Comments on: Low-Hanging Fruit: Ryan Church

By: Devon

Devon — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:01:17 +0000

Well fine, you are obviously smarter than I am. Tell me this though, why do they still continue to make stupid, stupid decisions like Garrett Anderson? I don’t think there is a sabermetrician alive who would have signed off on that disaster. So either their office isn’t actually listening to their sabermetrics folk or it’s getting lost in the churn. I’ve seen no evidence from the bulk of their moves that they are on the right side of decisions based on those advanced metrics, whether they are using them or not.

By: mqt

mqt — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:13:50 +0000

Heh, the Braves just got a good middle reliever and don’t have to pay any of Soriano’s contract, and you’re condemning them over Ryan Church?

By: Brian Cartwright

Brian Cartwright — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:12:12 +0000

I’d be happy for the Pirtaes to play Church ahead of Moss or especially Milledge.

By: Franco

Franco — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:35:33 +0000

As a Mets fan, he’s a good platoon type. He mashes righties and plays good to great corner outfield defense.

I’d say his OPS dropoff had more to do with playing at Shea/Citi and playing hurt. The second half of 08 he looked like a pitcher the way he swung with his post concussion syndrome.

By: Kampfer

Kampfer — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:32:44 +0000

I agree that health is a skill, but it is not just a skill of a player, but also of an organization. Mets is at the very worst in this department, and I believe Church is not the one to blame for his injury woes. I always think of Beltran a great player with good health skill and great skillset that can age slower than anyone, but yet he goes into the DL and doesn’t look too good under the Mets’ watch. I expect Church to be a 1~1.5 win player, and serously this is great value.

By: R M

R M — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:49:41 +0000

Great title.

By: Hess

Hess — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:32:51 +0000

There was no chance of the braves even keeping church. Why does it matter when he’s dropped?

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:56:47 +0000

There is no reason to expect Church to return to his pre-injury form, or to expect him to suddenly stop becoming injury prone. Health is a skill.

Those are important considerations to make before lambasting a roster decision.

By: PWH

PWH — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:55:38 +0000

Devon:

It would be irony if there were any proof that the Braves front office had any sort of clue about more advanced metrics. They are surviving on the strength of their drafting. You look at some of the ridiculous moves they make and the moves they’ll continue to make and you just have to shake your head. If they got a GM who was willing to meld their scouting brilliance with modern metrics they would be a force again.

This is simply wrong. The Braves:

a) Employ multiple people for the singular purpose of research and statistical analysis.

b) Use advanced statistical analysis in making all of their transaction decisions.

c) Have their own set of metrics that they’ve created.

d) Employ John Coppolella as their Director of Baseball Administration (essentially the dream job for anyone who frequents this site), who is as good of a saberist as anyone. His input is considered in every decision.

It’s easy to say, “oh, stupid Braves, they should be more like me and read Fangraphs”, but it’s also lazy and wrong. You’re not smarter than the Braves and you don’t know more about sabermetrics than the Braves.

As an aside, I thought the Church situation was handled badly as well. But the Braves probably know something we don’t.

By: Quinn

Quinn — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:46:03 +0000

People need to stop bad mouthing a guy that suffered injuries for playing the game the way it was meant to be played. ( No one is more guilty of this then the Mets, so im not just some met fan giving a bs opinion about a player.-i know the mets made terrible mistakes with church among many other players)