| 11 May 2010
Murray Chass has been writing about baseball for nearly 50 years, so it's fair to say that he SHOULD know lots about baseball. The 2003 Hall of Fame inductee has long been on record that he hates blogs, despite the work of some incredibly talented and modern thinkers, oh and that he started his own blog in 2008.
Chass' biggest issue is with some of the newer stat matrices because he simply can't accept that the old ways of evaluating players are flawed. And who can blame him, after all, in the 1960s when he started writing the world was PERFECT, if only we could have the world just as it was in 1962.
His latest assault on reason comes against Zack Greinke, last year's VERY deserving AL Cy Young winner despite his only winning 16 games. Of course, wins are primarily out of a pitcher's control, but why should facts skew the ancient Chass' line of reasoning.
Chass' writes:
The stats freaks who never saw a decimal point they didn’t worship were ecstatic last year when Zack Greinke won the American League Cy Young award while winning only 16 games.Felix Hernandez, who won 19 and whose 2.49 earned run average was second to Greinke’s 2.16, would have been my choice, but the stats guys “proved” that Greinke was the correct choice because of his statistical standing in formulaic concoctions in which we mere mortals do not imbibe.
I can’t wait to see what they will do with Greinke’s record this year. He has started seven games and has won none of them. He has lost four. He has a respectable e.r.a. of 2.51, but he is the first returning Cy Young winner, Elias Sports Bureau says, to fail to win any of his first seven starts since Frank Viola in 1989.
Ah, cherry-picking! Yes, Greinke has no wins, of course, Chass esssentially ignores that in 7 starts his team has scored a TOTAL of 21 runs. Even with Greinke's STELLAR 2.49 ERA, that's nearly impossible to get wins. It's called RUN SUPPORT Murray and it isn't even a NEW stat. Oh I forgot, Greinke is at fault because he didn't knock in those runners in scoring position when he was batting...
But sure, it's Greinke's fault that he pitches an 8-inning complete game giving up 1 run and LOSES, or that his team's run scoring abilities are simply atrocious. Right now, Greinke is legitimately one of the top 3-5 starters in the AL and his all-around numbers are still ridiculously good, for christsake he has a 166 ERA+ this season so far. He hasn't been AS dominant as he was last year, but there's still plenty of season to come. But sure, harp AGAIN that wins matter. Guess what, THEY DON'T.
Alfredo Aceves came in on Saturday and got the win in the Yankees/Red Sox game, CC had pitched 4 2/3, when the rains came Aceves came in relief after the delay and pitched 1 1/3. That was enough for him to vulture the win. Because clearly HE was the one who had EARNED it. Or could it be because wins are a useless stat for evaluating pitchers and every time you mention wins as a legit stat it shows that your mind is already gone. Stop writing Murray.
I can't fucking stand these old-guard blowhard writers who refuse to acknowledge that the way they evaluated players is flawed. The front-offices have changed, the scouts have changed, the FANS are changing, but the fat writers are too busy stuffing their gullets to look up and see that the world is DIFFERENT.
Assholes the lot of them. And Murray Chass is one of the biggest gaping assholes out there. Hey, old man, get off OUR lawns.
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