Thursday, October 2, 2008

Who Knew?

The Brewers are slightly above-average on defense, according to a Baseball Prospectus preview of the Brewers-Phillies series.

Both of these teams can make a case as slightly above-average defensively. The Brewers finished second in the league in raw Defensive Efficiency, seventh in Park Adjusted Defensive Efficiency, and a tidy plus-20 Fielding Runs Above Average. That they rate so highly is a testament to the work done by Melvin last winter to shore up a unit that was 28th out of 30 in PADE last year. Free agents Cameron and Kendall dramatically shored up weak spots, and the shifts of Braun from third base to left field and Hall from center field to third base worked out well, too. Kendall threw out a major league-leading 42.7 percent of attempted thefts and was 15 runs above average behind the plate according to FRAA. Fielder (-10 FRAA) and Hart (-5 FRAA) are the only regulars who rate below average by BP's metrics. Additionally it's worth noting that Hardy placed third among major league shortstops in Plus/Minus, available via Bill James Online, while Braun and Cameron both cracked the top 10 at their respective positions -- further testament to Melvin's makeover.

I don't know what any of this means, but I call bull****.

2 comments:

Rubie Q said...

I don't have the time to figure out what "Plus/Minus" is, but I'm fairly confident it doesn't encompass getting to balls hit to your left. Because the next time Jim Jerry gets to a ball hit to his left, it will be the first time this season.

Matt said...

He got to one yesterday, in the 8th (maybe?)

He just couldn't get it out of his glove to throw it to 2nd.