Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

[b:972524f243][i:972524f243]Edited by bernieh, 12/15:[/i:972524f243][/b:972524f243]

The defensive range ratings for the upcoming 2010 season set have been posted over at Strat-O-Matic's site here:

http://www.strat-o-matic.com/community/announcements/2010-baseball-range-ratings-preview

[b:972524f243]----- [i:972524f243]Original post by qksilver[/i:972524f243] -----[/b:972524f243]

SOM is pegging 12/15 as the release date for the range ratings preview. Was curious to see what burning questions are out there, here are a few to kick off the topic:

1) Will Chase Utley get a 1?
Advanced metrics, which SOM claims to rely on more now, have Utley as the best defensive 2B over the last 3 years, but Hal Richman didn't have him in his top 5 in the Fielding Bible voting.

2 Will Jeter get a 1, 2 or 3?
SOM has shown a bit of a Yankees bias previously but also did give Jeter a 2 in a previous Gold Glove year.

3) Will any AL SSs get a 1? Jeter won the GG mostly by default. Does Andrus or any other AL SS get a 1?

OK that's enough, what are some other burning range ratings issues that could make or break your keeper teams?

I think the biggest question is when will they really start relying on year to year defensive performance rather than a "feeling" about how players are defensively in general.

It's ridiculous to for them to take this approach with defense as it is certainly not done with offense. There's no rule that says that in a 3 year period a guy can't have a 10M, 1M, and another 10M card if he hits really well with a terrible effort in between.

If you primarily rely on defensive statistics to set range ratings (as I think they should), then some of your questions are much easier to answer:

Chase Utley definitely deserves a 1, and has for the past few years (plus it will really help me since I took him with a high pick in a pre-card draft ;) )

Derek Jeter probably deserves a 3. Gold gloves have clearly become a tainted award. Error ratings and range ratings are completely separate for a reason.

AL SSs that deserve a 1? J.J. Hardy and Alexei Ramirez for sure. Probably Cliff Pennington, too. Maybe Ramon Santiago will get a 1, but he definitely at least keeps his 2.

FWIW...

somworld projects the following:

[b:1e6d5501fa]SS 1's[/b:1e6d5501fa]
Alexi Rameriz
Tulo
Jack Wilson
Elvis Andrus

[b:1e6d5501fa]2b 1's[/b:1e6d5501fa]
Phillips
Hudson
Cano

[b:1e6d5501fa]CF 1's[/b:1e6d5501fa]
Carlos Gonzalez (also a 1 in LF and RF)
Carlos Gomez
Bourn
Gutierrez
Victorino
Torres

[b:1e6d5501fa]3b 1's[/b:1e6d5501fa]
Beltre
Rolen
Longoria

[b:1e6d5501fa]1b 1's[/b:1e6d5501fa]
Pujols
Votto
Texiera
A. Gonzalez
Kotchman
Youklis ( a 3 at 3b)

[b:1e6d5501fa]1's @ C[/b:1e6d5501fa]
Mauer
Molina

[b:1e6d5501fa]rf 1's[/b:1e6d5501fa]
Ichiro
Bruce
Markakis

[b:1e6d5501fa]lf 1's[/b:1e6d5501fa]
Gardener (a 2 in CF)
Hamilton ( a 2 in CF)
Crawford

They have Utley as a 2, which I suspect is what he'll be, and Jeter as a 3 which I'm doubtful of, given his past ratings and the "Yankee bias".

Again these are projections, they aren't always right, but they're pretty close most of the time.

I watched the Brewers play at least 120 games this year (on TV). If Alcides Escobar doesn't get a "1" at SS, there is no justice. The kid is amazing, regardless of what the raw statistics might indicate.

Ratings preview corrections:

[b:504956ac51]SS 1's[/b:504956ac51]
Alexi Rameriz
Tulo
[b:504956ac51]Jack Wilson[/b:504956ac51] Nope he's a 2
Elvis Andrus
[b:504956ac51]Brendan Ryan[/b:504956ac51] ( To bad he can't hit)


[b:504956ac51]2b 1's[/b:504956ac51]
Phillips
Hudson
Cano
[b:504956ac51]Utley
Pedroia[/b:504956ac51]

[b:504956ac51]CF 1's[/b:504956ac51]
[b:504956ac51]Carlos Gonzalez[/b:504956ac51] Nope a 2, but a 1 in LF and RF
[b:504956ac51]Carlos Gomez[/b:504956ac51] Nope he's a 2 in all 3 OF
Bourn
Gutierrez
Victorino
Torres 1 (in all 3 OF)
[b:504956ac51]Chris Young
Peter Burgeous
Austin Jackson
Dexter Fowler
Angel Pagan[/b:504956ac51] (a 1 in all 3 OF)

[b:504956ac51]3b 1's[/b:504956ac51]
Beltre
Rolen
Longoria
[b:504956ac51]Zimmerman[/b:504956ac51]


[b:504956ac51]1b 1's[/b:504956ac51]
Pujols
[b:504956ac51]Votto[/b:504956ac51] Nope, he's a 2
Texiera
A. Gonzalez
Kotchman
[b:504956ac51]Youklis[/b:504956ac51] Nope he's a 2 ( a 3 at 3b)
[b:504956ac51]Daric Barton
Carlos Pena[/b:504956ac51]


[b:504956ac51]1's @ C[/b:504956ac51]
Mauer
Molina
[b:504956ac51]Ruiz[/b:504956ac51]


[b:504956ac51]rf 1's[/b:504956ac51]
Ichiro
Bruce
Markakis
[b:504956ac51]Nate Schierholtz[/b:504956ac51]

[b:504956ac51]lf 1's[/b:504956ac51]
Gardener (a 2 in CF)
Hamilton ( a 2 in CF)
Crawford

Jeter is a 3--- Finally

All subject to change of course.

Bolded names are corrections from the somworld projections I posted above.

It says CarGo is a 2 in CF.

[quote:ed3d6ede81="AeroDave10"]It says CarGo is a 2 in CF.[/quote:ed3d6ede81]

thanks, corrected my post

Some interesting double drops from the ranks of prime position 1s:

Adam Jones drops to a 3 in CF
Aaron Hill drops to a 3 at 2b
Nyjer Morgan to a 3 in CF

Very clear to see that SOM is now going almost exclusively on metrics. These results map VERY well to UZR, for instance. CarGo's 2 in CF is a great reflection of that, would have been easy to give him 1s all the way across for the GG, but he gets a 2 while Torres, UZR champ in CF, gets the 1.

For those who care, Fangraphs has the easier UZR lookup that I have come across...

Kudos for Hal Richman for realizing the time had come to make this change.

Now, how 'bout this for a keeper team on defense?

LF - Hamilton - 1
CF - Torres - 1
RF - CarGo - 1
3B - Stewart - 2
SS - Tulo - 1
2B - Figgins - 3 (intend to upgrade!)
1B - Teix - 1
C - McCann 2 (or maybe Santana, 4, if the hitter card is that good)

:D Five ones at second base? That makes shortstop the most important choice.