Comments on: Jays Journal Want a Statistics Guru

By: earlweaverfan

earlweaverfan — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 23:11:15 +0000

Gentlemen

You have to qualify as the off-season acquisition of the year, as far as I am concerned. I have followed every single prospect report, the trade speculation posts, and of course, the speculations about Pujols, Darvish and company.

In looking for a sabremetrician, I hope you find someone who not only knows their stuff, but more importantly for the rest of us, is able to explain it well to the interested lay person. For each statistical perspective they contribute for you, it would be great if they could spell out what its significance is, answering such questions as:
1) What that metric demonstrates and what it doesn’t cover
2) How to contrast it from other statistics that appear to be about the same performance dimension
3) What debates that statistic is most useful in resolving, and where it merely confuses
4) What a league average (and in the case of the Jays, a club average) performance would be for that metric, to build understanding about the player in question
5) The strengths and weaknesses of that statistic, and whether there are better ones
6) Whether this metric can be heavily skewed by some other factor
7) Whether this performance varies wildly from year to year, or from one ballpark to another, or…

So, if you get a writer who can explain maybe fewer statistics, but better, so that I can uncover the relevance of ISO (or SLG, BABIP…) with real insight, I would be most happy to read what (s)he has to say.

By: Mat Germain

Mat Germain — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 22:23:27 +0000

Thanks Mylegacy, we do our very best! However, we’re always looking to improve and to go outside the norm if we can, so this is part of that side of JJ.

As for the Scotch, I’m a Ballantine’s Finest fan, but also like the Glen. One cube!

By: Mat Germain

Mat Germain — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 22:19:18 +0000

No deadline Tod L, but like I said above, I’d like the position filled before the end of spring training. We’ve already received some good articles, we look forward to adding yours to the bunch!

By: Mylegacy

Mylegacy — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 19:12:03 +0000

Everyone has “wants” – you “Want a statistics Guru – me – I want a scotch – single malt, of course – I think I’ll make it a double.

Seriously, Mat – you two are doing FANTASTIC stuff. I hope you guys get all the help you need – I know us readers are over the moon satisfied with what you’ve been doing so far.

By: Tod L

Tod L — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 18:10:22 +0000

Hello MG,

I am very interested in the position. Is there a deadline that you need the article by?

Regards,
Tod L