

Antwanmetrics....LOL

Thompson and Fieger are both awful in the field, no way around that. If I had to pick somebody defensively, I think I'd pick Thompson. Regardless of who you think is better/worse, everyone can agree they are both HUGE liabilities and probably will cost us some runs at some point. I remember Fieger during the UF series...he was THAT bad in at first.

I think Canes4Life nailed it on the head, the only difference between them is Thompson is a game changer with his bat.

Regardless, Thompson is one of our best hitters and he must be in the lineup.
 
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