"Westworld" is embarassing
The Giants aren't creating a lot of excitement right now. I was looking over their site and saw a new feature called "Westworld", which is a "a weekly foray into the wild, weird and wonderful workings of the West divisions of the American and National Leagues, where so many interesting things often happen after all the major news organizations in this country have gone to sleep." Alright, so the opening column of this west-focused feature compares the organizational styles of the Oakland A's, known as "Moneyball" (duh) to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (is there anyone not annoyed by this, btw?), known as "Mikeyball". First things first, is there a reason it's not called "Stoneyball" after GM Bill Stoneman? He's the guy who built the team, isn't he?
Right off the bat, I know I'm going to love this. The sidebar near the author's name has a picture of Vladimir Guerrero pointing skyward, indicating his acknowledgement that yes, Jesus wanted the Angels to win that game. The caption reads, "Vladimir Guerrero fits perfectly in Mike Scioscia's game plan -- a great situational hitter and aggressive baserunner". Really? Vlad fits into Scioscia's gamplan? Amazing, because he's such a poor fit for most gameplans. Good job, Mikey?
Come on. To say that Vlad is a great situational hitter and an aggressive baserunner is like saying that a Porsche 911 Turbo has a 6-disc CD changer and connolly leather seats. It's true, but it's not why you buy such a vehicle. To the unsophisticated (which not having even read the article I'm starting to think is the case with its author), the Moneyball approach is about walks and home runs rather than sacrifice bunts and stolen bases.
So which is Mr. Mikeyball Vlad? Well, over the three-year period between 2002 and 2004 he stole 64 bases and was caught 28 times (a 70% success rate, which is pretty decent and indicates a "break-even" effort, at least according to the very anti-Mikeyball stats-minded). That being said, he stole 40 of those 64 in 2002 as an Expo. He stole 15 last year. It's an average of 21 per year. How about home runs? 103 over the last three years, 39 last year. Walks? Vlad has a reputation for being a hacker, and it was true ... until 2000 when he boosted his walk rate. Barry Bonds he isn't, but Vlad has averaged about 70 walks a year over the last four years.
All of which tells is what we already knew - Vlad is neither a "moneyball" or a "mikeyball" player. The guy is just a superstar. Alright, moving on.
Here's a choice bit:
"We want to stay aggressive and play 'little ball,' but only as long as we have the team to do it," Scioscia adds. "I just don't think you can cookie-cutter any team into a philosophy."
We'll soon see how the cookie crumbles in the AL West.
Ok, I don't mean to be difficult, but after lauding the Angels' defeat of the A's in the final series of the regular season last year, how can this comment be credibly made? For one thing, wasn't the 2004 Angels team built around Vladimir Guerrero, Troy Glaus, Garrett Anderson and Tim Salmon? Aside from the ridiculous decision to play Darin Erstad at first base, this was a power team last year. This year, with Glaus gone and Salmon out with injuries we'll see what happens when the Angels actually play little ball, rather than just claiming they're playing little ball while holding a roster full of sluggers.
This is particularly irksome to me in that the 2002 Angels, who of course beat my beloved Giants in the World Series, were lauded as the Great Littleball Team that could. Strangely, though, I remember it being Scott Spiezio's HOME RUN that put the Angels back in. It wasn't David Eckstein hitting an infield single and then skittering around the basepaths three times. It was the good old Earl Weaver-style 3-run jack that got them back in. Furthermore, the Series MVP was Troy Glaus, who hit what, seven home runs during the Series? The Angels might have been all about the sac bunt but it was pure power that got them their rings. That the conventional wisdom was so inaccurate just added lemon juice to my wounds.
The rest of the article is relatively benign, but the other bit I think is just criminally omitted if you're going to compare the A's to the Angels:
A's 2005 payroll: $55.8M (btw, when did THAT happen?), 21st in MLB
Angels 2005 payroll: $95M, 5th in MLB (after the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets and ... Phillies?)
Just for reference, splitting the difference:
Giants 2005 payroll: $89.5M, 7th in MLB
Anyway, if you insist on comparing the Angels to the A's, might at least *mention* the economic disparity. One easy thought experiment on how to equalize these teams would be this: If you moved Vladimir Guerrero's $12.5M from the Angels to the A's you'd be looking at $68.3M (A's) versus $77M (Angels). I don't think too many would argue that the A's with Vlad would have a lot of trouble taking on the Angels without him. Well, some would, and I'd be forced to write about it.
posted by Eric @ 1:18 PM
18 Comments:
My sole response to this (most of which I agree with) is that I think Yorvit is more likely to kill us as LA's starting catcher or possibly Oakland.
Player E: 440 AB; .335 / .460 / 19 HR / 71 RBI
Player E is Ramon Hernandez, San Diego's own power-hitting young (28) catcher. I don't remember who Oakland got for him. Does anyone? Something good I hope. He's a pretty big bargain at $4M.
The Padres acquired Hernandez and Terrance Long from Oakland for Mark Kotsay.
Ah yes. And that deal was actually a decent one for both sides, as they got out from under TLong's contract and Kotsay is a very underrated player who had a very valuable (.314 / .370 / .459) season playing center field for the A's (and he's a plus defender, +17 runs above average in 2004 according to BP). Thanks Doug.
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