It’s time to go get Verlander
I very rarely ever do this publicly. I like to think of myself as a dispassionate analyst of the game, but at my core I am a fan first. So, when the Astros didn’t make a deal at the deadline (okay, fine, they got a lefty with an ERA around 6.00) I was pretty disappointed. […]
Grading out the Starting Pitching Market
It is no secret that the Houston Astros need starting pitching. That being said, finding teams willing to trade that pitching and then meeting the Astros needs to not only compete this year but into the future can be a bit tricky. So, we will go through the list of teams that might be sellers […]
David Ortiz HOF Index
“I have come here to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” – William Shakespeare The wisest thing the Hall of Fame ever did was insert the mandatory five year waiting period. Otherwise, Hall of Famers would get in due to the mob mentality that overcomes fans when their favorite legends exit stage left. This […]
Why the Astros are here to stay
When a team explodes on the scene like the Astros have this season there are numerous explanations that need to be explored. As the Cubs will attest, awesome success does not always follow you from season to season. Sometimes serendipity is the best explanation there is. Still, that won’t stop all of the pundits from […]
The Hall of Fame Index: Catchers
The Hall of Fame is a passion of mine as you can see by my bio. It is a passion that a number of fans share and the baseball Hall of Fame is easily the most prestigious of all of the Halls of Fame in professional sports. It creates more debate and causes more arguments […]
A change in Approach
The life of the Houston Astros fan is a life built on the process. For most of the first 50 years of the franchise there wasn’t much of a process. The teams always seemed to be built around pitching, defense, and speed because that is what succeeded in the Astrodome. However, there was never a […]
The New Moneyball
Those that read Moneyball remember it well. You had the case of Scott Hatteberg. Hatteberg moved from behind the dish to first base because he could no longer throw effectively. He could however draw walks and hit with moderate power. There were the collective drafts of Nick Swisher and Jeremy Brown. Swisher you have heard […]
Taking a Look at Pitch Efficiency
Last time we looked at runs scored, hitting categories, and managerial efficiency. Today, we are doing the same with runs scored, pitching categories, and managerial efficiency. Naturally, we are first looking to see how teams did in the various categories. Instead of boring you with numbers, we will go with their rankings in the different […]
Follow the Batted Ball
One of the things those of us in stats all want to do is to go from step A to step F without explaining the steps in between. The main goal in this section is to avoid skipping steps. In the introductory article I mentioned batted ball statistics. Before I move onto those statistics I […]
The Power of Plate Discipline
It’s always entertaining when old ideas and new ideas collide. Ask any fan from a bygone era and they will lament the inability of modern hitters to protect the plate with two strikes. They wax poetic about the power hitters of yore and their ability to hit for power and avoid the strikeout. So, preach […]
Luck Factor and the NL bullpen
We finally get to the last of our luck factor series. For those of you that have been following this all along I give a wholehearted thanks. If you are just joining us you might want to back track and read the first one. It should be archived in the sabermetrics section of […]
Luck Factor in the Senior Circuit (NL): Starting Pitchers
Hopefully, you are following along with the luck factor series. This will be number five in that series. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I will try to give you a quick hook before we dive into the numbers. Fantasy baseball players have many of the same concerns as general managers. When you look […]
Luck Factor Continued: AL Starting Pitchers
As John Lennon once said, “life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” I love baseball, but baseball doesn’t pay the bills. This happens to be the busy season at work, so I had to sit on all of the luck factor data I had generated. I know all of you […]
Luck Factor: AL Lineups
Honestly I feel a whole lot better about studying the American League. It has nothing to do with superior play or the designated hitter. It has everything to do with the fact that I am a dedicated Astros fan. I run an Astros blog at Breathingorangefire.com and have been a fan of […]
An Introduction to the Luck Factor in Baseball
There is a schism in baseball between those that we might call traditionalists and those we would call sabermetricians. Traditionalists believe in intangibles. They believe in character, chemistry, and pure athletic skills. Unexplained events are actually explained by clutch performance or what some people call “choking”, Moreover, we shouldn’t try to define it or quantify […]
An American Tradition: MLB Hall of Fame Voting
South Park is one of my favorite programs on television these days. Trey Parker and Matt Stone trash everyone. So, while I may bristle somewhat at the fact that they trash my church or heritage, I chuckle because they trash everyone. In particular, they have managed the almost impossible feat of making Satan a sympathetic […]
Should Anyone Sign Derek Jeter?
Seems like a perfectly asinine question. Of course, most teams should be after Derek Jeter. He has great leadership qualities and is one of the top ten hitting shortstops in the history of the game. The trouble is that there is so much more about the game. Even when you include the hitting, he is […]
Where’s the Relevance of the Gold Glove Award?
Free agency has eliminated some of the luster around the post-season awards already. The post-season awards used to be the only thing a baseball fan had to look forward to this time of year. Now, they are competing with the news about the Cliff Lee sweepstakes. Heck, even my hometown Astros are rumored to be […]
The Houston Astros Free Agency Primer
As most baseball fans know, free agency officially began on Sunday (11/7). That in of itself is unique. Usually, the waiting period after the World Series is a few weeks. On the one hand, it’s hard to catch your breath when free agency starts five days after the end of the World Series. On the […]
