BDD: On Ibanez, Defensive Sabermetrics

by Bill Baer on May 7th, 2009
Posted in Baseball Daily Digest, Media, MLB, Philadelphia Phillies, Sabermetrics | Print | 1 Comment »

With a hat tip to commenter EH, I’ve dissected an article written by Jeff Passan, who illustrates the dichotomy between what Ibanez was supposed to do and what he is currently doing.

Not too long ago, talking airhead Rush Limbaugh was in some hot water for saying that he hopes that the Obama administration fails because their ideas largely differ from his own. Instead of saying, “While we may disagree, I want what’s best for my country even if that means implementing your ideas and seeing them succeed,” Limbaugh was more concerned with the success of his ideology.

I see the same thing happening with the Sabermetrics vs. Traditional stats/Scouting debate. It’s really not about who’s right or who’s wrong; it should be about finding the most logical, objective, consistently accurate method of analyzing players and teams. Sometimes, Sabermetrics do the job very well. Other times, you need a scout to pinpoint something. So far, no one ideology has proven itself worthy of a monopoly.

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  1. One Response to “BDD: On Ibanez, Defensive Sabermetrics”

  2. By Mark on May 7, 2009

    I am still a fan of scouts. The game is played by real people. Sabremetrics has its place in the game there is no doubt about that, but watching Jacoby Ellsbury steal home against Andy Pettite a couple weeks ago was attributed to excellent scouting.

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