This week's ESPN The Magazine is chock full of Jays coverage. Carlos Delgado gets plenty of ink for both his on-field accomplishments and off-field views. Meanwhile, Roy Halladay gets a feature-length article discussing the Jays' stunning success in rebuilding his motion -- and in getting him back on track to be the ace he's uniquely capable of being.
Outtakes
Carlos is featured as this issue's subject of Dan Patrick's Outtakes. Among Delgado's musings: among his teammates, he could only beat the Jays' catchers in a footrace; he hated The Matrix Reloaded but loved K-Pax -- yes, Patrick was duly snarky; he loved visiting Spain, Italy and Japan but hated France; he cherishes the fact that baseball has no clock; and he capped the interview with the following exchange:
DP: Describe heaven.
CD: I wouldn't know. I've never been there.
DP: Describe hell.
CD: Boston. They hate us there. When we walk in the ballpark, it's, "You suck, you suck, you suck." That's all we hear for four days straight.
RBI Efficiency
Steve Hirdt, executive vice president of the Elias Sports Bureau, writes an interesting article about Elias' attempt to measure a hitter's ability to cash in baserunners, while taking out the luck-based and team-dependent elements that have made the RBI a pariah stat among sabrmetricians. Hirdt begins by discussing some rudimentary methods to supplant RBI (in which Carlos was #1 on August 1), like RISP batting average (in which Carlos was #2 on August 1) or calculating the percentage of RISP driven in by each batter (in which Carlos was #1 on August 1).
Next, Hirdt devises a sophisticated and useful -- albeit difficult to calculate for the box-score reader -- method that he terms "RBI Efficiency" to evaluate the cashing-in ability of hitters. Using a matrix outlining the percentage of runners that the average hitter would drive in, based on the number of outs and base on which the runner was stationed, Elias created an "Expected RBI" statistic for each hitter -- after applying the formula to the number of times each hitter has batted in each of the respective base/out situtions.
The result? Carlos is still #1. Looking at his plate appearances, Carlos had an "Expected RBI" total of 54.0, and an actual total of 106 as of August 1 -- hence, a league-best +52.0 in RBI Efficiency. Albert Pujols (+45.4) and Barry Bonds (+35.7) have higher relative RBI Efficiency than RBI totals; they're #1 and #2 respectively in the NL, despite trailing Preston Wilson by a considerable margin in the counting statistic. Counterintuitively, Vernon Wells actually has more Expected RBI (63.7) than Delgado, despite not having a Vernon Wells-type hitter in front of him. Although he's #3 in the majors in RBI, Vernon checks in at only a seventh-best +30.3 in RBI Efficiency. Fascinating stuff.
Lost & Found
That's the title for the Doc Halladay feature, which essentially starts with the righty's demotion to A-ball after his 2000 big-league shelling, with many in baseball predicting that Roy would be relegated to spend his career on dusty roads, watching Major League on minor-league bus VCRs. Mel Queen, then working as an advance scout, was assigned to work with Halladay in Tennessee to work out his kinks. After consulting a sports psychologist, Queen decided that tough love and brutal honesty was required; Queen told Roy, "You're wasting talent, Doc...Unless we make changes -- and I mean drastic changes -- you're out of baseball in a year." A guy from the Oakland front office named J.P. Ricciardi scouted Halladay in 2000, and described his fastball as "straight as a string."
Queen changed Halladay's release point from "12:30" to "2:00" on a clock face. Tennessee's then-catcher, Josh Phelps, noticed immediately that Halladay's fastball began to sink and cut, even though Halladay was forbidden from pitching -- he was limited to playing catch and getting berated by Queen, who had taken on the persona of drill sergeant. Even though Doc's first curveballs from his new arm angle were limited to tosses from 10 feet away, Roy immediately appreciated that his curve was starting tom move horizontally, not just vertically. When Doc's first five minor-league starts yielded 42 K's and six walks, Queen knew he was ready. Derek Jeter is quoted as describing the new, improved Doc as "not fun to face."
The piece ends with a sidebar describing how the Devil Rays are trying similar reconstruction on Dewon Brazelton's delivery, in the hopes of rediscovering their own young righty's movement and confidence. The article concludes in maudlin -- but not unrealistic -- fashion: "...[Roy's] destiny may yet lead him down a back road to a small town. Cooperstown."
