Comments on: I’m Not a Player, I Just Crush a Lot: A Taxonomy of Statnerd Heroes

By: Lovie Zimmer

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By: May Brazeal

May Brazeal — Fri, 21 May 2010 10:24:18 +0000

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By: Roland

Roland — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 10:58:56 +0000

Genealogy: A hay stack full of needles. It’s the threads I need.

By: StevieStats

StevieStats — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:01:30 +0000

So many of my friends focused on all the things Bellhorn DIDN’T do well, that they couldn’t see all the things he did well. I even named my fantasy team Mark of the Hellborn in 2005. Love that guy, and his AF hair.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 18:49:08 +0000

I think any Sox fan worth his salt loved Dinghonk.

By: B

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:14:52 +0000

There was definitely a period in time Klesko was very highly regarded in baseball. When he was in his mid-20′s on the Braves, he was definitely considered among baseball’s best young players.

By: B

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:10:16 +0000

Not only does he hack at first pitch sliders in the dirt, he might very well hit them out of the park.

By: Matt Sisson

Matt Sisson — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:59:01 +0000

Swing and a pop-up….

By: sheahilly

sheahilly — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 01:06:56 +0000

Bellhorn’s success in the 2004 postseason was in some sense a representation of the triumphant of ‘new’ stats over ‘traditional’ stats in the mainstream. A majority of Red Sox fans wanted Bellhorn benched in the playoffs for Pokey Reese, only to later witness Bellhorn hit a homer in 3 straight games. Of course, they later boo’d him out of town, but don’t let that dim my glowing recollection of GODHORN.

By: Eric M. Van

Eric M. Van — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:26:37 +0000

My favorite Bellhorn stat: in 2004 he struck out in 29.7% of his PA — except with a runner on 3B and less than 2 out, where he fanned 10.5% (the first one coming, IIRC, in late June or early July) while hitting .345 / .421 / .793.

Which leads naturally to the crucial question is: if you take WPA (the ultimate measure of actual value, even if it’s less predictive that many other metrics) and adjust for PT and defensive position, and then add defensive value according to UZR and Plus / Minus, who was the MVP of the 2004 World Champion Boston Red Sox?

Actually, the answer is Curt Schilling. But how about among position players?

I’ve asked this question of many intelligent Sox fans, and even after telling them they won’t get it with five guesses, they still don’t get it.

Not Ortiz, not Manny, not Damon, not Varitek, not Mueller … aha! they chorus. “Kevin Millar? You’re kidding.”

And of course it’s not Millar, either. Astute readers will of course have guessed the actual answer, as they already know the answer to the question “which Boston Red Sox had a higher OBP and SA in the WS than the alleged MVP Manny Ramirez while playing at the other end of the defensive spectrum, and furthermore had the crucial hit in the first and only contested game, and was therefore one of the easiest MVP choices in WS history?”

That Mark Bellhorn could be the actual, true regular-season positional player AND World Series MVPs and get booed out of town the next year … only in Boston.

(Todd, if you see this and pass it on to Mark, you might note that the author of this opinion is not just some Internet crackpot but one of Theo’s former baseball ops consultants.)