Lou usually choses numbers over gut

[98navigator]

For those who were wondering if Lou paid attention to stats, this is interesting news:

 

Link

 

""I believe in numbers," Piniella said. "Baseball is a strict percentage game. That's why they keep [statistics]. … So you might as well utilize those things. If I had to go with pure gut or pure numbers, I'd take the numbers."

 

Some pitchers may also be skipped if they have especially numbers against a particular team (kinda like Maddux not pitching against Arizona)

 

Piniella said he could rest a pitcher in a series if his past numbers indicate he struggles against them. Scott Eyre, for example, has a 7.06 career earned-run average in 23 games against Cincinnati, while he dominates Arizona, with a 1.13 ERA in 42 games. Piniella said he may also "throw a little more of a speed team" on the field against poor defensive catchers or susceptible pitchers.

[cheapseats]

Hopefully he looks at hitters' numbers against particular pitchers.

 

That's one of the only things involving stats that Dusty did particularly well.

 

Cliff Floyd should start over Murton against Bronson Arroyo, for example, because Floyd owns Arroyo, but Murton should start against Harang even though Harang is a righty.

 

I'd rather platoon based on matchups than enforce a strict righty/lefty platoon.

[FergieJ31]

For those who were wondering if Lou paid attention to stats, this is interesting news:

 

Link

 

""I believe in numbers," Piniella said. "Baseball is a strict percentage game. That's why they keep [statistics]. … So you might as well utilize those things. If I had to go with pure gut or pure numbers, I'd take the numbers."

 

 

Wow - Lou keeps saying the right things. And that's about the best Lou quote I've heard since he was hired.

 

That's actually an amazing and laudable thing for any manager to say out loud.

[David]

Hopefully he looks at hitters' numbers against particular pitchers.

 

That's one of the only things involving stats that Dusty did particularly well.

 

Cliff Floyd should start over Murton against Bronson Arroyo, for example, because Floyd owns Arroyo, but Murton should start against Harang even though Harang is a righty.

 

I'd rather platoon based on matchups than enforce a strict righty/lefty platoon.

 

I don't know about that. You have a far more significant sample size with lefty/righty splits than you do with any matchup stats. I don't want Jones starting against some lefty because he happens to be 4 for 9 against him.

[Jon]

Dusty was notorious for going by the numbers in small sample size cases.

 

It's all about which numbers influence your decision.

[CubColtPacer]

Dusty was notorious for going by the numbers in small sample size cases.

 

It's all about which numbers influence your decision.

 

True, and it's also about using those sample sizes to determine at-bats between similar players, or determine at-bats between vastly different offensive players that the weaker player just happens to have a few hits off some pitchers. I like the former a lot, and I'm not that big of a fan of the latter

[Rob]

I'm all for a manager that goes by the numbers. He just needs to know what numbers to use. I'm not convinced he wont pick somebody solely off their RBI totals against a pitcher in a limited sample size, ya know?

[cheapseats]

Dusty was notorious for going by the numbers in small sample size cases.

 

But Earl Weaver did that, too, and had a great deal of success.

 

It seems like most "baseball guys" think that you don't need a large sample size to know whether a pitcher is effective against a particular hitter or not.

 

Ideally, it would be nice to make decisions informed by charted batted ball data - not all outs should be weighed equally, of course - but this seems like an area in which a small sample size combined with scouting/video would be sufficient to make good lineup decisions.

[Soul]

I'm all for a manager that goes by the numbers. He just needs to know what numbers to use. I'm not convinced he wont pick somebody solely off their RBI totals against a pitcher in a limited sample size, ya know?

 

I'm not convinced of anything at this point. Way too early to tell what Lou will really do. Even his past history would seem to be a useless predictor since he claims to be a changed man now.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

""I believe in numbers," Piniella said. "Baseball is a strict percentage game. That's why they keep [statistics]. … So you might as well utilize those things. If I had to go with pure gut or pure numbers, I'd take the numbers."

 

This is good, as long as you're looking at the right things.

 

Piniella said he could rest a pitcher in a series if his past numbers indicate he struggles against them. Scott Eyre, for example, has a 7.06 career earned-run average in 23 games against Cincinnati, while he dominates Arizona, with a 1.13 ERA in 42 games. Piniella said he may also "throw a little more of a speed team" on the field against poor defensive catchers or susceptible pitchers.

 

This doesn't look like a very good start to me.

[David]

""I believe in numbers," Piniella said. "Baseball is a strict percentage game. That's why they keep [statistics]. … So you might as well utilize those things. If I had to go with pure gut or pure numbers, I'd take the numbers."

 

This is good, as long as you're looking at the right things.

 

Piniella said he could rest a pitcher in a series if his past numbers indicate he struggles against them. Scott Eyre, for example, has a 7.06 career earned-run average in 23 games against Cincinnati, while he dominates Arizona, with a 1.13 ERA in 42 games. Piniella said he may also "throw a little more of a speed team" on the field against poor defensive catchers or susceptible pitchers.

 

This doesn't look like a very good start to me.

