Alfonso, Snuffy, and Cupid

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DOUGHBOYS
Posts: 13088
Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2005 6:00 pm

Alfonso, Snuffy, and Cupid

Post by DOUGHBOYS » Tue Jan 30, 2018 10:13 am

There are some statistics in baseball that I know absolutely nothing about.
'Defensive Runs Saved' is one. How can this be a stat?
There is no finality to 'saving a run'. We don't know what would have happened had the defensive player not gloved the ball.
Only a guess.
And who decides if a player really did 'save a run'?
It's arbitrary.
You know who likes arbitrary?
Singers and actors.
They wait on pins and needles to see if they've won an arbitrary award that they didn't win from the last awards show two weeks prior.

Now, for the big stat I don't understand.
WAR.
A friend of mine was describing old time baseball players by using WAR.
That is like breaking your Hoagy Carmichael vinyl record after digitally remastering it.
I don't know what defensive, offensive or any kind of WAR is.
I don't need to know.
What I do know is that it can, in no way, relate to fantasy baseball.

Here's why.
I asked my friend to look up Alfonso Soriano on his all-time WAR list for second baseman.
He told me that he didn't have one top 100 year at the position.
I asked him to print out the list and bring it to lunch the next day.
I knew the list would be cluttered with Hornsby, Collins, Lajoie, and Morgan seasons, I knew that.
But not one Soriano year? Out of 100?

I looked at the list at lunch.
What a stupid list.
Snuffy Stirnweiss?
No offense, Snuffy, but I bet you couldn't hold Soriano's jock.
In 1945, a war year, in which the all white population of baseball was further shortened by being in the last year of World War II (Now THAT is WAR), Snuffy Stirnweiss had a better WAR year than Alfonso Soriano.
Stirnweiss led his league in slugging percentage at .479
Had an OBP of .385
I'm guessing WAR loves that.
But here is why I hate WAR.
It has little to do with the five roto categories.
And for older players, it surely doesn't take in a players surroundings as well as our own mind does.

I have nothing against Snuffy, Really, how in the world can you dislike a guy named Snuffy?
Here is Snuffy's roto line .309/107/10/64/33
To put that in context of current lines, here is Whit Merrifield's line from last year...
.288/80/19/78/34...very similar and Merrifield didn't play much in April.

Alfonso Soriano was my favorite fantasy player of all time.
If there was a fantasy Hall of Fame, players like Soriano, Guerrero, and Bobby Abreu would be among the first voted in.
Abreu, himself had seven consecutive 20/20 years!
Nine in his career.
I don't care what his WAR is, give me some Abreu.
Soriano took it a step higher.
Soriano had three 30/30 years. One of those, 39/41
To boot, he also had a 40/40 year.
He hit at least 17 home runs, 14 years in a row.
He had 10 double digit steals years.
He had this line that makes us lick our chops....277/119/46/95/41

Soriano played part of his career in the outfield, part at second base.
So, maybe his very best seasons were in the outfield, I don't know.
But Soriano had many fantasy seasons better than Snuffy's best.
It just tells me that WAR should never be confused with fantasy baseball.

Oh, and just a sidenote.
There was also another little known second baseman on my friends list.
Cupid Childs.
I'm not kidding!
Cupid Childs.
Cupid played in the 1890's.
When the game was still making its own rules.
Somehow, Cupid made the all time WAR list.
So, of course, I had to look up the great-great-great grandfather of the NFBC Hall of Famer...(I made that up)
Cupid played in a time where a walk really was as good as a hit.
There were few home runs hit, Cupid only hit three.
But Cupid walked 117 times and scored 136 times.
I'm guessing that those facts made Cupid very embraceable by WAR.
We might even say that WAR had a heart-on for Cupid (you laughed, I know you did)

Anyway, my interest in fantasy baseball has overidden statistics that sabr's seem to be making up yearly.
I don't care about 'Defensive runs saved'
I don't care about 'WAR'.
I don't even care about OBP (I just heard shrieks from Transabrvania)
What I care about is winning my league this upcoming year.
And I am most sorry if that hurts Snuffy and Cupid's feelings.
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!

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rockitsauce
Posts: 1095
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Re: Alfonso, Snuffy, and Cupid

Post by rockitsauce » Wed Jan 31, 2018 3:17 am

DAN ! Still putting out all this good STUFF, Greg should really be paying you ;)

I tell Joey Forecaster Schmorecaster I just need to read Dough's thread and I get all the info I need !

Bobby Abreu sure was a fantasy stud and one of my fav Phils, a shame that he toiled on such shitty Phillie teams and got traded right before they got good and won in '08.

Last yr during MLBC I was relieved to find out the reason I hadn't seen you on the board here was your moonlighting gig, none of us is getting any younger so I feared the worst :cry: now put down those doritos and eat a salad now & then would ya :D
Always be closing.

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Edwards Kings
Posts: 5879
Joined: Sun Mar 14, 2004 6:00 pm
Location: Duluth, Georgia

Re: Alfonso, Snuffy, and Cupid

Post by Edwards Kings » Wed Jan 31, 2018 5:46 am

Image
Baseball is a slow, boring, complex, cerebral game that doesn't lend itself to histrionics. You 'take in' a baseball game, something odd to say about a football or basketball game, with the clock running and the bodies flying.
Charles Krauthammer

DOUGHBOYS
Posts: 13088
Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2005 6:00 pm

Re: Alfonso, Snuffy, and Cupid

Post by DOUGHBOYS » Wed Jan 31, 2018 9:32 am

rockitsauce wrote:DAN ! Still putting out all this good STUFF, Greg should really be paying you ;)

I tell Joey Forecaster Schmorecaster I just need to read Dough's thread and I get all the info I need !

Bobby Abreu sure was a fantasy stud and one of my fav Phils, a shame that he toiled on such shitty Phillie teams and got traded right before they got good and won in '08.

Last yr during MLBC I was relieved to find out the reason I hadn't seen you on the board here was your moonlighting gig, none of us is getting any younger so I feared the worst :cry: now put down those doritos and eat a salad now & then would ya :D
Ha! He's getting the milk for free.

As for being gone, I was just lost in the Bellagio for a long time.
You and Joe weren't there to lead me out!
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!

DOUGHBOYS
Posts: 13088
Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2005 6:00 pm

Re: Alfonso, Snuffy, and Cupid

Post by DOUGHBOYS » Wed Jan 31, 2018 9:33 am

Edwards Kings wrote:Image
Now THAT, is a salad.
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!

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