USSM Orientation
Like all communities, USSM has some expectations of new users. If you want to join the conversation without being ruthlessly torn apart and mocked, it helps if you’re at least familiar with some central concepts.
Generally speaking, in discussions:
The burden of proof is on the person who makes the assertion, and the wilder your assertion, the better your evidence should be. If you want to argue that Raul Ibanez is the best defensive left fielder ever, or that clutch hitting exists, or whatever, you need to bring the proof. “You need to disprove my theory” is not an acceptable argument, ever.
Please note that this does not mean that something has to be justified every time. You should be familiar with the current state of the argument first. If we’ve discussed a topic - like the abilities of Ryan Franklin, which were debated for years - and you decide to argue that he was totally awesome and misunderstood, well, we’re going to refer you back to the body of existing evidence, and you’ll need to go refute that.
This may seem like a terrible burden on you. Sorry. But there it is. Bear it.
Essential Introductions
Evaluating Pitcher Talent. Or, “Why ERA and WHIP don’t cut it these days.” Essential reading.
Switzer Says:
No more Hargrove! Finally the M’s can get a real skipper! Not sure why he quit.
Switzer: Please see the following link from the PI.
Gives a good insight on Hargrove and his reasoning for leaving.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/323947_moore17.html
July 17th, 2007 at 1:20 pmi’d love to see you do the same sort of analysis with hitters that you did in “evaluating pitcher talent” using LD% and BABIP (which I’ve read batters can’t control as much as pitchers, but to what degree i have no idea). great work
August 13th, 2007 at 3:07 pmWould love to see Evaluating Offense added here sometime. Keep up the good work.
September 19th, 2007 at 2:05 pmIt would be interesting to see Dewans +/- system from the Fielding Bible added to the Evaluating Defense article.
November 3rd, 2007 at 7:44 pmWhatever happened to The Attrition War?
February 15th, 2008 at 4:44 am