The World According to VORP
All
baseball fans know AVG, RBI, and ERA, but the game's new-wave
stat heads say there are better ways to size up a player. According
to Mike Carminati of Mike's Baseball Rants
(mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com) and Dayn Perry from FoxSports.com,
these are just a few.
- Chris Tucker
OBP
A hitter's on-base percentage
SLG
Slugging average (total bases in proportion to times at bat)
OPS
On-base percentage plus slugging average
WHIP (for pitchers)
Walks plus hits per innings pitched
Win Shares
Weighs a player's batting, baserunning, fielding, and pitching
together
VORP
Value over replacement player, or the value a player provides
compared
with a hypothetically readily available "filler talent" type of
player
Winner's Circle
We then asked Carminati and Perry to tell us which players they
think are primed for a breakout season.
Carminati:
Jason Bay, left fielder for the
Pittsburgh Pirates. "He'll finally
have that monster season that gets him national attention, even in
Pittsburgh."
Perry:
Francisco Liriano, pitcher for the
Minnesota Twins. "He'll be the
American League Rookie of the Year."
And they agreed on some recent players who, if there were any
justice, would now be in the Hall of Fame:
Bert Blyleven, Goose Gossage, Alan Trammell, and Andre
Dawson
Bloggin' Baseball
A baseball fanatic's list of useful baseball websites and blogs. -
C.T.
Baseball Crank (
www.baseballcrank.com):
All-purpose commentary, plus keen insight on the American game.
Baseball Prospectus (
www.baseballprospectus.com):
It's been called "the nation's preeminent national-pastime think
tank." $39.95 per year.
The Hardball Times (
www.hardballtimes.com): Great
daily news roundup, cool graphs, and high-domed sabermetrics
analysis. Median relative run value, anyone?
Bleed Cubbie Blue (
www.bleedcubbieblue.com):
Blogs abound for every
MLB team, but this
Chicago site is one of
the best, written by a long-suffering fan with all the (sometimes
anguished) passion the name implies.
Humbug Journal (
www.humbug.baseballtoaster.com):
Off-the-wall site includes writer's search for the mean geographic
center of all MLB ballparks (it's near Tuscumbia, Missouri) and
some hilarious baseball limericks.
Retrosheet (
www.retrosheet.org): Dedicated to
re-creating baseball's lost past, including play-by-play accounts
of games dating back to 1903.
Major League Money
The ideal MLB owner loves the game, respects the players, and - oh,
yeah - has more than a little discretionary income. Match the
following owners with the careers that made them their piles. -
C.T.
George Steinbrenner A. Former president and CEO,
New York Yankees Wal-Mart
Hiroshi Yamauchi B. Shipbuilding
Seattle Mariners
Rogers Communications C. Hedge fund operator
Toronto Blue Jays
David Glass D. President of Nintendo
Kansas City Royals
John Fisher E. Son of Gap founder
Oakland A's
John Henry F.
Canada's largest
Boston Red Sox cable-TV provider
Answers:
George Steinbrenner, B;
Hiroshi Yamauchi, D; Rogers
Communications, F; David Glass, A; John Fisher, E; John Henry,
C.
Season Predictions: Five Things to Watch for
• It's the Year of Barry.
Looming large in the rearview mirrors of both
Babe Ruth and Hank
Aaron,
San Francisco Giants slugger
Barry Bonds will be the story
of the 2006
Major League Baseball season. With 708 homers to his
credit, he needs just seven more to pass Ruth for second place on
the career home run list, and 48 to eclipse Aaron as the all-time
champ. (We'd calculate how much ink and TV airtime will be devoted
to Bonds's pursuit, but we never got past basic algebra in high
school.)
You'd think that would be enough for one player - but you'd be
wrong. If he stays healthy and plays a full season, Bonds could
finish 2006 in the all-time top 10 for games played, runs scored,
and runs batted in. He already owns the career mark for walks, and
he could get close enough to 3,000 career hits to entice him to
delay retirement and return for the 2007 season.
Also look for:
• The inaugural World Baseball Classic. The World Series
isn't all that worldly, so baseball's titans came up with the WBC
to showcase the best teams from around the globe.
• The steroid police. Twelve players tested positive for
steroid use last season, and the policy has been strengthened since
then. Will anybody get busted this year? Will offensive production
fall? We're guessing yes on both counts.
• The St. Louis Cardinals leave Busch Stadium for … Busch
Stadium. After nearly 40 years, the old version ran into a
wrecking ball and made way for a new, $387 million gem across the
street. Same name, new address.
• Futility, thy name is Cubs. The
Boston Red Sox exorcised
86 years of "The Curse" by winning the World Series two seasons
ago. The
Chicago White Sox ended 88 years of misery (and took some
of the sting out of the "Black Sox" scandal of 1919) by taking the
title last season. The Cubs are the last of the longtime lovable
losers, and excuses are wearing thinner than ever after a Series
drought that extends back to 1908. - Chris Wessling
Sounds Like Team Spirit
Texas Rangers shortstop Michael Young, last year's American League
batting champion, took a few minutes out of his busy schedule to
chat with us about - what else? - baseball. - C.T.
Last season was your best yet - a .331 average, 221 hits, and
the batting title. How do you top that?
My only goal is to get the most out of my ability, and I'm not at
that point yet. There are still some areas of my game I can improve
on.
What do you do in the off-season?
I take three or four weeks off to detox from a long, grueling
season. After New Year's, it's back to the weight room and my
cardio work. Then I start throwing and hitting and [doing] some
agility stuff. Like every player, I want to show up at spring
training bigger, stronger, and faster than the year before.
Some players depend on rituals and mantras to help them focus.
Do you?
I'm not a superstitious guy. I just show up and play hard.
How do you handle slumps?
I make a considered effort to not change a thing in a slump. A lot
of guys start changing everything, searching for answers, and then
they're really in trouble. I believe in my approach to hitting, so
win, lose, or draw, that's my plan of attack.
Were you a big baseball fan as a kid?
Oh, yeah. I grew up in the L.A. area, but I was a
New York Mets fan, and my favorite player was Don Mattingly [of the New York Yankees], so go figure on that one. I just wasn’t too fond of the teams out west.
Do you get distracted by all the music they play during the games — you know, “We Will Rock You” and all?Not at home, but
Yankee Stadium and Boston are in a league of their own. It can really get crazy.
Speaking of music, what’s your theme song when you come up to bat?Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” I listened to it a lot in high school. That song automatically gets me pumped up.
What does it mean to play for the United States in the World Baseball Classic?I never played in the
Olympics, so this is my first [chance] to represent my country. We’re going to do everything we can to win.
DoubleheaderHere are two fine baseball novels that couldn’t be more different. Donald Hays’s
The Dixie Association ($19,
Louisiana State University Press) is a rich, rollicking comedy about a
minor-league team made up of a motley cross section of eccentrics and castoffs. Scott Lasser’s
Battle Creek ($15, Harper Perennial) is a spare, tragic story of semipros working day jobs and playing — for love and escape, not money — on a team sponsored by a funeral home (just one hint of the book’s dark corners). Hays ranges into social critique, satire, and allegory, while Lasser deftly probes the forces that drive his characters to triumph or doom.
— C.T.