Comments on: Tim Hudson Opting Out?

By: rolo

rolo — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:41:32 +0000

I can only think of one reason to quote WHIP and that is when you are explaining baseball to someone that doesn’t want to learn the more complicated statistics. For example, you could explain to one of your senior management baseball advertysing types (is this even a type?) how a pitcher could be lucky. Pitcher 1 has a low ERA but a very high WHIP. Pitcher 2 could have equally low ERA but a low WHIP.

Senior manager business type: “FPIT QUAR WAR ERA+ what are you talking about????…Oh, WHIP, yes I play fantasy baseball, I see what you mean, too many baserunners but got lucky and didn’t give up more earned runs…Why do you stat heads bother with all those other synonyms when you can just use WHIP???”

Stathead “A sir, they are actually acronyms”

Senior manager business type: “What did you call me?”

By: Neil

Neil — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:40:36 +0000

Hudson would make sense for the Nationals if he does opt out. They have cash to spend and a stated intention to add to their rotation. Rizzo has shown a preference for sinker/groundball ptuchers.

By: joser

joser — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:06:13 +0000

There is one, and only one, reason to pay attention to WHIP: you’re playing fantasy in a league that uses it as a stat. In that respect it’s in the same category as charisma, dexterity, and hit points. It may help you evaluate how your level 10 Mage throw fireballs at orcs. It isn’t going to help you in the real world. And bringing it up may just get you laughed at.

By: Temo

Temo — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:41:27 +0000

Hudson has since refuted the story, saying he will only opt out if the Braves and his agent can’t get close on a contract extension that both sides are working on right now. He says he’ll definitely take a hometown discount to stay, but he wants the extra years.

By: Matt B.

Matt B. — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:36:31 +0000

Yeah, a TJ pitcher is probably a perfect fit for the Mets.

By: Kevin S.

Kevin S. — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:57:47 +0000

No, OPS+ is a quick-and-dirty stat. WHIP is far too dependent on random variation to be worth anything.

By: MPC

MPC — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:20:54 +0000

Or the pitcher is just getting lucky on BABIP. WHIP really is useless.

By: David Foy

David Foy — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:20:15 +0000

I think it seems pretty clear that he’ll opt out of the deal in search of a longer term deal (that is if he does the rational economic decision, not accounting for emotions or other factors). Does anyone think that the Mets might be a reasonable fit, as a Met fan I hope so, we could sure use him.

By: Matt B.

Matt B. — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:52:25 +0000

I would assume he will likely want to stay in the NL unless the $$ is too great somewhere else.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:50:58 +0000

i think “useless” is a little strong, but i understand where you are going. it treats a single the same as a HR, so yeah, it has very LIMITED use.

but as a quick and dirty metric, it has some use.

any pitcher with a WHIP close to 1 is going to be pretty good. in that respect, it’s a handy little tool, you just have to know, understand, and account for the limitations.

yes, i know, if you wanted “quick and dirty” you probably wouldn’t come to Fangraphs….