SaberCard Update! (Now with more stats!)

by adarowski on Jul 1, 2010 1:54 PM EDT in Visuals Above Replacement

It's been just about a month since I first introduced the SaberCard concept. Based on the awesome feedback from the BtB readers, I produced another iteration to correspond with BtB's Top 50 players over the next five years. Still, you stat geeks were clamoring for more stats. So, version three of the SaberCard aims to do just that. Today, I bring you a more stat-heavy SaberCard for David Ortiz.

Graph of the Day

We're not final yet. There are some other things Justin and I would like to experiment with. But I wanted to share this iteration before going further. Thoughts?

Tweet Comment 21 comments | 1 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

I can't wait to collect them all!

This might not be a factor for Ortiz, but I’d personally rather see yearly UZR than OPS. OPS seems redundant with wOBA, and wOBA’s better. :)

I’d also like to see PA’s. Hard to judge the other stats without knowing playing time.

Great continued work!
-j

I write at:
Beyond the Boxscore | Red Reporter | Basement-Dwellers.com | Twitter: @jinazreds

by JinAZ on Jul 1, 2010 2:09 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah

I think UZR, or some fielding metric what be a nice addition in place of OPS. Clearly it’s built into the graph, but might be nice to see numerically.

LOVE the way they look though. LOVE!!

Beyond the Box Score | Play a Hard Nine | Twitter

by stevesommer05 on Jul 1, 2010 4:02 PM EDT up reply actions

Agreed

OPS is not welcome. It’s a perfectly fine gateway stat, but not an advanced one.

"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want" -Bill Watterson

by nevermoor on Jul 1, 2010 6:48 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah also

This is exactly (and all) I came here to say, so … yeah. One more vote against OPS.

by doctawojo on Jul 1, 2010 8:03 PM EDT up reply actions

I'd love to see UZR instead of OPS

and PA somewhere would be nice. But lets not use UZR/150 just to be clear.

by TheFunkle on Jul 1, 2010 9:45 PM EDT up reply actions

But don't get me wrong I LOVE this

This is actually really really cool

by TheFunkle on Jul 1, 2010 9:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Looks great stylistically

Colors and style look really good. Contract status was also a nice detail. The offense bar color seems to conflict a bit with the background dark blue, though. The bright blue seems to contrast a bit harshly with the dark blue, but that might just be me.

I’m really looking forward to what pitching stats are chosen to highlight and the kind of information for those.

I have a question about players with alleged steroid and PED allegations, though. While I don’t believe any sort of asterisk is warranted, how will players with question marks be handled in the summary? Papi is different than Manny, who is different than Clemens and Bonds, so it would get into gray areas really quickly. Just curious if any of it will be mentioned for some players, not trying to make a point at all.

by QuinnTheEzkamo on Jul 1, 2010 2:36 PM EDT reply actions

I'm not here to talk about the p—

Eh, I’m not an authority to introduce PED allegations on something like a SaberCard. Particularly a case where there’s nothing definitive, like Ortiz. That one was just so weird.

As for pitching…

Yes, pitching. In regards to WAR, we just don’t talk abou tit enough. I’m looking to remedy that soon.

Thanks for the kind words!

On Twitter: @baseballtwit

by adarowski on Jul 1, 2010 3:13 PM EDT up reply actions

Agree completely

Also agree with Quinn that the style is great.

"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want" -Bill Watterson

by nevermoor on Jul 1, 2010 6:49 PM EDT up reply actions

Officially

Awesome. The only thing I can think that I really want is more than 5 years of data, even if it’s in the form of “Total for first x years” followed by “last 5 years.” I also think baserunning and fielding stats SHOULD be added numerically (UZR/150, and eqbsr?) (maybe punt RAA? I dunno). BABIP would also be nice. That’s the extent of what I’d want to see added.

Really looks good, interested how pitchers turn out.

by themastah on Jul 1, 2010 3:54 PM EDT reply actions

Nice!

UZR would be a nice add, although I wonder if there’s a way to add it without losing OPS. I know OPS and wOBA are redundant, but it’d be nice to have a stat that’s “mainstream” friendly.

The only other thing I’d mention is that the red and orange next to each other make them hard to distinguish. Especially in a case with a player like Papi who has a tiny baserunning bar.

by BSizzle on Jul 1, 2010 5:10 PM EDT reply actions

I'm going to second this

Especially the OPS part, I think the cards lose a lot of accessibility without it.

Also, I want a pack really badly.

by yellomellojello on Jul 1, 2010 8:37 PM EDT up reply actions

A couple thoughts

1. Love the contract status line

2. Love the 5 years detail plus career box

3. If it were me, the five stats I’d highlight would include UZR and maybe even WPA at the cost of OPS and maybe even RAA (since that one is graphed).

4. I’d still really like to know why Ortiz is a good hitter (i.e. power hitter / speed / high OBP / etc), which you don’t get by focusing only on combined stats. (And yes, I still like the diamond view thingy for that)

5. You’re going to need to make room for card numbers

6. Love the writeup text.

"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want" -Bill Watterson

by nevermoor on Jul 1, 2010 6:59 PM EDT reply actions

Really Nice!

I agree with the recommendation for UZR and WPA, at the cost of OPS and RAA.

Perhaps a spider chart for visualizing what “type of player” the player is? What’s the “diamond view thingy”?

I would like to have a “Career Average” or Career total RAR graph along with the last few years.

VERY sharp design in general.

by DSMok1 on Jul 1, 2010 11:26 PM EDT up reply actions

These look better and better

with every iteration. Awesome job!

by CGlaser on Jul 1, 2010 9:40 PM EDT reply actions

Thanks again, awesome feedback!

Regarding UZR — I’ve been using TZ in the RAA graph, since I’m a big Rally WAR guy. Why do I do this? Well, I like the idea of doing these cards not just for today’s players, but across history. Rally’s WAR does this. I suppose I could do what Fangraphs themselves does and do a hybrid for pre-2002.

I hear ya regarding OPS. Kind of like the idea of PA or even WPA.

On Twitter: @baseballtwit

by adarowski on Jul 1, 2010 11:36 PM EDT reply actions