UZR fielding stats up and...

[BigSlick]

...Theres really nothing that extraordinary concerning the Cubs other than one player...

 

http://www.insidethebook.com/ee/index.php/site/article/how_well_can_we_project_team_defense_and_other_uzr_data/

 

CF

 

Best

 

Cameron 40

Amezaga 31

Victorino 30

A Rios 29

C Gomez 28

Beltran 26

M Cabrera 24

 

Worst

 

Edmonds -38

J Hamilton -37

V Wells -31

Kotsay -24

A Jones -20

 

Yup, thats right, given Edmonds fielding over the course of a full season he'd lose us almost 4 games with his fielding alone. Now yes, take that with a grain of salt considering the small sample size, but its something to keep an eye out for.

[Bote McBoteface]

But I saw him make a diving play once!

 

 

 

 

...that's what makes Jeter so great defensively, am I right?

[CubColtPacer]

It looks like small sample size of an already unreliable figure. I'm not saying the Edmonds number is necessarily wrong (although it probably is, but Petco probably dragged that number down quite a bit).

 

The infield rankings look somewhat ok (there's several numbers that I disagree with, but none large enough to really jump out as completely wrong). When it gets to the outfield though, I disagree quite strongly.

 

LF for example. Chris Duncan as 28 runs above average? Jay Payton as 20 runs above average? (I realize they both have extremely small sample sizes due to their part-time play, so this data is probably very shaky and prone to change).

 

And how Fukudome doesn't appear on that RF list when you see the players who are actually on the best list is a little crazy.

[RynoRules]

Isn't Duncan pretty bad in left? And I vaguely recall a debate over what the best fielding metric is - what was the consensus?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Isn't Duncan pretty bad in left? And I vaguely recall a debate over what the best fielding metric is - what was the consensus?

 

Duncan's defense in LF leaves you to wonder if he's facing the plate or the bleachers when the pitch comes in.

[BigSlick]

The guy who blogged it speaks about Duncan's surprising numbers:

 

"How is that different from Dewan’s plus/minus? His plus/minus is essentially the same as UZR if you turn it into runs. The only significant difference is that it uses a different database, which seems to make a big difference.

 

Duncan was a -6 last year in 86 games, so between this year and last, he is +3 net runs in 119 games. I am sure that the 95% confidence interval for 119 games would be like plus or minus 15 runs or so.

As I always say, when you have a group of sample data, if there are not the usual outliers (whatever you would expect when you combine a bunch of bell curves), you are likely cheating. Then again, we can’t just assume that every player who does not comport with our notion of that player is an outlier, otherwise, what is the point of the metric in the first place? What we do is to regress the metric towards some “scouting” report on the player. If that “scouting report” is a knowledgeable player watching a lot of that player, that is fine. But, again, we have to be careful and understand that these metrics are generally better than our “minds and eyes” which can play tricks on us. The metrics are (hopefully) unbiased. We also have to understand that the larger the sample that the metric is based on, the more we have to rely on it, at the expense of what we “think we know” about that player (assuming that the metric has some requisite level of accuracy and reliability of course).

 

Duncan has some kind of a bad reputation as an OF’er, and I know he looks awkward out there, but LaRussa has said that he is actually a very good outfielder. Whether Tony was just being kind or PC, I don’t know. But when I think of Duncan, I always think of Tony’s remarks about his defense.

If I had to put a value on his defense, I would honestly say it was just a little below average (of course, with a lot of uncertainty) . I get that estimate from his general rep (bad), his UZR (a little above average in 119 games), and LaRussa’s statements (which I interpret as being that he is average at worst)."

[BigbadB]

If Edmonds' numbers are based on Padres and Cubs, most of his negative points probably comes from Petco. He was horrible defensively in his short stint there, which probably helped make San Diego's decision to cut him that much easier.

[cheapseats]

Edmonds was one of the five worst defensive CF in 2007 according to the Fielding Bible, so this shouldn't surprise anybody.

[snoodmonger]

Isn't Duncan pretty bad in left? And I vaguely recall a debate over what the best fielding metric is - what was the consensus?

 

Duncan's defense in LF leaves you to wonder if he's facing the plate or the bleachers when the pitch comes in.

 

 

lol

[CuseCubFan69]

Hamilton seems to be a LF playing CF according to those numbers.