Power vs Speed and Defense

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Paul DePodesta wrote about this in his blog on Friday. I found it today as I caught up on my reading.

 

Link.

 

I'd reccommend reading the whole blog, but here are a few highlights.

 

Since 2004 (opening of Petco), there have been 14 NL teams who have won at least 89 games, and there have been 14 NL teams who have won 71 or fewer games. What is a common characteristic of the 14 winning teams? Every single team that won at least 89 games out-homered their opponents over the course of the season. Every single one. Of the 14 teams at the bottom, just 3 out-homered their opponents. So, out-homering your opponent does not guarantee success. However, getting out-homered generally leads to tee-times in October.

 

Now we'll examine the same teams as it relates to SB's. If you take the net stolen bases* (SB minus CS), the top 14 teams stole more bases than they allowed on seven occasions, just 50% of the time. The bottom 14 teams stole more bases than they allowed six times, 43% of the time. So, stealing more bases than your opponent indicates... very little. Indeed, the Padres have been negative on the stolen base scale in each of our four seasons in Petco - all winning campaigns - and our best stolen base season was our worst record (82-80) while our worst stolen base season was our best record (89-74).

 

The bottom line is that the best way to create runs is to get on base and hit for power. We have done neither so far this year, and that, Padres fans, is our problem. Nevertheless, we have been better of late, outside of yesterday, and are optimistic that we'll continue to do a better job in both departments as the season continues

[sneakypower]

well its comforting to know that he realizes why the team he helped put together is so god awful

[javy knows my name]

well its comforting to know that he realizes why the team he helped put together is so god awful

Yeah, this. His philosophy is groovy and all, but he hasn't exactly put it into practice with this team.

[CuseCubFan69]

Is it possible that if a team doesn't have power that they may have to run to score runs?

[Ding Dong Johnson]

I got bored and started reading the DePodesta entry on wikipedia and this made me giggle a lot

Some have speculated that McCourt fired DePodesta in response to media criticism from T.J. Simers and Bill Plaschke, who were vehemently "anti-Moneyball" and referred to DePodesta as "Google Boy."

[Jon]

If some sports writers don't understand how sports work, I'm not sure they should be expected to understand basic concepts of how computers work.

[rocket]

well its comforting to know that he realizes why the team he helped put together is so god awful

 

in his defense, it's probably impossible to sell playing half your games at petco park to a power hitter.

[Tracer Bullet]

well its comforting to know that he realizes why the team he helped put together is so god awful

 

in his defense, it's probably impossible to sell playing half your games at petco park to a power hitter.

 

In the comments section, DePo actually dispels this myth. I'm not sure how much of it is true, but it sounds like he doesn't feel like playing in PetCo is hurting them.

[Tracer Bullet]

well its comforting to know that he realizes why the team he helped put together is so god awful

 

god awful?

[sneakypower]

well its comforting to know that he realizes why the team he helped put together is so god awful

 

god awful?

wrong year, i said is.

 

i dont really have anything against depodesta, but i think it's incredible that he is treated as being beyond reproach. we all like him because his philosophy differs from the norm but what has he done to earn such adoration? the Padres right now have the fewest wins in baseball and some still pine for him to take over as the GM for the team with the most wins in baseball.

 

i understand thats a bit of an oversimplification, but a better question might be- which team, purely talent-wise, is set up better for both now and the future: SD or SF? at least the Giants (with likely the worst GM in the game) have a ton of quality pitching talent both in the majors and minors, yet the Padres are going to hold a garage sale for their pitiful collection of useful talent this summer for the trade deadline. teams will get a chance to haggle for their 27 year old AAA players back.

 

"i'll give you 50¢ for this Scott Hairston..."

[jersey cubs fan]

well its comforting to know that he realizes why the team he helped put together is so god awful

 

god awful?

wrong year, i said is.

 

i dont really have anything against depodesta, but i think it's incredible that he is treated as being beyond reproach. we all like him because his philosophy differs from the norm but what has he done to earn such adoration? the Padres right now have the fewest wins in baseball and some still pine for him to take over as the GM for the team with the most wins in baseball.

