Comments on: What A Relief! http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/what-a-relief/ Daily baseball statistical analysis and commentary Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:26:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Eric Seidman http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/what-a-relief/#comment-42028 Eric Seidman Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:03:36 +0000 http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/what-a-relief/#comment-42028 Good catch, thanks. Meant to make that correction last night. Good catch, thanks. Meant to make that correction last night.

]]> By: Matt http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/what-a-relief/#comment-42027 Matt Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:58:29 +0000 http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/what-a-relief/#comment-42027 I don't know much about Kuo, but Downs is a lefty like he is, not a righty like the article says. I don’t know much about Kuo, but Downs is a lefty like he is, not a righty like the article says.

]]> By: Eric Seidman http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/what-a-relief/#comment-41966 Eric Seidman Fri, 05 Sep 2008 02:56:56 +0000 http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/what-a-relief/#comment-41966 No problem. To further clarify, the major difference is that WPA/LI, referred to as context-neutral wins, treats each plate appearance as 1 plate appearance. WPA, on the other hand, could treat a crucial 8th or 9th inning PA as 8 PAs, meaning that if Burrell hits a home run in that situation, his WPA for the game would skyrocket, whereas his WPA/LI would treat the event as a home run. No problem. To further clarify, the major difference is that WPA/LI, referred to as context-neutral wins, treats each plate appearance as 1 plate appearance. WPA, on the other hand, could treat a crucial 8th or 9th inning PA as 8 PAs, meaning that if Burrell hits a home run in that situation, his WPA for the game would skyrocket, whereas his WPA/LI would treat the event as a home run.

]]> By: JB http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/what-a-relief/#comment-41963 JB Fri, 05 Sep 2008 02:39:14 +0000 http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/what-a-relief/#comment-41963 Makes perfect sense. Thanks! JB (fortheloveofthecubs.blogspot.com) Makes perfect sense. Thanks!

JB (fortheloveofthecubs.blogspot.com)

]]> By: Eric Seidman http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/what-a-relief/#comment-41960 Eric Seidman Fri, 05 Sep 2008 02:16:23 +0000 http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/what-a-relief/#comment-41960 JB, it really depends what you are looking for. Closers will usually be in the most critical situations and so Lidge will have a very high WPA but a good, not tremendous WPA/LI... which tells us that relative to the situation in which he pitched, he performed well, but his overall performance was not as good as the WPA would lead us to believe. It also depends on the position. For instance, it might make sense to evaluate closers using both WPA and WPA/LI since you'll then be getting performance in situation as well as performance when all PAs count as 1 PA, unlike WPA. I personally like to use WPA/LI when evaluating players to learn how they fare in relation to the average player, but WPA does tell us something interesting. If I want to know which player was worth more to his team, I'll use WPA/LI.... but if I want to incorporate some type of clutch factor in there, WPA would be good. JB, it really depends what you are looking for. Closers will usually be in the most critical situations and so Lidge will have a very high WPA but a good, not tremendous WPA/LI… which tells us that relative to the situation in which he pitched, he performed well, but his overall performance was not as good as the WPA would lead us to believe.

It also depends on the position. For instance, it might make sense to evaluate closers using both WPA and WPA/LI since you’ll then be getting performance in situation as well as performance when all PAs count as 1 PA, unlike WPA.

I personally like to use WPA/LI when evaluating players to learn how they fare in relation to the average player, but WPA does tell us something interesting. If I want to know which player was worth more to his team, I’ll use WPA/LI…. but if I want to incorporate some type of clutch factor in there, WPA would be good.

]]> By: JB http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/what-a-relief/#comment-41957 JB Fri, 05 Sep 2008 01:56:30 +0000 http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/what-a-relief/#comment-41957 A general question: How helpful is it to normalize stats like WPA to leverage index in determining a player's value? A player has little control over the situations in which he finds himself. For example, a manager may use a dominating reliever only in low leverage situations. The pitcher's performance may be outstanding, but do to his usage will have a low WPA/LI rating. JB (fortheloveofthecubs.blogspot.com) A general question:
How helpful is it to normalize stats like WPA to leverage index in determining a player’s value? A player has little control over the situations in which he finds himself. For example, a manager may use a dominating reliever only in low leverage situations. The pitcher’s performance may be outstanding, but do to his usage will have a low WPA/LI rating.

JB (fortheloveofthecubs.blogspot.com)

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