 

It looks to me, other than the one quote from Lou (which, admittedly, I'm not enamored with), that Paul Sullivan is the one looking at all the wrong things there. I'm doubting that Lou said anything referencing how Eyre or any pitcher has done against a particular team. That's just absurdly stupid logic, pretty much what we've come to expect from Paul.

 

That doesn't mean I trust that Lou will be looking at the right things himself, though.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

""I believe in numbers," Piniella said. "Baseball is a strict percentage game. That's why they keep [statistics]. … So you might as well utilize those things. If I had to go with pure gut or pure numbers, I'd take the numbers."

 

This is good, as long as you're looking at the right things.

 

Piniella said he could rest a pitcher in a series if his past numbers indicate he struggles against them. Scott Eyre, for example, has a 7.06 career earned-run average in 23 games against Cincinnati, while he dominates Arizona, with a 1.13 ERA in 42 games. Piniella said he may also "throw a little more of a speed team" on the field against poor defensive catchers or susceptible pitchers.

 

This doesn't look like a very good start to me.

 

It looks to me, other than the one quote from Lou (which, admittedly, I'm not enamored with), that Paul Sullivan is the one looking at all the wrong things there. I'm doubting that Lou said anything referencing how Eyre or any pitcher has done against a particular team. That's just absurdly stupid logic, pretty much what we've come to expect from Paul.

 

That doesn't mean I trust that Lou will be looking at the right things himself, though.

 

That's true, I didn't pay close enough attention to the quotes. Still not a huge fan of "throwing a little more speed" out there though, unless the catcher/pitcher/both is truly awful, and even then it's probably not worth it.

[CubColtPacer]

""I believe in numbers," Piniella said. "Baseball is a strict percentage game. That's why they keep [statistics]. … So you might as well utilize those things. If I had to go with pure gut or pure numbers, I'd take the numbers."

 

This is good, as long as you're looking at the right things.

 

Piniella said he could rest a pitcher in a series if his past numbers indicate he struggles against them. Scott Eyre, for example, has a 7.06 career earned-run average in 23 games against Cincinnati, while he dominates Arizona, with a 1.13 ERA in 42 games. Piniella said he may also "throw a little more of a speed team" on the field against poor defensive catchers or susceptible pitchers.

 

This doesn't look like a very good start to me.

 

It looks to me, other than the one quote from Lou (which, admittedly, I'm not enamored with), that Paul Sullivan is the one looking at all the wrong things there. I'm doubting that Lou said anything referencing how Eyre or any pitcher has done against a particular team. That's just absurdly stupid logic, pretty much what we've come to expect from Paul.

 

That doesn't mean I trust that Lou will be looking at the right things himself, though.

 

That's true, I didn't pay close enough attention to the quotes. Still not a huge fan of "throwing a little more speed" out there though, unless the catcher/pitcher/both is truly awful, and even then it's probably not worth it.

 

Well, with the way our bench is currently, especially if Pagan does not make the squad, that might just mean that Murton plays instead of Floyd and Theriot plays instead of DeRosa-I mean, Ward, Floyd, or Blanco are not going to win any speed competitions anytime soon :D

[dew1679666265]

""I believe in numbers," Piniella said. "Baseball is a strict percentage game. That's why they keep [statistics]. … So you might as well utilize those things. If I had to go with pure gut or pure numbers, I'd take the numbers."

 

This is good, as long as you're looking at the right things.

 

Piniella said he could rest a pitcher in a series if his past numbers indicate he struggles against them. Scott Eyre, for example, has a 7.06 career earned-run average in 23 games against Cincinnati, while he dominates Arizona, with a 1.13 ERA in 42 games. Piniella said he may also "throw a little more of a speed team" on the field against poor defensive catchers or susceptible pitchers.

 

This doesn't look like a very good start to me.

 

It looks to me, other than the one quote from Lou (which, admittedly, I'm not enamored with), that Paul Sullivan is the one looking at all the wrong things there. I'm doubting that Lou said anything referencing how Eyre or any pitcher has done against a particular team. That's just absurdly stupid logic, pretty much what we've come to expect from Paul.

 

That doesn't mean I trust that Lou will be looking at the right things himself, though.

 

That's true, I didn't pay close enough attention to the quotes. Still not a huge fan of "throwing a little more speed" out there though, unless the catcher/pitcher/both is truly awful, and even then it's probably not worth it.

 

Well, with the way our bench is currently, especially if Pagan does not make the squad, that might just mean that Murton plays instead of Floyd and Theriot plays instead of DeRosa-I mean, Ward, Floyd, or Blanco are not going to win any speed competitions anytime soon :D

 

I don't know, it depends on who you put them up against. I figure they'd have a darn good chance against a Gilbert Brown or Ted Washington.

Peyton could probably edge em out on a naked bootleg race, though. :D

[BigbadB]

Floyd has been very successful when he does steal bases.

 

Another quote that I like from Lou.

[RynoRules]

Honestly, some of you guys need to chill with the Dusty comparisons. That's completely unfair given that we haven't seen Lou manage a game yet and thus far his statements have indicated a lean towards positive movement in a "statistical direction".