Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. Here's Monday's edition of Saber-LInks:
Matt Swartz writes at the Hardball Times about Cole Hamels, and how long contracts may be a better idea than how they are currently perceived: Big, long deals--THT
The point of this study is that it is unreasonable to sign a long contract with the expectation that you will have a player on top of his game the whole time. Instead, you should sign a player for as long as you expect him to merit a roster spot, and price accordingly. Make sure it’s a bargain at the beginning, since these contracts are effectively loans. The end of the contract is the repayment period for elite seasons banked at the beginning.
The TruMedia guys use heatmaps to analyze everything. In an interesting post on their Baseball Analytics Blog, they show Kevin Youkillis's power surge with the Chicago White Sox: Youk Slugging On the South Side - Baseball Analytics Blog - MLB Baseball Analytics
The 33-year-old, who slugged just .377 and had an 84 OPS+ in 165 PA with the Red Sox, was shipped to the White Sox in late June for Zach Stewart, since-DFA'd Brent Lillibridge and cash. In Chicago, Youk has slugged .512 and has a 138 OPS+ in 150 PA
In a post similar to something I wrote last week, Carson Cistulli calculates expected wRC+'s for the Cape Cod League: Daily Notes, Featuring Expected wRC+ for Cape Cod | FanGraphs Baseball
One assumes that Expected wRC+ could be any number of things. In this particular case, however, it’s an attempt to represent in one number — a number a lot like wRC+, that is — something close to the "true talent" production of a player.
Baseball Prospectus is a phenomenal place to go for sabermetric statistics and analysis, but they really flexed their comedic muscles, today. Russell Carlton discussed just how difficult it is to be an MLB manager: Baseball Prospectus | Baseball Therapy: So You Wanna Be a Manager
I believe you. That's why I'm going to give you the chance to prove how awesome you are at managing a major-league team. Now, of course, you can't actually manage one right now, but I've drawn up a list of things that you'd have to do as a manager and some real-life equivalents. Please accomplish all of them within the next 72 hours.
Also, Sam Miller answered the top baseball questions on Yahoo! Answers: Baseball Prospectus | Pebble Hunting: The Best Baseball Questions on Yahoo! Answers
This weekend, dozens of people with baseball-related questions went to Yahoo! Answers to get answers from yahoos. Get it? I switched the words. What I'm saying is Yahoo! Answers, everybody. The best. Especially the best for baseball questions, which, in nearly all cases, could be answered quickly by one of the many websites that track and record every pitch ever thrown, or else are entirely unanswerable. Just the very, very best.
Dave Cameron of FG revisits the topic that he discussed over the weekend at the Saber Seminar. This is something that anyone who cares about sabermetrics should think about as we all attempt to move forward with the subject: What Do We Really Know About Attendance? | FanGraphs Baseball
I am as baffled by this as everyone else, and talked about this subject not to offer any answers, but to hopefully inspire a room full of very smart people to start asking questions about this side of the sport. We have a lot of work to do before we really understand the factors that drive attendance and revenue, and the assumptions that we make now are not applicable to many situations.
Saber-Links will return tomorrow. Don't miss it!