Q - What are these new stats and abbreviations I keep seeing? How are they calculated and what do they mean? A - Here and Here are some good reference tools for them.
Q - How do I line up stats in my posts? A - Use the < pre> and < /pre> HTML command (take out the spaces of course)...it's even better for stats:
<pre>Victor Martinez while hitting Lefty vs. while hitting Righty:
G AB R H HR RBI BB K AVG OBP SLG OPS
RHB 96 170 29 48 6 28 25 26 .282 .380 .465 .845
LHB 139 350 48 99 17 80 35 43 .283 .348 .506 .854</pre>
All nice and neat. Or you can use the [code ] feature like this:
Victor Martinez while hitting Lefty vs. while hitting Righty:
G AB R H HR RBI BB K AVG OBP SLG OPS RHB 96 170 29 48 6 28 25 26 .282 .380 .465 .845 LHB 139 350 48 99 17 80 35 43 .283 .348 .506 .854
To do this, preface the type with ["code"] and end it with ["/code"], but remove the quotation marks from inside the brackets. Both work, so take your pick.
Last edited by Madison on Tue Feb 27, 2007 9:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Yes doctor, I am sick. Sick of those who are spineless. Sick of those who feel self-entitled. Sick of those who are hypocrites. Yes doctor, an army is forming. Yes doctor, there will be a war. Yes doctor, there will be blood.....
I've actually found DIPS to be a good indicator of undervalued starters in my league (meaning usually unowned). Could you explain how VORP and DIPS are calculated and if you think these types of stats are decent tools for spotting value before others or in evaluating trades?
LoPan wrote:I've actually found DIPS to be a good indicator of undervalued starters in my league (meaning usually unowned). Could you explain how VORP and DIPS are calculated and if you think these types of stats are decent tools for spotting value before others or in evaluating trades?
This is just my two cents, so take it for whatever you think it's worth. I've recently been getting into more of the stathead-type stats so I may not get all of the nuances...
I believe that VORP is more useful for real-life measures of effectiveness than for fantasy purposes. As I recall, a person basically sets the value of the "replacement player" (i.e. a long man or emergency starter) and determines how many runs that player would give up over the same number of innings that the pitcher you're comparing him to has given up. The VORP is then the difference of those two numbers.
It's an interesting stat, and certainly useful to some extent, but in my opinion all it really does is show you the pitchers that have been doing well during the year, which is something that you probably know already. When I've looked at VORP in the past, it hasn't really shown me that many people who I believe are undervalued. There are some, sure, but it's not a huge indicator.
DIPS on the other hand, is quite useful. The way it is calculated is it recalculates every pitcher's ERA based on an equal batting average on balls in play allowed. For instance, Pedro is allowing a .196 BABIP and Harang is allowing a .315 BABIP so far this year, meaning that Harang's ERA is likely inflated and Pedro's is likely deflated. Therefore, as things tend to average out over the course of the year, you'd expect Pedro's ERA to go up, and Harang's to go down. Now since this is now independent of the defense behind each, you wouldn't want to take this as gospel, since some teams obviously have better defense behind them than others.
Another useful stat for finding value is Component ERA, which calculates ERA as a function of the walks and hits that a pitcher gives up. It may be that a pitcher gets unlucky with where he gives up his hits. For instance a low WHIP pitcher may just get unlucky with where he gives up those hits/walks and it contributes to an inflated ERA. And a high WHIP pitcher may be very lucky and the runners frequently get stranded. Again, the law of averages says that players will in all likelihood regress to the mean, so this measure is another way of finding out just who has been "unlucky" so far and may help you find some value.
If you combine both DIPS and Component ERA (along with just plain old ERA) it can give you a pretty good picture of what's happening for a given pitcher, and may help you in your search for undervalued pitchers.
Anyway, take that for what it's worth. There are undoubtedly others around here that know more than I. Good luck.
Thanks for the response. I appreciate the time you took to clearly explain all of those points.
I had anectdotal experience that told me that DIPS was a good indicator of value, but not the understanding of the stat to back it up. That explanation really helps.
Have you noticed any such indicators for hitters who might be undervalued? I don't really see a clear cut stat that doesn't just point out guys that are already owned in every league.
LoPan wrote:Have you noticed any such indicators for hitters who might be undervalued? I don't really see a clear cut stat that doesn't just point out guys that are already owned in every league.
Unfortunately I have not. Most of the hitting stats you see (RC, RC/27, VORP, etc.) are good indicators of guys who are under/overrated in real life (BGiles is vastly underrated for example), but they don't really help that much in fantasy. Someone may come along that knows of a stat to help find undervalued fantasy hitters, but I'm not sure of one.
LoPan wrote:Have you noticed any such indicators for hitters who might be undervalued? I don't really see a clear cut stat that doesn't just point out guys that are already owned in every league.
Unfortunately I have not. Most of the hitting stats you see (RC, RC/27, VORP, etc.) are good indicators of guys who are under/overrated in real life (BGiles is vastly underrated for example), but they don't really help that much in fantasy. Someone may come along that knows of a stat to help find undervalued fantasy hitters, but I'm not sure of one.
Sorry I can't help you there.
Great responses BP.
Believe it or not, you actually did answer this question too. BABIP can be used for hitters as well, so a low BABIP for hitters means they are getting unlucky, hitting it straight to the fielders, etc. A high BABIP means the player is getting lucky and "hittin 'em where they ain't", seeing eye ground ball singles, bloopers, etc. Both will regress to the mean, so using BABIP for hitters can tell you who's been unlucky, and who's getting lucky, which is nice, since they will revert to the mean down the line. Buy low BABIP and sell high BABIP.
Yes doctor, I am sick. Sick of those who are spineless. Sick of those who feel self-entitled. Sick of those who are hypocrites. Yes doctor, an army is forming. Yes doctor, there will be a war. Yes doctor, there will be blood.....
LoPan wrote:Have you noticed any such indicators for hitters who might be undervalued? I don't really see a clear cut stat that doesn't just point out guys that are already owned in every league.
Unfortunately I have not. Most of the hitting stats you see (RC, RC/27, VORP, etc.) are good indicators of guys who are under/overrated in real life (BGiles is vastly underrated for example), but they don't really help that much in fantasy. Someone may come along that knows of a stat to help find undervalued fantasy hitters, but I'm not sure of one.
Sorry I can't help you there.
Great responses BP.
Believe it or not, you actually did answer this question too. BABIP can be used for hitters as well, so a low BABIP for hitters means they are getting unlucky, hitting it straight to the fielders, etc. A high BABIP means the player is getting lucky and "hittin 'em where they ain't", seeing eye ground ball singles, bloopers, etc. Both will regress to the mean, so using BABIP for hitters can tell you who's been unlucky, and who's getting lucky, which is nice, since they will revert to the mean down the line. Buy low BABIP and sell high BABIP.
Duh.
I was looking at more of the crazy sabermetric stats, and totally spaced on BABIP... Good catch.
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by Madison » Wed Aug 24, 2005 12:49 pm 
Or you can use the [code ] feature like this:
