GDT 8/14/2013: Phillies @ Braves

Stealing bases is dumb. Unnecessary. I'm a Moneyball guy through & through. Listen, Uggla's been frustrating. No doubt. I think this LASIK will do him some good, and I hope it will, because when right, he hits home runs. That's why we paid him. I get really frustrated w people who talk about his batting average, because we didn't pay him to go 3-4 with three singles. I like Pastornicky, I think he's a better option off the bench than Janni. I just roll my eyes at people who think the key to winning baseball is contact. Playing for one run an inning is a coward's mentality.

Lol wut? Did you even read Moneyball? This is respectfully one of the dumbest posts I've ever read on the net.
 
Yeah, if they couldn't move him. Listen, the guy hit 21 hr blind. He walks a good bit, and his eyesight is an issue. As a guy who's eyesight went pretty much midseason playing college ball, I completely identify with that whole "duck out of the way of a curveball" thing. I sympathize with the guy. The guys hit 76 hr's as a Brave. That's not bad at all. And that in and of itself is value.

Actually he tried contacts and they didn't work. He wasn't hitting blind. More and more you show you have no clue what you're talking about.
 
Batting average doesn't matter. His obp is lower than i'd like, and thats disappointing, but batting average is archaic. I'm more concerned over whether or not he eats too much garlic than I am with his batting average. He strikes out too much, and his obp is lower than normal for him, but batting average just takes up a spot on his baseball card at this point. We as a people have WAY more accurate measure of his productivity than batting average. Now, you could say that those way more accurate measures are also lacking, and i'd agree with you, but don't tell me about batting average. You're smarter than that.

Dude batting average matters when you're batting .180. What's with you?
 
Well, you're not wrong about his numbers. .305 obp is unacceptable. But you guys act like he's not trying, like he's sitting at home counting his money and laughing evilly. I hope this LASIK helps. If it doesn't, I'll be ready to give up on him too.

They asked him to get LASIK in Spring Training and he refused...
 
The statement "batting average doesn't matter, but his obp is low." isnt at all contradictory. I understand how on base percentage is calculated.

I do think playing for one run is foolish. At any point. A team should be fighting to keep an inning from ending, regardless of who the pitcher is.

I'm probably Uggla's biggest supporter. I think his HR's, RBIs, and runs scored are undervalued. But if he's going to keep up his current contact rate, he's gonna have to walk a lot more.

Do you think batting average matters? If so, please never address me again.

Speaking of pointless stats... RBIs...
 
You can if you walk enough to keep your obp at a respectable level. My point is, and has been for a while, that there is no difference between a walk and a hit. I believe that. Getting on base is better than not getting on base. Has Uggla been doing that enough? No. He hasn't. And I agree with anyone else who thinks that. I just think we put way too much stock in a "batting" stat that throws out between 25-35% of a guys at bats.

Wrong there is a huge difference between a walk and some hits... Doubles or triples... Another fail
 
Unless Dan Uggla has had eye issues for 3 years now he's not come close to the same level of production with the Braves that he had with the Marlins

2006 - .819

2007 - .805

2008 - .874

2009 - .813

2010 - .877

2011 - .764

2012 - .732

2013 - .696

He has had eye problems for a long time but has refused to get the surgery... Awesome team player
 
I don't see why anyone would want Pastor getting 500+ ABs as their teams starting 2b. I just don't see his bat playing in the majors well enough to be considered and everyday player.

Has a team ever does a shift where they move to the opposite field? Because thats exactly want you would do for pastor. He is a punch and judy hitter with sub par D.

I hope the braves trade him.

Really?? A minimum paid player when compared to a hugely paid Dan Uggla?
 
I think the reason for Uggla's decline is that he no longer gets to face Braves pitching. I seem to recall him torching us every year.
 
Fredi on the new lineup:

"Maybe I'm kind of dumb for waiting this long," Gonzalez said. "Have you ever thought that way? I'm sure there are people thinking, 'Why did you wait this long to do this?'

Have you ever thought that way?
 
Awww... You put so much stock on meaningless game not on the line homers, it's cute. That's what Uggla brings and that's all he brings.

Um, no. He is third in the league in walks. In limited time Pastor seems to be a good contact hitter who doesn't walk much or hit for much power.
 
zbhargrove, quiet night in Fargo? Nice flurry.

Some decry attention to situational baseball, but I view the game similarly to an investment portfolio. The long run is composed of a set of short runs (some of them very short runs) and failure in short runs is likely to lead to underperformance in the long run. There are various ways to measure performance and I think the deep stats movement has helped us determine values that were previously ignored, but in the process of questioning the previously held conventional wisdom, I think the movement has sometimes thrown the baby out with the bath water.

Example: Runner on third, one out, hitter strikes out, and next batter makes an out and runner left stranded. Next time up the guy who struck out hits a 900 foot HR. Stat movement says, "a run is a run" and in the long run, the batter produced a run so it's really no big deal that he didn't hit a grounder to second to drive in the guy from third in his previous at-bat because the net effect is the same. I get that, but the point is the team could have scored two runs with modest execution (the counter argument, of course, is that the situation that ended in a strike out could have ended in a home run, which would have generated two runs and I'm not going to dismiss that except to say that home runs are rarer than ground outs). Granted the value and qualities of each player vary greatly and performance in given situations will also likewise vary greatly. It's hard to hang a picture with only a screwdriver, but that doesn't mean a screwdriver isn't a valuable tool. The valuable qualities in some players won't lend themselves to optimum performance in every situation, hence the failure of the batter in the previous example has to be balanced against his later success. But that doesn't mean there shouldn't be some expectation of better performance in those situations.

So my base argument is that the long run is comprised of a collection of short runs and performance in all of these short runs should be measured. Some of it will end up not mattering that much because the result of the game is finite and that is how the team's performance is measured. I agree that players aren't perfect and shouldn't be expected to play against their strengths and fans shouldn't expect Uggla to choke up and go the other way. That's not his game. But there isn't a unified field theory of baseball (as much as the deep stats movement seems to contend that there is) because there is simply too much variance in the qualities of players, the nature of the confrontation between pitcher and hitter, and the situation within that confrontation takes place. That doesn't mean you bring in Varvaro with the bases loaded to close out Game 7 of the World Series or send Pastornicky to the plate expecting to give the fans in the left field stands a souvenir. Each season, each game, each at-bat, and each pitch matter lead to a measurement and it's important to treat them as such. Some more than others (far more in some instances), obviously, but that doesn't mean each shouldn't be noted.
 
Being able to make solid contact with good plate coverage and put the ball in play also stresses the opposing pitcher and puts pressure on the defense. These are good things.
 
Im shocked and appalled that since Dan went to have eye surgery we have seen a recession of Uggla Owl Eyes jokes. Poor form gents...
 
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