J Brew Crew1

sports.espn.go.com/mlb/co...id=2272958 I always thought Goose deserved to be in the Hall of Fame. I could just be that when I was young and impressionable, he was dominant. Bob Klapisch of espn has some stats that made me think that maybe I wasn't blinded by youth and hero worship. Even with the favorable comparisons to other great relievers, I don't think he gets in. The lack of votes that relievers have recieved makes me think he will fall short even this year with no slam dunk HOFer's. J 1st time starting a topic so I'm not sure it's in the right spot or has been covered. Delete, move or lock as you see fit.

Heck I'll dive in. I enjoy some of the stat related posts and I've learned a lot. It has forced me to think about a player or an issue from a different angle, which is a good thing. Some of Rluzinski posts have been very eye opening, for example. And I agree that sometimes your eyes lie to you about a player. I do form an opinion about a player and then use certain at bats to "prove" my theory. Wes Helms is having a pretty good year. I can now admit that. For 4 months every junk AB he had "proved" my theory that he was junk. Low and behold I looked at a bunch of stats and he is having a good season. I was looking at the 7 out of 10 outs he made not the 3 out of 10 hits. What I hate is when someone says that we need to upgrade at position X. A good discussion ensues, then some clown says "how could you say he's bad defensively, his range factor is...." Or "he's a good hitter because his VORP is ..." There was a good discusion about contracts, age, players in the minors, amount of money that's available, free agents available and someone throws VORP at me. That's where I tune out big time. I understand VORP and Range Factor and the rest and think they are useful but not the end all. I personally think that stats do not do justice to defense. They carry the same weight with me as Gold Gloves do. Which is not much. I do like OPS and OXS. What I really like is the quick 300 400 500 Ave Obp Slg rule. One glance and I can tell how good a guy is. I also beleive clutch exists. RLuzinski's great article showed that you couldn't prove it with the stats. But I think that there are certain players you want to have at the plate if your year is on the line. Just like you would want a certain QB under center, or a certain golfer to make a putt. Can you prove that one person has it and one person doesn't? Nope. But like the Supreme Court said about porn, you know it when you see it. You can manufacture a stat to try to show it (eg 4th quarter comebacks in football) but they lack the rigor to be relevant. I guess that's my biggest complaint about the stat guys, rigor and relevance. If you have those, like you do with OPS or OXS, then you have something. If not, well... I just reread this post and its all over the place and a little harsh. I hope not to offend anyone, that much http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif . But as a long time lurker here I have learned a bunch and finally just wanted to throw my two cents in. All the best J

Yes. MVP for a last place team. I think he was better in Montreal than Chicago and he was good in Chicago. I think there were several years he was one of the top 5 players in baseball. Also, a classy guy. J

R Luzinski Great Post but... "What about all that 'one in a million talk?'" From Dumb and Dumber, sorry But seriously folks. I agree with R's posts about the probablility that the Brewers make the playoffs. Everything must fall just right for the Crew to win the wild card. You can do the math every different way but the W and L's and the games back and the numbers of teams back don't add up to a good chance for the wild card. That being said, I believe. I am officially admitting to having drank the Kool Aid. I think it can happen. It probably won't but I am hoping and cheering. A buddy of mine, that I went to opening day at Wrigley years ago, pointed out to me that the best thing about opening day was the bunting draped all over the park. I was confused. He said if everything goes right during the season, you get to see in again in the playoffs. I guess that what we all are hoping for. J