Posted by bad_luck on 9/4/2013 12:42:00 PM (view original):
Posted by burnsy483 on 9/4/2013 12:37:00 PM (view original):
Posted by MikeT23 on 9/4/2013 12:33:00 PM (view original):
My point is, naturally, I don't NEED a number to say "Jeter has sure lost some range and Ryan is a damn good SS in the field". You seem to NEED to put a -3.7 on Jeter and a 2.6 on Ryan. Why?
In fairness, if we were to make an argument on "who is better, Ryan or Jeter?" we would use numbers. So if there's a defensive number to look at, naturally, you want to try to use it. Except the number could be meaningless if you don't use it in the right way. I want a better number.
I think that's everyone's goal.
No one is married to UZR (or plus/minus or DRS). It's just what we have. When something better gets figured out, we'll use that instead.
You like WAR, right?
You mentioned that a season of UZR is pretty meaningless, right?
You know UZR is used in WAR, right?
This is what I mean - we're using this stat to make arguments on comparisons of baseball players. If the number sucks, we shouldn't put much stock in it, that's all I'm saying. I'm a BIG numbers guy, a "statnerd" if you will. But if the number doesn't do a good job of quantifying a player's value or worth or whatever, then why do we look at it?