Joe Posnanski's column today makes a huge assertion which may not be readily obvious to this (or any other) audience:
And I’ve come to believe this is the reality: NOBODY who cares about baseball hates all baseball stats.
It's a convincing case. What we've long assumed was a hatred of all stats (or to be more insulting, a "hatred of thinking!") was actually a dislike of the wrong stats.
His solution, though, puts the issue on its head. He suggests that perhaps simplifying what we call "simple stats" is the best idea. Call 'em "team wins" instead of pitcher wins, count all sacrifices that accomplish the same thing (yikes!), simplify RBIs, clarify ERA, and a middle reliever stat he dubs "Inherited Runners Stranded."
His idea is solid, I think. Create better understanding for non-sabermetricians through further-simplified stats. Is this the best way to do it, though? I have doubts as to whether these actually simplify things or further muddy the waters for guys that aren't really interested, honestly. Or is this more of an exercise to make us sabermetricians feel better about ourselves?