Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

This is obvious, but ...

If there's any doubt that "awards voting" is based on some arbitrary and stupid formula -- and in particular (I'm looking at you, gold glove), is influenced by the player's MLB record or player card, not his SOM record -- I give you this:

After six games, my second baseman, Chase Utley, is the runner-up for "silver slugger" at second base.

SILVER SLUGGER SELECTIONS BY POSITION
WINNER RUNNER UP
C J.Posada(DAD) J.Varitek(STO)
1B J.Loney(BAN) C.Pena(RUN)
2B P.Polanco(ATH) C.Utley(THE)
3B A.Rodriguez(WEA) A.Beltre(STO)
SS H.Ramirez(RUN) D.Jeter(DAD)
LF C.Crawford(CAP) W.Harris(FLY)
CF H.Pence(FLY) C.Granderson(MEA)
RF M.Ordonez(DAD) V.Guerrero(STO)

Of 13 second basemen who are "qualifiers," Utley is 12th in OPS (.504) and LAST in OBP (.200).

But he has 6 RBI: his grand total of three hits (in 23 AB) happened to be a two-run homer, a two-run double, and a two-run single. In other words, he was out in 20 of 23 AB, but was lucky to have two runners on when he hit a single, and two on when he hit a double, and one on when he hit a home run.

This isn't news but it should be said, occasionally: the awards voting formulas are stupid and outdated. Where are the sabr guys in SOM's programming department?

OK, so it's only 6 games, but hasn't everyone thought this? Can't they bring the awards formulas into, say, the 1990s?

Surely you're not asking them to perfect the awards voting formulas so they will better represent who "should" be on top after six games!