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Old 05-12-2005, 02:31 AM   #78
Jason Moyer
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Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Pittsburgh
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MattStewNYY
Is there any metric that measures how many runs a year Giambi costs with his lack of speed?
As long as you keep in mind that there are external factors, you could probably compare his runs per plate appearance to his on base percentage. Or his runs to his times on base. With a large enough sample size it might be meaningful.

Random examples (I'll try to use extremes...a few dirt slow guys, a few fast guys, varying OBP skill):

Ja Giambi - (851 R - 281 HR)/(1413 H - 281 HR + 871 BB) = .284 R/TOB .147 R/PA
V Coleman - .438 .142
R Henderson - .404 .172
T Cobb - .400 .172
T Raines - .372 .152
B Ruth - .346 .205
B Bonds - .316 .179
T Williams - .307 .184
F Thomas - .278 .154
M Vaughn - .264 .134
E Lombardi - .202 .095

Vaguely correlates to a player's speed, altho I'd have to question Babe Ruth ranking Higher than Barry Bonds. It could also just correlate to one's typical position in the batting order...I can't think of anyone offhand who led off most of his career with no speed or hit low in the order with wheels.

If either of these stats meaningfully correlate to a skill, I'd expect them to be fairly consistent over a player's career regardless of team/lineup spot, with a decline for age.
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Last edited by Jason Moyer; 05-12-2005 at 03:12 AM.
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