Posts Tagged ‘FJM’

I’m TheRuckus. *shing…sparkle sparkle*

At least in the early going, you may not see as many posts from me as the other Horsemen of the Apocalypse, or Musketeers, or Amigos, or whatever the hell we’re going to end up calling ourselves. One reason is that I’m getting ready to move several hundred miles. The other is that I already maintain a delightful little non-baseball blog by the name of Bullsnark! If you like to see stupid people get ripped a new asshole, or you find yourself especially fond of my impeccable way with words, go ahead and check it out.

Among the stuff I’ve got planned is a comprehensive review of Ruben Amaro, Jr. ‘s tenure as general manager to this point. That’s probably going to end up a series, both because it figures to be long and detailed, and to make it look like I’m contributing more to LD than I actually am. Spoiler alert: I am a harsher critic than most regarding Amaro.

I’m not going to throw the dizzying array of statistical analysis at you that The A Team will – because he is way, way more of a nerd than I will ever be – but I am very much sabermetrically-inclined, and it’s rare that he and I aren’t on the same page. I just prefer to leaven the numbers a bit with acerbic wit. Think Fire Joe Morgan, with less talent. (Cut me some slack, those dudes are actually getting paid to write in Hollywood.) Don’t be surprised to see me emulate that basic style a few times, when one of our many God-awful beat writers lays a traditionalist turd in the sports pages. I’m placing the over/under on time into the season before Bill Conlin says something dumb at an inning and a third, and taking the under.

To me, using sabermetrics is less about crunching numbers or running computer simulations in my mother’s basement than simple common sense. Of course a hitter has no control over how many guys are on base when he comes to the plate. Of course you should use your best reliever when you’re clinging to a one-run lead and the bases are juiced, rather than with a three-run lead to start the ninth. Of course batting average is a terrible way to evaluate offensive production because it pretends a single is equal to a home run, and that walks don’t exist. So, while I’ll throw stuff like wOBA and FIP out there with regularity, I’m not going to be busting out leverage charts or regression lines.

I will, however, contribute to the hallowed LONG DRIVE tradition of remarkably shitty MS Paint work. And, in the end, is that not what man has dreamt of since first he looked up at the stars? (A million e-points to whoever gets that reference.)