But Wendy’s uses never frozen fresh beef patties! =O!

Although Wendy’s, by far, still has the best fries of any big burger chain, IMO.

RZR uses estimates of batted ball types, not play-by-play data. It’s like using frozen ground beef instead of a fresh patty. Why is your favorite restaurant better than Wendy’s? Better ingredients, even if they both sell hamburgers.

But Wendy’s uses never frozen fresh beef patties! =O!

Cunningly concealed under the “Stuff we reference all the time” title

See, that’s what’s so great about this site. You guys anticipate everything.

Jeez, my eyes must really be going.

Dave, if you’re ever stuck looking for a topic to write about (either here or at Fangraphs), a walkthrough of modern methods to evaluate defense would be fantastic.

RZR uses estimates of batted ball types, not play-by-play data. It’s like using frozen ground beef instead of a fresh patty. Why is your favorite restaurant better than Wendy’s? Better ingredients, even if they both sell hamburgers.

What am I supposed to make of Raul’s ‘win shares’ and ‘win shares above bench’…

Nothing – don’t use win shares.

Is a (lefthanded) OPS+ of 116 really that easy to come by in a DH?

Yes. DH is the easiest position on earth to fill.

Also his salary seems kind of reasonable compared to most in this group.

It won’t seem reasonable once he signs his new deal.

Still, if the major league distribution truly is a bell curve it means there’s still lots of space for a savvy GM to improve a team on the cheap.

Yea, it’s not exactly a bell curve – it’s more of a pyramid, with a huge base that narrows as you get to the top. But for the purposes of answering the question asked in the thread, the bell curve answer is close enough to being true.

Baseball talent should follow a bell curve, and the teams should apply a cutoff to the talent they have, taking all the players above that cutoff point in the majors and everyone below in the minors (or out of baseball). Then major league talent distribution would look something like the top end of the bell curve with a sudden cutoff well before one reached the middle part of the curve.

There would be some exceptions to this: teams can’t, of course, substitute a catcher for a pitcher, etc., there are some restrictions on the flow of talent between teams, and there may be some sense in bringing up a young player for experience before he reaches that cutoff. Still, if the major league distribution truly is a bell curve it means there’s still lots of space for a savvy GM to improve a team on the cheap.

Why is RZR a poor tool and UZR a good tool. Yes, I know Raul needs to leave LF in Safeco.

What am I supposed to make of Raul’s ‘win shares’ and ‘win shares above bench’ which seem to indicate he is better than a Crawford, Granderson, Anderson, Ordonez, etc. His good WS total comes despite having his defense contribute less than any other outfielder – this tells me I should want to keep his bat.

Is a (lefthanded) OPS+ of 116 really that easy to come by in a DH? It seems comparable or better than the OPS+ of most of the DH’s the rest of the league is trotting out there (non Bradley/Thome division) -Floyd, Kubel, Stairs, Sheffield, Huff, etc. Also his salary seems kind of reasonable compared to most in this group.

Also, how is it possible for any leftfielder to be -18 runs defensively?

By being really, really, really bad?