I broached the topic of Ibanez's defense with him and some of the newer metrics that suggest he's a...

I broached the topic of Ibanez's defense with him and some of the newer metrics that suggest he's a poor outfielder.... "I have to say a number of things,'' he said. "Number one, with sabermetrics in general, it's a statistical probability thing,'' he said. "And the way they come up with the defensive measurements, or ratings, is flawed. It's as flawed as the Gold Gloves. One of the reasons is, they don't consider things like ballpark factors, defensive positioning or allignement for certain hitters.... Ibanez added that most of the people taking down the statistics that measure defense are doing so "off a television'' and are "not equipped to assess talent on the baseball field.'' He mentioned a friend of his in Kansas City, who, he said, is deeply into sabermetrics and some of the new-fangled defensive metrics. But, he added, he's not a scout. And when it comes to measuring defensive talent, Ibanez said: "None of these guys has had a baseball background per sei.''

A surprisingly coherent Raul Ibanez, from Geoff Baker's Mariner's Blog

over 3 years ago Matt Klaassen 21 comments 0 recs |

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

He's at least partially right

Founder of the Johnny Giavotella fan club.

by doublestix on Dec 18, 2008 8:56 PM EST reply actions

hee hee

I thought you’d like this one

OMG Banny. FWIW I am only crdtng u w/3 runs allwd bc of DDJ OMFG

by Matt Klaassen on Dec 18, 2008 9:11 PM EST up reply actions

I thought about going "HE'S TOTALLY RIGHT"

just to make a fuss about it.

but it doesn’t take a scout to know he’s bad at defense. it’s painfully obvious just watching him. he mixes bad routes with slow speed and a weak arm. ugly.

Founder of the Johnny Giavotella fan club.

by doublestix on Dec 18, 2008 11:24 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah, advanced defensive metrics have limitations

But those limitations don’t make Ibanez an average defensive corner OFer. Even if those metrics are significantly off, he’s still pretty badly in the field. And in this case, the metrics are supported by the diminishing speed that those more tools-inclined can see with their own eyes. This little diatribe by Ibanez doesn’t sound like a cool, objective evaluation of advanced defensive metrics. It sounds like a guy getting defensive about his diminishing skills and working hard to explain way a bunch of stats that show how bad he’s become in the field.

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on Dec 18, 2008 9:33 PM EST reply actions

He didn't claim to be a good defender

He simply said that the defensive measures have big limitations and that he’s the type of player that a lot of offices want on their teams. He’s 100% right.

by kcdc1 on Dec 19, 2008 10:42 AM EST up reply actions

I want to know who his friend in KC is

I guessing RoyalsRetro

OMG Banny. FWIW I am only crdtng u w/3 runs allwd bc of DDJ OMFG

by Matt Klaassen on Dec 18, 2008 9:38 PM EST reply actions

And I think Retro told him that just to make him feel better

I mean, if you are familiar with sabermetrics and these particular stats and you have a friend who is a MLB player and some metric makes him look really bad and he asks you about it, what are you going to say? “Yeah, those are good metrics that reliably measure performance. If they say you suck, then you suck.”

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on Dec 18, 2008 10:01 PM EST up reply actions

and if you know the metrics, you are obviously the kind of guy

who would get his ass kicked by Raul

OMG Banny. FWIW I am only crdtng u w/3 runs allwd bc of DDJ OMFG

by Matt Klaassen on Dec 18, 2008 10:19 PM EST up reply actions

I have been outed

Keep reaching for the sky Raul! Don’t let these haters drag you down! They’ve never even seen a game before! They live in their mom’s basements!

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Dec 19, 2008 10:18 AM EST up reply actions

i like raul ibanez more now

but a) I don’t really see what he’s saying and b) that’s still a horrible contract

by Freneau on Dec 18, 2008 10:08 PM EST reply actions

just imagine though

if he was white

he’d be the first post-modern baseball player! or second, after banny!

by Freneau on Dec 18, 2008 10:09 PM EST reply actions 1 recs

Needs Joe Maddon's glasses

And a love of fine wine.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Dec 19, 2008 10:18 AM EST up reply actions

And a few

Michael Buble albums.

WTF, self?

by minda33 on Dec 19, 2008 10:41 AM EST up reply actions

I actually like raul, too

it’s a terrible contract (for the Phils, anyway — I’m thinking I want DMGM to have Amaro on speed dial from now on), but I guess things even out considering how cheaply he put up decent numbers for Seattle.

Weird how a guy can go from underrated to overrated that quickly. I liked him as an underrated guy… Glad the Royals didn’t blow all that money on him, but glad that if someone has to get overpaid, it’s him.

I can’t wait for Emil Brown to somehow return to 2005-2006 form again and then get 3/62 from the Mets.

OMG Banny. FWIW I am only crdtng u w/3 runs allwd bc of DDJ OMFG

by Matt Klaassen on Dec 18, 2008 10:18 PM EST reply actions