Quick Yankee Notes

I would bring back German.


www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/10-former-yankees-without-jobs-heading-into-spring-training/ar-BB1izTvV?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=cafb7733678c4b7dab8ade8b7d11fad2&ei=22

I'm with you Inger. Guys like Ozzie Smith, Graig Nettles, Brooks Robinson, Jim Edmonds were tremendously valuable because of their defensive prowess alone. However, they all contributed offensively as well.

But does an elite defender prevent as many runs as an elite hitter creates? 

I like this subject. When viewed strictly within the bounds of WAR, one would think that offense is the single most dominant factor in winning baseball games. Yet, if a dominant pitcher is on his game, the offense can be completely shut down on a given day.

If baseball were purely mathematics all we would need to do is run a few programs on the first day of the season and forget about spending all those hours watching baseball.

First, we can either take WAR as the ultimate authority of value, or not. If we look at it on a per player basis like the fine example you’ve brought to the table offense dwarf’s defense, and in reality it probably does. But we need to understand that just as light is bent by a prism, there is something else going on here.

I wish I had the mathematical chops to form the necessary equation but I don’t. Well, maybe I do if I wanted to spend that much time on the subject, but I don’t think I do. The equation would need to take into account that baseball is a team game.

Here’s my feeble attempt to explain. At any given moment when a batter steps to the plate his first line of opposition is of course, the pitcher. As per the fielders, that batter is not taking them on one in one, he’s opposed by all nine men on the field in front of him. So, it’s cumulative WAR vs. his singular WAR at that moment. The batter’s tendencies come into play as well, as he is more likely to hit to certain fields, and some are more likely than others to drive the ball over the fence in which case he nullifies all defenders for the moment.

Let’s just pick two players, and let’s play a game of which would you want to have 9 of for the team? David Ortiz vs. Ozzie Smith for instance. The Ortiz team would have a fielder of Ortiz’ defensive skill set at every position and all batters on that team would hit just like Ortiz, the opposite for Ozzie.

The pitcher would have to be the same vs. both for this to work, so it matters not at all if it’s the same pitcher all through the game or, if a different pitcher appears each inning, not really what quality the pitching is, as long as it’s equal for each team.

Who wins that game? Does Ortiz power automatically dominate? Or can Ozzie take advantage of the defensive weakness to keep action on the bases and utilize his skills to run wild against the woeful Ortiz the catcher? How many errors might the Ortiz team pile up under all that pressure?

How many times is Ortiz going to drive a ball into the gap only to see the Oz-quality outfielders run it down? I have no idea who wins, but it’s fun to think about it.

To answer your question I think the statement I will make here will make the most sense. I would no more rather have a team made up of all Ozzies than I would a team of all Ortiz’. I would select the best fielders among the best hitters available with the knowledge that there would be only incremental differences in the offensive (and defensive) abilities of the players I selected and the ones I bypassed.

I’ve always believed that winning teams are best constructed on balance. Games are so often won or lost within the range of one swing of the bat, which is four runs or less. Your opponent can’t win if they don’t score, and neither can you. An error or missed cutoff man can and often will be the difference in a game. The player that doesn’t reach base because of a strong fielding play, the big double play turned at a crucial moment means someone didn’t score in front of HR that got hit.

But there is no room for the Dal Maxvills and Mark Belangers of the world in 2024 baseball, simply because the power game has been invited to dominate. Closer fences, rules bent to accommodate power hitters are the culprits. The bigger the field, the more defense can shine.,

A further issue with WAR is that it’s cumulative, but I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole here. It’s a completely different problem…

*By the way, OPS is the best stat we have to view player offense only, but it’s definitely flawed. Adding up two numbers that are unrelated is a fatal flaw. It’s fed to us because it’s easy…

Byran Hoch: Gleyber Torres said that he remains open to an extension. “I don’t want to leave from here. I feel at home right now. I want to be a Yankee for life.”