Martin Rose - Bongarts/Getty Images
4 months ago: ALTENBERG, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 10: Tristan Walker (front) and Justin Snith (back) of in action during the men's double run in the Luge World Championship on February 10, 2012 in Altenberg, Germany. (Photo by Martin Rose/Bongarts/Getty Images)
While CRPerry13 was educating us on slugging I was putting together these links for a delightful Sunday afternoon.
Astros exec asking $3.2M in Bunker Hill Village | Ultimate Memorial
Tal's home is up for sale.
Rangers Mistakenly Attempt To Woo Roy Oswalt By Touting Dallas' Gay Nightlife Scene | The Onion - America's Finest News Source
Astro fans will appreciate this.
You May Say I'm A Dreamer: Houston Astros | January
By Garrett Wilson
Ultimate Astros " Hoffman: One Astro’s short but stellar career
By Ken Hoffman
The Platoon Advantage: 2012 Topps: My Last Year of Collecting
By Cee Angi
Money and wins
By Dave Studeman
2012 Sabermetric Teams: The Market for Saber Players | FanGraphs Baseball
By Bradley Woodrum
The State of Sabermetrics in the College Game | FanGraphs Baseball
By Eno Sarris
What Is Sabermetrics? And Which Teams Use It? | FanGraphs Baseball
By Bradley Woodrum
How Much Risk Is Worth Additional Upside? | FanGraphs Baseball
By Dave Cameron
Draft and Astro links after the jump...
Astros spring roster " Tag's Lines
The entire Spring Training roster.
What the Heck, Bobby?: An Interview with 2B John Hinson
I am required to do this: BOOOO Clemson! Great interview though.
An A-list lineup of past Astros stars turn out to honor a true original. " Alyson's Footnotes
Dennis Liborio retirement party.
The Worst Team Ever Projected? - Baseball Nation
By Jeff Sullivan
High School Draftees and Elite Seasons | FanGraphs Baseball
By Jim Breen
2012 Baseball Draft: College Prospects 1-5 - Minor League Ball
These 5 could all go in the top 10 picks and 4 of the 5 have a shot at being #1 overall.
0 recs | 10 comments
Oh The Onion, you never cease to amuse me.
jello44 - February 12, 2012
Sammy Gervacio
I didn’t see Sammy Gervacio on the Spring Training roster. Anybody know if he’s just projected for more minor league time this season, or maybe an injury I missed? Or is he even still in the Astros organization? Just curious.
El Speverino - February 12, 2012
Gervacio was was not put on the 40 man roster. My recollection is that he is a minor league free agent. I am not sure of his current status. I assume that he will be back with the Hooks, but that may not be a good assumption.
clack - February 12, 2012
Koby Clemens
Since we mentioned Gervacio…I haven’t seen any mention at TCB that Koby Clemens signed a minor league deal with the Blue Jays. (At least he signed a deal with another team that his dad played for…)
clack - February 12, 2012
So surreal seeing the Astros listed as a "highly analytical organization."
There are some interesting responses to that “2012 Sabermetric Teams” article. A few people say that there isn’t all that much different between the various teams:
This tends to get repeated a lot, but I wonder how true it is. Okay, yes, we’ve seen teams value OBP and defense more over the last decade, more teams are hiring GMs with analytical backgrounds, and more GMs say they look at statistics…
But I remember reading a lot of interviews with Ed Wade in which he mentioned “looking at” or “paying attention to” statistics, followed immediately by the typical disavowal (“You have to balance this with traditional scouting,” which seems to usually mean “We value scouts’ info very highly and only believe statistical info sometimes”). Despite whatever level of sabermetric methods spread to the Astros’ FO, Wade still overvalued middle relievers and couldn’t put together a basic roster.
So I guess my point is that, while sabermetric knowledge may have spread to almost all MLB teams, that doesn’t mean anything if the front offices involved don’t use that knowledge and take it seriously.
Only_A_Lad - February 12, 2012
I think those commenters are not understanding the difference between statistics and sabermetrics...
When Ed Wade says that he looks at statistics and has a history of compiling statistics, he may be right. But the difference is that Wade probably doesn’t mean “advanced statistics,” when he says that. Wade’s history with statistics goes back to providing assistance to Tal Smith in arbitration hearings. The statistics used those proceeding are much simpler than advanced statistics.
I think the point is whether the GMs understand and use sabermetric principles rather than whether they have statistical data available to them. For example, my impression is that Wade relied too much on clutch statistics (e.g., batting average with runners in scoring position) in evaluating players on a going forward basis. I think most sabermetric analysts would view RISP statistics as suspect for projecting future performance. Yet Wade non-tendered Wigginton after he had the best offensive season of his career with the Astros in 2009. Yet I had read quotes from Wade in which he downplayed Wigginton’s overall offense and pointed to Wigginton’s weak RISP batting stats in 2009 as a big problem. On the other hand, Pedro Feliz had a good year with RISP in his last season with Philadelphia, and (according to Wade’s own quotes) this was one of the reasons that Feliz signed him.
The Astros, under Wade, had one statistical analyst listed among their executives (he has since been let go by Luhnow). The Astros’ old executive web page says his title was “Professional Scout Coordinator.” It also indicates that his duties included overseeing the Greenville minor league team’s business operations. This would lead me to believe that his statistical research responsibilities were part time. Luhnow’s hiring of Sig Mejdal and Mike Fast provides a contrast in the effort that will be devoted to quantitative analysis. When asked about statistical analysis, Wade’s common refrain was, “I believe more in boots on the ground.”
By the way, Zachary Levine has a nice story today on Mejdal’s work with the Astros.
clack - February 12, 2012
That was a good read on Mejdal by Levine. I enjoyed it.
conroestro - February 12, 2012 via mobile
a bit embarassed
I’m new here, just joined. glad i finally found the Astros on sbnation. i grew up in htown rooting for the Astros, and i’m a bit embarrassed to say, i have no idea what crawfish boxes refers to. Can someone please enlighten me?
Additionally, where might I get myself up to date on all the sale news, etc? I thought I read somewhere that the ’Stros have to be in the AL now. Which disheartens me, because that makes one of my greatest fantasies impossible- the possibility of a Lonestar World Series, somehow, someday.
Jameson Vernon - February 12, 2012
1) Crawfish Boxes comes from the Crawford Boxes seating area at MMP.
2) Hey, it could happen this year ;) And we’d make the Rangers 2 twice shot, 3 times shy! :D
linkxmalon - February 12, 2012
thanks!
oh yah the crawford boxes…forgot about those
Jameson Vernon - February 13, 2012
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