 

i understand thats a bit of an oversimplification, but a better question might be- which team, purely talent-wise, is set up better for both now and the future: SD or SF? at least the Giants (with likely the worst GM in the game) have a ton of quality pitching talent both in the majors and minors, yet the Padres are going to hold a garage sale for their pitiful collection of useful talent this summer for the trade deadline. teams will get a chance to haggle for their 27 year old AAA players back.

 

"i'll give you 50¢ for this Scott Hairston..."

 

He's like an assistant to the GM or something and has been there for less than two years. How much of the team's current makeup is really his doing?

[Tracer Bullet]

well its comforting to know that he realizes why the team he helped put together is so god awful

 

god awful?

wrong year, i said is.

 

i dont really have anything against depodesta, but i think it's incredible that he is treated as being beyond reproach. we all like him because his philosophy differs from the norm but what has he done to earn such adoration? the Padres right now have the fewest wins in baseball and some still pine for him to take over as the GM for the team with the most wins in baseball.

 

i understand thats a bit of an oversimplification, but a better question might be- which team, purely talent-wise, is set up better for both now and the future: SD or SF? at least the Giants (with likely the worst GM in the game) have a ton of quality pitching talent both in the majors and minors, yet the Padres are going to hold a garage sale for their pitiful collection of useful talent this summer for the trade deadline. teams will get a chance to haggle for their 27 year old AAA players back.

 

"i'll give you 50¢ for this Scott Hairston..."

 

He's like an assistant to the GM or something and has been there for less than two years. How much of the team's current makeup is really his doing?

 

That's exactly right. We have no way of knowing how much input he has and what Towers does with it. It seems obvious that Towers respects his opinion, since DePo has a a special assistant job. But whether Towers makes every more DePo recommends is not known (and I highly doubt).

 

And what has DePo done?

 

Trade Lo Duca, Moto & Juan Encarnacion for Brad Penny (Choi and a minor leaguer). Result also got Martin a place in the lineup.

 

Allow Seattle to overpay Beltre, rather than re-sign him.

 

Sign Drew, Kent, and Lowe.

 

He put the team in position to be very good and was fired so that his replacement could sign Grady Little, and JP and Jones to inflated contracts to take time away from the very talented young OF they already had.

 

And maybe I'm missing something, but what does SF have to do with Paul DePodesta?

[Ding Dong Johnson]

And maybe I'm missing something, but what does SF have to do with Paul DePodesta?

he used to work for Oakland?

[sneakypower]

it was just a general comparison. the Padres, talent-wise, don't even compare favorably to the team with the worst GM in baseball. or would you disagree?

[Tracer Bullet]

it was just a general comparison. the Padres, talent-wise, don't even compare favorably to the team with the worst GM in baseball. or would you disagree?

 

Well then the assistant to the GM in SF deserves a raise b/c apparently the team is a direct reflection on the ability of the assistant to the GM.

[sneakypower]

thats a pretty asinine inference

[TruffleShuffle]

most of depo's moves turned out to be the correct ones. a lot of people - myself included, i think - ridiculed the lowe signing, but he's been worth far more than what they paid for him. the penny deal was robbery. and the farm system grew under his tenure. he deserves another chance to be gm, because the first time he actually did quite well.

[Tracer Bullet]

thats a pretty asinine inference

 

I'm glad you recognize that. Now maybe you can explain why you feel DePo is directly responsible for the Pads record through 2 months.

[sneakypower]

i understand it's mostly Towers, but what has he done to help?

[Tracer Bullet]

i understand it's mostly Towers, but what has he done to help?

 

How am I supposed to know? What has he done to hurt them? What I know is what he did as GM of the Dodgers and those were good moves. His impact on the Padres is difficult to judge from the outside. But you were the one attributing the success of the current team through less than 2 months to his presence.

[sneakypower]

when did i do that?

[Tracer Bullet]

when did i do that?

 

I don't think you're really this dense.

[sneakypower]

i was just curious which quote of mine you were misconstruing

[Tracer Bullet]

i was just curious which quote of mine you were misconstruing

 

You back pedal faster than Carmelo Anthony.

[sneakypower]

still waiting on the quote