Posted by Jtpsops on 2/7/2013 8:30:00 PM (view original):
Posted by AlCheez on 2/7/2013 8:22:00 PM (view original):
Not really. The fact that the O's pitching was good enough to get them into the playoffs with a mediocre offense doesn't change the fact that the offense was mediocre.
Toronto, Oakland, Baltimore finished 7,8,9 in runs in the AL last season. Their respective HR rankings: 5,6,2. Their respective rankings in slugging: 8,9,6. Their respective OBP rankings: 13,12,11.
Conversely, the Indians were 6th in the AL in OBP, 12th in HR and 13th in slugging...and 13th in runs.
That would seem to suggest, in at least a small way, SLG is more important.
Well, that's a different argument than I was responding to. Aside from the sample size concerns, relative ranks aren't necessarily all that telling.
Cleveland was behind all of those teams in OPS by at least 9 points, which means those teams all had much bigger advantages in slugging than Cleveland had in OBP. Proving that 2 points of slugging is better than 1 point of OBP wouldn't make SLG more important.