Thursday, April 12, 2007
Chris Coste Watch!
I have to watch how often I write a post about Chris Coste. Much like leaving Pedro Martinez in too long, it is easy to write a post on Chris Coste. He’s a great subject to blog. Minor leaguer until his mid-30’s, finally gets his chance to jump in and produces for the Phillies during their stretch run towards the playoffs. In just a hand-full of games (65) he hit seven home runs with thirty-two RBIs, with a .328 batting average. Sabremetrically-speaking, he had a nice season: 36 Runs Created (7.3 per 27 Outs), .177 ISO, and he hit .356 with runners in scoring position (BA/RISP), just about the only Phillie to do that in 2006.
Confused about what I’m talking about? Here are the stats I refer to defined:
Isolated Power (ISO): .SLG - .BA = .ISO. Measures a player’s raw power by subtracting singles from their slugging percentage.
On-Base Percentage (OBP): How often a player gets on base. (H + BB + HBP) / (Plate Appearances)
Slugging Percentage (SLG): Total Bases / At-Bats = Slugging Percentage. Power at the plate.
Runs Created (RC): A stat originally created by Bill James to measure a player’s total contribution to his team’s lineup. Here is the formula: [(H + BB + HBP - CS - GIDP) times ((S * 1.125) + (D * 1.69) + (T * 3.02) + (HR * 3.73) + (.29 * (BB + HBP – IBB)) + (.492 * (SB + SF + SH)) – (.04 * K))] divided by (AB + BB + HBP + SH+ SF). If you use ESPN’s version be advised that it is pitifully is out-of-date, however. James adjusted RC after the 2004 season ended.
RC/27: Runs Created per 27 outs, essentially what a team of 9 of this player would score in a hypothetical game.
DER – Defense Efficiency Ratio: (Batters Faced – (Hits + Walks + Hit By Pitch + Strikeouts)) / (Batters Faced – (Home Runs, Walks + Hit By Pitch + Strikeouts)) How often fielders convert balls put into play into outs.
Great story. A real-life The Natural. Or perhaps Crash Davis (Bull Durham) is a better comparison than Roy Hobbs.
Sadly, life is not a fairy tale. After fighting for a roster spot in Spring Training the Phillies have decided to option him to the Ottawa Lynx, the Phillies Triple-A affiliate in Canada. The move doesn't mean a deal-knell to Coste's major league career, but it is a major blow. Coste will need one of the Phillies catchers to sustain an injury, or one of the bats on the bench to have a problem. Otherwise Coste will be catching up north with the rest of the Phillies Triple-A players. Good luck Chris, and I hope I get to see you again in Philly soon.
I was set to appear on Philly Sports Talk Now’s weekly podcast yesterday when my telephone decided to pick yesterday evening ten minutes prior to the show to hiccup. If I had appeared on the show yesterday, I was going to make the following points about the Phillies struggles to date:
-As advertised, the bullpen is terrible, ranking twelfth of sixteen teams in ERA.
-The starters haven’t performed as advertised. The Phillies starting rotation ranks next-to-last in ERA.
-The Phillies are hitting fourteenth in BA/RISP. This isn’t a big deal to me, after all the Phillies were one of the worst “clutch” hitting teams in baseball in 2006 and they weren’t scraping for runs. Since the Phillies hit lots and lots of home runs and doubles, getting clutch hits isn’t important. The Phillies can score runners from first or from home plate with the single swing of a bat. No clutch hitting needed.
-The Phillies are dead-last in Defense Efficiency Ratio (DER), which is a major problem. Back in 2005 the Phillies were arguably the best defensive team in baseball. Now they might be the worst. The effect on the pitching staff has to be crippling and partly accounts for the Phillies slow start: Jimmy Rollins big error on Monday helped to turn a 5-4 Phillies lead into a 11-5 loss.
So those were factors I would have noted. What did last night’s game say about the Phillies? Well …
-Antonia Alfonseca set up Tom Gordon with a good eighth inning, followed by Gordon in the ninth with a pair of strikeouts. Nice work.
-Adam Eaton had a strong outing, scattering four hits and three walks over seven innings, along with five strikeouts. The Mets mustered just one extra-base hit against Eaton, a double.
-Well, the Phillies did leave a slew of runners on base (14, I think), but they got five of them home, and that is three more than the Mets.
-Finally, the Phillies didn’t make any errors.
Tonight Jamie Moyer vs. Tom Glavine. The battle of the senior citizens. It’ll be an interesting battle.
Who would have expected Felix Hernandez to have turned in such a spectacular pitching performance last night against the Red Sox? A nine-inning complete game, one-hit shutout wherein he allowed just two walks and got six strikeouts. Spectacular.
More tomorrow.
Confused about what I’m talking about? Here are the stats I refer to defined:
Isolated Power (ISO): .SLG - .BA = .ISO. Measures a player’s raw power by subtracting singles from their slugging percentage.
On-Base Percentage (OBP): How often a player gets on base. (H + BB + HBP) / (Plate Appearances)
Slugging Percentage (SLG): Total Bases / At-Bats = Slugging Percentage. Power at the plate.
