Comments on: More Than Werth It

By: djw

djw — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:30:25 +0000

The value of “consistency” or any other particular spread of performance over others is widely believed in but not empirically demonstrable. I think a lot of people believe it must be valuable to smoothly spread out your performance because ‘consistency’ is a widely valued trait in our society, sometimes even for good reasons, so it just seems like it must be valuable for baseball players, too. But it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

By: Xavier

Xavier — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:39:34 +0000

I wasn’t upset (who gets upset over Fangraphs articles about teams they don’t follow closely?), but now I’m confused. Your reply is, to borrow a phrase, a tautological hellmaze.

Lumping in Utley with Howard/Rollins/Hamels/Ibanez does a disservice to Utley.

Werth is cheaper, but replaceable. Utley isn’t. Comparing Jayson Werth and Utley is like comparing Adam Lind and HanRam.

By: Justin

Justin — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:13:35 +0000

Did anyone noticed around 7 PM yesterday the main story was Jason Werth on espn.com.

Cameron your such a jinx

By: Jamie

Jamie — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:55:07 +0000

good example

the other day he’s up at the plate with the bases loaded. he fouls of several pitches, takes a couple of balls, and BOOM! he hits a grand slam.

By: GrandSlamSingle

GrandSlamSingle — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:28:09 +0000

Werth will be a free agent after 2010. While I would love for him to re-sign, I wouldn’t be surprised if he left.

By: Dark Donnie

Dark Donnie — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:57:08 +0000

I’d expect Victorino and Ibanez to be the odd men out in the future. They will surely keep Werth over these two. An outfield of Brown Werth and Taylor is pretty good….but that’s 2 years down the line.

By: Travis

Travis — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:03:47 +0000

Nowhere in that article did it say he was. “[B]ut Werth is just as important to the Phillies” implies that while the 5 people mentioned get a lot of press, Werth’s season is also an equally important tool to their success. It doesn’t take a genius to figure this out, stop looking for reasons to get upset, because you are finding things that aren’t there.

By: LeeTro

LeeTro — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:35:44 +0000

I wonder if the OF’s defensive statistical oddity is partially a result of all the LHP the Phillies have used. The MLB split for batters faced by RH vs. LH is around 72% R, 28% L. The Phillies have had 51% R, 49% L. In theory, it shouldn’t affect it, but it seems like it could be a probably cause. Somebody who knows more than me about UZR could say more.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:00:25 +0000

Most of the arguments weren’t that Werth wasn’t deserving, it was that Howard wasn’t deserving which caused Charlie to select Werth instead of Pablo because he “needed” another OF.

By: Caleb

Caleb — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:18:57 +0000

That’s understood, but I am speculating that perhaps a player who hits a HR 6 games in a row may help his team win more games than a guy who hits 6 HR over 3 games. Thoughts on such an extreme example?

I recognize it may not make a difference, since even streakiness is usually spread across a number of games in short succession, not concentrated within one single game.