GREAT. ANOTHER STAT NO ONE CARES ABOUT

I don't like Sabermetrics. I just don't care about them.  I think you start throwing hundreds of numbers at people it all just becomes way too complex and idiotic.  Call me old school, call me dumb, but don't call me late to dinner... I'm always on time for dinner. 

The fact of the matter is there are only a few basic stats that you truly need to understand a player's ability and I'll always go basic.  Besides, Bleeding Yankee Blue is based on the suggestion that throwing stats and metrics up on this site every day only makes us look more like the others.  We don't do it unless we absolutely have to, and with that, I will never change our approach.  It is why we're successful. We are different... that's it.

I was reading Hardball Talk and they alerted me to something that Baseball Prospectus has done.  They have "invented" yet another unnecessary stat... at least that's my own humble opinion.  Apparently it's called the "Deserved Run Average".

I know... my eyes glossed over too.  WAKE UP!

From Hardball Talk: "...this new metric, DRA or “Deserved Run Average,” is getting a lot of buzz in sabermetric circles today. And the guys who came up with this new metric — Jonathan Judge, Harry Pavlidis and Dan Turkenkopf — are smart cookies."

A very, very basic description of DRA is from Baseball Prospectus:

"...Compile the individual value of all baseball batting events in a season.

When a batter steps into the box, a number of different events can ultimately occur. These range from a strikeout to a single to a double play to a home run. Over the course of a season, those events each, as a category, tend to result in an average number of additional (or fewer) runs. For example, a home run on average results in about 1.4 runs, because sometimes there are runners on base and sometimes there are not. By the same token, a double play tends to cost a team about three-quarters of a run. Although a double play can sometimes allow a run to score (such as when there happens to be a runner on third with no outs), it far more often ends the inning or empties the bases with no runs scored...

Adjust each batting event for its context.

Once we have the average value of each play in a season, we start making our adjustments. Home runs depend, among other things, on stadium, temperature, and the quality of the opposing batter. Ball and strike calls tend to favor the home team. The likelihood of a hit depends on the quality of the opposing defense. The pitcher’s success depends on how far he is ahead in the count, and both a catcher’s framing ability and the size of the umpire’s strike zone help get him there...."

There's much, much more. I actually think I read "Blah, blah. blah" in there somewhere. Anyway, the full description of DRA is HERE.

My feeling on stuff like this is simple. We went this long without it, I am doubtful it will change my own personal life going forward.  Sure, for many baseball stat nerds, this is groundbreaking and I get that. Not for me though.

Carry on.



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