FIP vs. ERA

[rski70]

I have the best FIP in my conference at 3.87, but am 13th in ERA and hovering around .500. My offense is top rated in all major offensive categories other than stolen bases.

My defense is't elite by any means, but most of my starters are well above average (50 is average right?) with the exception of Altuve at 2B and he's a 45 and Lieber who I am training in LF.

Is this just due to small sample size and the ERA will get a little better or is there something else I should be looking at? Could my catchers be having a major effect on the ERA? I have Kendall and Austin Barners there, who are just 68 and 77 overall at their position. Should I give up Kendall's bat for a lesser offensive catcher who is closer to 100 or will the impact be minimal?

[steamrollers]

It is a small sample size at this point in the season but just as an example a 40s rated D at 2b is pretty lousy. I typically won’t go with anyone below 70 up the middle and prefer 90s even if it sacrifices the bat. With that said sample size could be a large factor as one of my teams that was top 2 in all major D categories last year and has 90 or 100+ defense in most positions is now at the bottom of the league this season through a month.

[bailey]

FIP measures effectiveness of pitchers on what they can control: walks, K's and home runs. Defensively, I need 80+ at 2b, ss, cf, 60+ at the corners, catcher defense is alleged not to matter. Your defense sounds bad, thus high ERA, but small sample size is an issue here, too.

[Lemandria]

General rule, ERA > FIP = blame the defense. Other way, blame the pitchers.

But non-neutral ballpark are gonna fudge that up, and so can your pitcher selection.

It's a very broad guesstimate.

I think you need more D. Should know better by the end of the all star break.

[Syd Thrift]

50 is unlikely to be average in these leagues, especially if you’re above the rookie level, and double especially at SS, 2B, and CF.

[rski70]

My fielding ratings for the top player at each position are:

C - 68
1B - 70
2B - 45
SS - 95
3B - 52
LF - 53
CF - 79
RF - 65

All my position players with the excpetion of one are gold. have reserve silver and bronze level players with a lot better defense at certain positions but are not as good offensively. How do you decide how much offense to give up for better defense? I realize I need to be much better to climb the ranks, but I'm only in stone right now and I'm getting a lot of points due to my offense. So maybe I should just ride the points for this season and try to get upgrades at the end of the year (or perhaps organically through packs won in tournaments)?

[Lemandria]

2b for sure. When/how is what GMs get paid to decide ;p

Usually a bit of extra income around the ASG, if you can't find a cost-efficient guy by then.

Or maybe you're 10 games up and have all the time in the world.

[Marleigh]

It's also worth noting if you are using groundball pitchers then your IF defence especially, 2b/ss become even more important

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by rski70

My fielding ratings for the top player at each position are:

C - 68
1B - 70
2B - 45
SS - 95
3B - 52
LF - 53
CF - 79
RF - 65

All my position players with the excpetion of one are gold. have reserve silver and bronze level players with a lot better defense at certain positions but are not as good offensively. How do you decide how much offense to give up for better defense? I realize I need to be much better to climb the ranks, but I'm only in stone right now and I'm getting a lot of points due to my offense. So maybe I should just ride the points for this season and try to get upgrades at the end of the year (or perhaps organically through packs won in tournaments)?

You might just be unlucky, although your defense at second and third isn't great and that may be affecting your BABIP if your pitchers throw a lot of ground balls. Your corner OFers are also not terrific but a lot of teams hide bad fielders there so it may not be so bad.

[Thundercrack]

they say they've fixed catcher defense, so maybe that too

[rski70]

My FIP vs. ERA problem never really resolved last season, my starters finished nearly 2 points higher in ERA and the bullpen was around 1.20 higher. This season, the problem remains: My starters ERA in 1.50 worse than my FIP (the bullpen is actually OK and actually ,20 better ERA than FIP).

I am beginning to think the problem is catcher. I use the SE Kendall and his position rating is 68. My son has a Johjima with a rating of 100 and his ERA is in line with his FIP. We have nearly the same team otherwise as we have both been building through missions. (Bagell, Altuve, Leiber in LF, Lyons IN CF). I actually have better position ratings at SS (Vizquel) and 3B (Rendon) than he does, while his RF is slightly better.

Our rotations both have Greinke, Stroman and Saberhagen. I also have Kershaw and Bucky Walters. Could it really be as simple as a catcher change?

[Syd Thrift]

Catcher rating, as noted, was modified to have a pretty sizeable effect on play now. I would not, however, expect that to necessarily show up in FIP. Good catchers in OOTP are masters at pitch framing, which means they get their pitchers more Ks and fewer BBs, which in turn lowers not just their ERA but their FIP. So while you should see (probably substantial) change with a great catcher instead of a mediocre one, it's not necessarily going to affect the FIP/ERA difference.

FWIW I've been having a similar issue in my (Stone level) league where my defensive effiency is low in spite of having good enough guys in the field. The higher up you go, good enough isn't really good enough. Even at positions like second and third, you can't really get away with stashing a bad fielder there, unless you're willing to give up a lot of hits. If you really want to minimize opposing BABIP, pull those corner OF range ratings up as well.