Runs Created (RC): A stat originally created by Bill James to measure a player’s total contribution to his team’s lineup. Here is the formula: [(H + BB + HBP - CS - GIDP) times ((S * 1.125) + (D * 1.69) + (T * 3.02) + (HR * 3.73) + (.29 * (BB + HBP – IBB)) + (.492 * (SB + SF + SH)) – (.04 * K))] divided by (AB + BB + HBP + SH+ SF). If you use ESPN’s version be advised that it is pitifully is out-of-date, however. James adjusted RC after the 2004 season ended.
RC/27: Runs Created per 27 outs, essentially what a team of 9 of this player would score in a hypothetical game.
DER – Defense Efficiency Ratio: (Batters Faced – (Hits + Walks + Hit By Pitch + Strikeouts)) / (Batters Faced – (Home Runs, Walks + Hit By Pitch + Strikeouts)) How often fielders convert balls put into play into outs.
Great story. A real-life The Natural. Or perhaps Crash Davis (Bull Durham) is a better comparison than Roy Hobbs.
Sadly, life is not a fairy tale. After fighting for a roster spot in Spring Training the Phillies have decided to option him to the Ottawa Lynx, the Phillies Triple-A affiliate in Canada. The move doesn't mean a deal-knell to Coste's major league career, but it is a major blow. Coste will need one of the Phillies catchers to sustain an injury, or one of the bats on the bench to have a problem. Otherwise Coste will be catching up north with the rest of the Phillies Triple-A players. Good luck Chris, and I hope I get to see you again in Philly soon.
I was set to appear on Philly Sports Talk Now’s weekly podcast yesterday when my telephone decided to pick yesterday evening ten minutes prior to the show to hiccup. If I had appeared on the show yesterday, I was going to make the following points about the Phillies struggles to date:
-As advertised, the bullpen is terrible, ranking twelfth of sixteen teams in ERA.
-The starters haven’t performed as advertised. The Phillies starting rotation ranks next-to-last in ERA.
-The Phillies are hitting fourteenth in BA/RISP. This isn’t a big deal to me, after all the Phillies were one of the worst “clutch” hitting teams in baseball in 2006 and they weren’t scraping for runs. Since the Phillies hit lots and lots of home runs and doubles, getting clutch hits isn’t important. The Phillies can score runners from first or from home plate with the single swing of a bat. No clutch hitting needed.
-The Phillies are dead-last in Defense Efficiency Ratio (DER), which is a major problem. Back in 2005 the Phillies were arguably the best defensive team in baseball. Now they might be the worst. The effect on the pitching staff has to be crippling and partly accounts for the Phillies slow start: Jimmy Rollins big error on Monday helped to turn a 5-4 Phillies lead into a 11-5 loss.
So those were factors I would have noted. What did last night’s game say about the Phillies? Well …
-Antonia Alfonseca set up Tom Gordon with a good eighth inning, followed by Gordon in the ninth with a pair of strikeouts. Nice work.
-Adam Eaton had a strong outing, scattering four hits and three walks over seven innings, along with five strikeouts. The Mets mustered just one extra-base hit against Eaton, a double.
-Well, the Phillies did leave a slew of runners on base (14, I think), but they got five of them home, and that is three more than the Mets.
-Finally, the Phillies didn’t make any errors.
Tonight Jamie Moyer vs. Tom Glavine. The battle of the senior citizens. It’ll be an interesting battle.
Who would have expected Felix Hernandez to have turned in such a spectacular pitching performance last night against the Red Sox? A nine-inning complete game, one-hit shutout wherein he allowed just two walks and got six strikeouts. Spectacular.
More tomorrow.
Comments:
Going to Cali this weekend!! We're you the one asking me about the government grants website? Here it is..Here ya go..
Why Coste is wasting away in Canada is beyond me. Sometimes I wonder about Pat Gillick.
# posted by 
: Thursday, April 12, 2007 1:52:00 PM
: Thursday, April 12, 2007 1:52:00 PM
Missed ya on the show Mike, but I know you'll be on throughout the season. Nice points here on your blog.
Freddie Garcia is slated to return on Sunday, I'll be there getting rained on no doubt! And the most important thing is all the players will be wearing number 42 so I won't know 'who's on first' to paraphrase Abbott and Costello "Now batting number 42..." for Jackie Robinson Day at the ballpark.
The Phils need to sweep here this weekend, put the thinking caps on, go out and play as a team, score a lot of runs and right this ship while they still can!
Rich / philly sports talk now
Freddie Garcia is slated to return on Sunday, I'll be there getting rained on no doubt! And the most important thing is all the players will be wearing number 42 so I won't know 'who's on first' to paraphrase Abbott and Costello "Now batting number 42..." for Jackie Robinson Day at the ballpark.
The Phils need to sweep here this weekend, put the thinking caps on, go out and play as a team, score a lot of runs and right this ship while they still can!
Rich / philly sports talk now
I want Chris Coste to come back. Please, Phillies, bring him back. See what his presence can do this year. Again.
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