Coco Crisp Wuz Robbed
Baseball Musings ran the defensive numbers on the Probabilistic Model of Range* for all centerfielders over the 2007 season, breaking them out by individual and by team. And surprise, surprise- look what he found:
#2: Ichiro Suzuki
#3: Felix Pie
#4: Curtis Granderson
…
#20: Torii Hunter
#31: Grady Sizemore
Yet another reason why this was a travesty:
One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn’t belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?
* Basically, for each fieldable (non inside the park home runs) ball put in play, six parameters are used to determine how difficult it was to field the ball. A probability of turning the ball into an out is calculated, and those probabilities are summed. That gives us expected batted balls turned into outs. We turn that into a predicted DER (defensive efficiency record), compare that to the actual DER and calculate a ranking- the Probabilistic Model of Range.
To reiterate – COCO WAS ROBBED! I think this should have been evident just from the number of times Coco’s catches were on ESPN’s highlight reels compared to the other guys. This whole giving the Gold Glove to the incumbent winner is stupid.
Well, Coco can laugh at the rest of them, because he’s got something they don’t – a World Series Ring!
Complete bullshit. Yes indeed, Coco was robbed!
I blame politics.
At least Dusty P. got his RotY.
I was pretty annoyed that Hunter and Sizemore got them…seemed like a case of voter laziness similar to picking Pudge Rodriguez again (no offense to the man, it’s just that there are like five better choices). But ROY was the one I was really pulling for, so I’m relieved that fell the right way, even if it was kind of a given.
I won’t be sad to see Sabathia take the Cy Young. I think that Beckett would understand. In fact, he’ll probably walk up to Sabathia the next time their teams meet and shake his hand.
With his brand-new ring on.
The World Series Ring: ending arguments about who is better for over 100 years.
And you are a more generous person than I, because I will be petulant and stomp about like a small child if Beckett doesn’t get that hardware today. (even though I know Sabathia is nothing short of amazing, I am unable to be neutral on any issue involving Josh Beckett)
Look at that photo of Ichiro. It says, “I am Ichiro! I will mesmerize you with my piercing stare! You will buy my jersey and cast me as a murderer on your Japanese prime-time soap opera!”