Outtakes
Carlos is featured as this issue's subject of Dan Patrick's Outtakes. Among Delgado's musings: among his teammates, he could only beat the Jays' catchers in a footrace; he hated The Matrix Reloaded but loved K-Pax -- yes, Patrick was duly snarky; he loved visiting Spain, Italy and Japan but hated France; he cherishes the fact that baseball has no clock; and he capped the interview with the following exchange:
DP: Describe heaven.
CD: I wouldn't know. I've never been there.
DP: Describe hell.
CD: Boston. They hate us there. When we walk in the ballpark, it's, "You suck, you suck, you suck." That's all we hear for four days straight.
RBI Efficiency
Steve Hirdt, executive vice president of the Elias Sports Bureau, writes an interesting article about Elias' attempt to measure a hitter's ability to cash in baserunners, while taking out the luck-based and team-dependent elements that have made the RBI a pariah stat among sabrmetricians. Hirdt begins by discussing some rudimentary methods to supplant RBI (in which Carlos was #1 on August 1), like RISP batting average (in which Carlos was #2 on August 1) or calculating the percentage of RISP driven in by each batter (in which Carlos was #1 on August 1).
Next, Hirdt devises a sophisticated and useful -- albeit difficult to calculate for the box-score reader -- method that he terms "RBI Efficiency" to evaluate the cashing-in ability of hitters. Using a matrix outlining the percentage of runners that the average hitter would drive in, based on the number of outs and base on which the runner was stationed, Elias created an "Expected RBI" statistic for each hitter -- after applying the formula to the number of times each hitter has batted in each of the respective base/out situtions.
The result? Carlos is still #1. Looking at his plate appearances, Carlos had an "Expected RBI" total of 54.0, and an actual total of 106 as of August 1 -- hence, a league-best +52.0 in RBI Efficiency. Albert Pujols (+45.4) and Barry Bonds (+35.7) have higher relative RBI Efficiency than RBI totals; they're #1 and #2 respectively in the NL, despite trailing Preston Wilson by a considerable margin in the counting statistic. Counterintuitively, Vernon Wells actually has more Expected RBI (63.7) than Delgado, despite not having a Vernon Wells-type hitter in front of him. Although he's #3 in the majors in RBI, Vernon checks in at only a seventh-best +30.3 in RBI Efficiency. Fascinating stuff.
Lost & Found
That's the title for the Doc Halladay feature, which essentially starts with the righty's demotion to A-ball after his 2000 big-league shelling, with many in baseball predicting that Roy would be relegated to spend his career on dusty roads, watching Major League on minor-league bus VCRs. Mel Queen, then working as an advance scout, was assigned to work with Halladay in Tennessee to work out his kinks. After consulting a sports psychologist, Queen decided that tough love and brutal honesty was required; Queen told Roy, "You're wasting talent, Doc...Unless we make changes -- and I mean drastic changes -- you're out of baseball in a year." A guy from the Oakland front office named J.P. Ricciardi scouted Halladay in 2000, and described his fastball as "straight as a string."
Queen changed Halladay's release point from "12:30" to "2:00" on a clock face. Tennessee's then-catcher, Josh Phelps, noticed immediately that Halladay's fastball began to sink and cut, even though Halladay was forbidden from pitching -- he was limited to playing catch and getting berated by Queen, who had taken on the persona of drill sergeant. Even though Doc's first curveballs from his new arm angle were limited to tosses from 10 feet away, Roy immediately appreciated that his curve was starting tom move horizontally, not just vertically. When Doc's first five minor-league starts yielded 42 K's and six walks, Queen knew he was ready. Derek Jeter is quoted as describing the new, improved Doc as "not fun to face."
The piece ends with a sidebar describing how the Devil Rays are trying similar reconstruction on Dewon Brazelton's delivery, in the hopes of rediscovering their own young righty's movement and confidence. The article concludes in maudlin -- but not unrealistic -- fashion: "...[Roy's] destiny may yet lead him down a back road to a small town. Cooperstown."
