1 1/2 Celebrity Sightings

[Dim Bulb]

Ryan Howard in the lobby of a Denver hotel about a half hour ago. That guy is freaking huge and in shape. His guns scared me. He laughed when I told him not to go to St. Louis, but rather to stay in Philly. Although on second thought maybe a trade is better.

That TV guy "Murph" on the Phillies broadcasts tried to sell me on the five game win streak in the elevator. I wasn't convinced.

[RSE]

Jackie O walked past me leaving Doubleday on Fifth Avenue one summer Friday afternoon maybe 27-28 years ago. I'm convinced I'll never have a greater sighting ever.

[art vandelay]

Murph could well be the new Dave Spadaro.

Ryan Howard really isn't having a terrible season...yes he'll end up with bad advanced stat nerd numbers but he could end up with 30 HR which would be pretty cool. I've never questioned his commitment, but his career was derailed by his 2010 injury then completely fucked by his 2011 injury.

[JuTMSY4]

yes he'll end up with bad advanced stat nerd numbers

You mean statistics?

[Riccardo]

When I first read it

Ryan Howard in the lobby of a Denver hotel about a half hour ago. That guy is freaking huge and in shape. His guns scared me. He laughed when I told him not to go to St. Louis, but rather to stay in Philly. Although on second thought maybe a trade is better.

That TV guy "Murph" on the Phillies broadcasts tried to sell me on the five game win streak in the elevator. I wasn't convinced.

I thought Ron Howard, but then the "huge and in shape" threw me.

Never heard of "murph"

[91EaglesD]

Ryan Howard in the lobby of a Denver hotel about a half hour ago. That guy is freaking huge and in shape. His guns scared me. He laughed when I told him not to go to St. Louis, but rather to stay in Philly. Although on second thought maybe a trade is better.

That TV guy "Murph" on the Phillies broadcasts tried to sell me on the five game win streak in the elevator. I wasn't convinced.

So who were the celebrities?

[art vandelay]

You mean statistics?

Not really. I'm talking advanced stats. Sabermetrics. Even when Howard was in his prime his numbers weren't very good in this category.

[JuTMSY4]

I'm talking advanced stats. Sabermetrics.

So. Statistics.

Edited to add: People saw cracks in Howard's armor then. That is the point of advanced metrics - to show when first level statistics are misleading.

There was nothing wrong with Howard, but he's an imperfect player.

[art vandelay]

So. Statistics.

Edited to add: People saw cracks in Howard's armor then. That is the point of advanced metrics - to show when first level statistics are misleading.

There was nothing wrong with Howard, but he's an imperfect player.

i know there were cracks in his armor then, but let's take the 2008 season when howard was 2nd in MVP voting and carried us through september. his WAR as 1.8. i fail to believe that his value didn't vastly exceed that number.

[Loki]

I think he means dorkametrics

[nerd]

i know there were cracks in his armor then, but let's take the 2008 season when howard was 2nd in MVP voting and carried us through september. his WAR as 1.8. i fail to believe that his value didn't vastly exceed that number.

WAR is such an odd stat. Who is the replacement player? "that guy"...."which guy"..."you know, the average guy"..."oh".

And the saberstats are sort of subjective. Just read that Brett Lawries overall defense was made to look better than it was because of a shift he was playing in shallow right field which made his range look that much better.

Flawed stats for flawed players mean....just more stuff to follow and use for fantasy teams.

[JuTMSY4]

WAR is all-inclusive and provides a useful reference point for comparing players. WAR offers an estimate to answer the question, “If this player got injured and their team had to replace them with a freely available minor leaguer or a AAAA player from their bench, how much value would the team be losing?”

http://www.fangraphs.com/library/misc/war/