TargetView: New York Yankees - Graph of the Day

by Justin Bopp on Oct 13, 2009 11:30 AM EDT in Visuals Above Replacement

Uzr-coverageview-nyy-2009_medium

Did you know that Derek Jeter has the best glove of all Yankee starters?

One week ago today, I introduced the UZR TargetView method of comparing team fielding abilities. There, I outlined the purpose, development, and concerns with the method. Unwittingly, I chose the St. Louis Cardinals to unveil the idea.

Little did I know that one little black dot on my chart would be so prophetic. Two days later, Matt Holliday, with his -5.3 UZR/150 glory and all the grace of Beavis playing plate frisbee, botched a play in left field and all but doomed St. Louis' playoff chances. You can see that little dot taunting CardsFan there on the left.

"Hello Cards fan. Was I worth it?"

Now, I'm absolutely not claiming any sort of TargetView curse. That would be silly. However, Matt Holliday was obviously one of the two biggest holes in the STL defense and, cliche or no, the ball does tend to find its way to those holes, does it not?

They're probably the best team left after a weekend of sweeps, but If I were a Yankees fan, after I bathed I would wonder what the one biggest hole on my team was. Johnny Damon in LF might be it.

Data Collection & Visualization: Justin Bopp | Data Source: Fangraphs.com*

*data is 2009 regular season UZR/150.

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Comments

i think A-Rod, Damon, and Cano aren’t as bad as the numbers show; Jeter just has such great range that he’s taking plays away from them. And that’s why he deserves the Gold Gloves for SS, 3B, 2B, and LF.

by BrianRose on Oct 13, 2009 4:29 PM EDT reply actions 2 recs

Even if that were true, that shouldn't matter

since Jeter would only get credit for plays above what a shortstop would make in those zones. Of course, he’d be raising the shortstop averages for each of the zones as well.

I spent way too much time talking technicalities for this joke.

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by SFiercex4 on Oct 13, 2009 4:40 PM EDT up reply actions

LMAO

Well played, BrianRose.

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by Justin Bopp on Oct 13, 2009 4:43 PM EDT up reply actions

Odd, since Holliday's being given a lot of consideration by some Sox fans BECAUSE of his defensive abilities...

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by bdalebs on Oct 14, 2009 12:08 AM EDT reply actions

It's probably more like

“he’s a great hitter, and not as bad as jose guillen in the outfield.”

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by Justin Bopp on Oct 14, 2009 12:51 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, he's consistently rated well in the OF other than this sample with the Cardinals.

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by Sky Kalkman on Oct 14, 2009 9:36 AM EDT up reply actions

I always thought he was a good defensive OFer

Till he played for the Cardinals and watched him in person. Colored me never impressed by him on defense. I think LFer’s are just dragging down the curve.

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by FlimtotheFlam on Oct 15, 2009 12:56 PM EDT up reply actions