NEIFI

Month: November 2015

  • Andrew Friedman’s $72m Systematic Framework

    There’s a critical distinction to be made between having access to player projections of some sort versus having a systematic decision-making process. Andrew Friedman, and his former mates with the Rays, are by far the best exponents of the systematic decision-making approach in baseball today.

    So what exactly is that distinction?

    Many teams have developed their own player projection systems. Many have done some form of piggy-backing off of public systems. Naturally, these systems all range in quality quite broadly—so that’s one potential difference.

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  • The Mariners and Identity Theory

    From a recent Jerry Dipoto interview, via Fangraphs:

    Jerry Dipoto on the Mariners New Direction

    “We see ourselves as a run-prevention club… Most teams have a run-prevention model, it’s a matter of how much they subscribe to it. Most of it is going to be predicated on ballpark. You’re much more likely to build a run-prevention model in a park like ours, or Dodger Stadium, or the Big A, than you would in say Baltimore. It’s a different model.”

    And later: “Ground balls aren’t as critical to us as they would be to a normal team, because our ballpark absorbs fly balls a little better.”

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